Ocean vs U18s: which needs more amplifier?

The 64 Audio Ocean is 9.5Ω at 103.7 dB/mW; the 64 Audio U18s is 8Ω at 106.0 dB/mW. This page is only about what they ask of an amplifier — not how they sound, which no specification on either sheet can tell you.

The Ocean needs 2.3 dB more than the U18s to reach the same loudness — 0.43 mW against 0.25 mW.

The numbers that decide it

SpecificationOceanU18s
Impedance9.5 Ω8 Ω
Sensitivity103.7 dB/mW106.0 dB/mW
Sensitivity (voltage)123.9 dB/V127.0 dB/V
Power for 100 dB0.43 mW0.25 mW
Voltage for 100 dB64 mV45 mV
Current for 100 dB6.7 mA5.6 mA
Highest source impedance
that leaves them alone (one-eighth rule)
1.19 Ω1.00 Ω
Sources that reach 100 dB
out of 280
280280

Where the two part company

Every source in the database that drives one of them drives the other. On power, the choice between these two changes nothing about what amplifier you need.

1 source is low enough in output impedance for the Ocean under the one-eighth rule but not for the U18s (Astell&Kern SR35).

11 sources stay below the audible-hiss threshold with the Ocean but cross it with the U18s (Lake People G103-S Mk II, Grace Design m900, FiiO M33 R2R, 8 more).

280 of the 280 sources here reach 100 dB on both. That count is about power only — the output-impedance and hiss lines above are separate questions, and a source can pass this one and fail those.

Both pages in full

Each model has a page of its own with the full source list, the hiss estimate and the provenance of every figure above: 64 Audio Ocean and 64 Audio U18s. Every figure on this page comes from what 64 Audio published, or is derived from it — what that maker publishes, counted.