Schiit Ragnarok 2 vs SPL Phonitor se

Short answer

  • More power: the Schiit Ragnarok 2, with 6.00 W into 32 Ω; the SPL Phonitor se has 1.00 W. The Schiit Ragnarok 2 drives 1 headphone to 100 dB that the SPL Phonitor se cannot (Symphonium Titan).
  • Hiss with sensitive IEMs: no headphone here hisses audibly on one and not on the other.
  • Price: the Schiit Ragnarok 2 costs $101 less and gives up nothing on power, output impedance or hiss against the 567 headphones here. Whatever the extra money for the SPL Phonitor se buys, it is not these three numbers.

Both are desktop amplifiers, $1499 against $1600.

The Schiit Ragnarok 2 reaches 100 dB on 567 of the 567 models here, the SPL Phonitor se on 566.

Side by side

Every published figure, next to each other

SpecificationSchiit Ragnarok 2SPL Phonitor se
Power into 32Ω6.0 W1.0 W
Power into 150Ω1.3 W3.1 W
Power into 300Ω625 mW4.2 W
Power into 600Ω313 mW2.1 W
Output impedance0.1 Ω unverified0.18 Ω
Output noise1.5 µV unverified5.48 µV
Price$1499$1600
Headphones it reaches 100 dB on
out of 567		567566
Balanced output

The 4.4 mm or XLR socket, rated on its own

BalancedSchiit Ragnarok 2SPL Phonitor se
SocketXLR4no separate rating
Power into 32Ω24.0 W—
Power into 300Ω2.5 W derived—
Output impedancenot published—
Output noisenot published—
Headphones it reaches 100 dB on
out of 567		567—

Only the Schiit Ragnarok 2 has a separate balanced rating from its maker; through it, it reaches 100 dB on 567 of the 567 models here. The SPL Phonitor se may still have a balanced socket — its spec sheet simply gives no figure for one, so there is nothing to put beside it. Derived figures are worked out from the loads the maker did publish.

How solid these numbers are

Where each power figure comes from

LoadSchiit Ragnarok 2SPL Phonitor se
32 ΩPublishedPublished
150 ΩDerivedDerived
300 ΩDerivedDerived
600 ΩDerivedDerived

Both makers publish a power rating. Schiit Ragnarok 2 publishes at 32 Ω; SPL Phonitor se at 32 Ω. The other rows are worked out from those.

The two publish at the same loads, which is the one case where the rows of this table can be read straight across.

What the labels mean.

What separates them

The headphones that tell them apart

1 headphone reaches 100 dB on the Schiit Ragnarok 2 but not on the SPL Phonitor se — Symphonium Titan.

566 of the 567 models here reach 100 dB on both.

On real headphones

Headroom and hiss on 8 models, both sources

Headroom is at a 100 dB SPL peak.

The widest gap on the list is the Sennheiser HD 600: SPL Phonitor se has +28 dB of headroom there against +20 dB. 8 dB is about 6.7 times the power, which matters for peaks rather than for how loud the music sits.

The hiss columns are empty for Schiit Ragnarok 2 because that maker publishes no output noise figure.

HeadphoneImpedanceNeedsSchiit Ragnarok 2 headroomSPL Phonitor se headroomSchiit Ragnarok 2 hissSPL Phonitor se hiss
Shure SE8469 Ω0.04 mW+46 dB+38 dBnot published29 dB
Campfire Audio Andromeda 20209 Ω4.0 mW+26 dB+18 dBnot published9 dB
Audeze LCD-2 Classic70 Ω0.79 mW+35 dB+33 dBnot published7 dB
Beyerdynamic DT 1990 Pro (250Ω)250 Ω0.63 mW+31 dB+39 dBnot published3 dB
HiFiMAN HE400se25 Ω7.9 mW+28 dB+20 dBnot published2 dB
Audio-Technica ATH-R70X470 Ω1.6 mW+24 dB+32 dBnot published-4 dB
Sennheiser HD 600300 Ω6.6 mW+20 dB+28 dBnot published-8 dB
HiFiMAN Susvara60 Ω50 mW+18 dB+15 dBnot published-10 dB
What the price difference buys

The gap in dollars, against the gap in numbers

The SPL Phonitor se costs $101 more than the Schiit Ragnarok 2, and on these three axes the money buys nothing: among the 567 models here there is not one that the SPL Phonitor se handles and the Schiit Ragnarok 2 does not — not on power, not on the one-eighth rule, not on hiss. The traffic runs the other way: the cheaper Schiit Ragnarok 2 drives one model to 100 dB that the SPL Phonitor se does not.

Only published figures count here; blank axes are counted separately.

Next

Both pages in full

Each in full: Schiit Ragnarok 2 and SPL Phonitor se.

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