Steinberg UR22C vs Universal Audio Volt 1

Both are audio interfaces, $199 against $149. 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 Universal Audio Volt 1 reaches 100 dB on 558 of the 567 models here, the Steinberg UR22C on 512.

Every published figure, next to each other

SpecificationSteinberg UR22CUniversal Audio Volt 1
Power into 32Ω12 mW84 mW
Power into 150Ω4.0 mW28 mW
Power into 300Ω2.0 mW22 mW
Power into 600Ω1.0 mW12 mW
Output impedancenot publishednot published
Output noisenot publishednot published
Price$199$149
Headphones it reaches 100 dB on
out of 567
512558

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

46 headphones reach 100 dB on the Universal Audio Volt 1 but not on the Steinberg UR22C — AKG K612 Pro, Abyss AB-1266 Phi CC, Abyss AB-1266 Phi TC, 43 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 UR22C and Universal Audio Volt 1. Or put either against your own headphones in the source comparison tool.