Schiit Valhalla 2 vs SMSL H300

Both are desktop amplifiers, $349 against $296. This page puts them side by side on the only three things a maker can be held to — power, output impedance and noise — and then asks the question that actually matters: which headphones do they treat differently?

The SMSL H300 reaches 100 dB on 567 of the 567 models here, the Schiit Valhalla 2 on 561.

Every published figure, next to each other

SpecificationSchiit Valhalla 2SMSL H300
Power into 32Ω115 mW5.0 W
Power into 150Ω426 mW1.1 W
Power into 300Ω800 mW533 mW
Power into 600Ω450 mW267 mW
Output impedance14.0 Ω<0.1 Ω
Output noisenot publishednot published
Price$349$296
Headphones it reaches 100 dB on
out of 567
561567

A figure marked not published is missing from the maker’s own material, which is not the same as being good or bad. Where one of these two publishes a number and the other does not, the comparison on that axis cannot be made at all — and saying so is more useful than guessing.

The headphones that tell them apart

6 headphones reach 100 dB on the SMSL H300 but not on the Schiit Valhalla 2 — Moondrop COSMO, Moondrop PARA, Symphonium Crimson, 3 more.

522 headphones are left alone by the SMSL H300 under the one-eighth rule but coloured by the Schiit Valhalla 2 (64 Audio Aspire 1, 64 Audio Fourte, 64 Audio Nio, 519 more).

561 of the 567 models here reach 100 dB on both. That is a power count and nothing more; whether either source suits a given headphone also depends on the two lines above.

Both pages in full

Each has a page of its own with every power figure traced to what the maker published and a full headphone list: Schiit Valhalla 2 and SMSL H300. Or put either against your own headphones in the source comparison tool.