Steinberg IXO22 vs Steinberg UR22C

Both are audio interfaces, $119 against $199. 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 Steinberg IXO22 reaches 100 dB on 552 of the 567 models here, the Steinberg UR22C on 512.

Every published figure, next to each other

SpecificationSteinberg IXO22Steinberg UR22C
Power into 32Ω32 mW12 mW
Power into 150Ω11 mW4.0 mW
Power into 300Ω5.3 mW2.0 mW
Power into 600Ω2.7 mW1.0 mW
Output impedancenot publishednot published
Output noisenot publishednot published
Price$119$199
Headphones it reaches 100 dB on
out of 567
552512

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

40 headphones reach 100 dB on the Steinberg IXO22 but not on the Steinberg UR22C — AKG K612 Pro, Abyss AB-1266 Phi CC, Abyss AB-1266 Phi TC, 37 more.

512 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: Steinberg IXO22 and Steinberg UR22C. Or put either against your own headphones in the source comparison tool.

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