64 Audio U12t vs Shure SE846: which needs more amplifier?

The 64 Audio U12t is 12.6Ω at 108.0 dB/mW; the Shure SE846 is 9Ω at 114.0 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 64 Audio U12t needs 6.0 dB more than the Shure SE846 to reach the same loudness — 0.16 mW against 0.04 mW.

The numbers that decide it

Specification64 Audio U12tShure SE846
Impedance12.6 Ω9 Ω
Sensitivity108.0 dB/mW114.0 dB/mW
Sensitivity (voltage)127.0 dB/V134.5 dB/V
Power for 100 dB0.16 mW0.04 mW
Voltage for 100 dB45 mV19 mV
Current for 100 dB3.5 mA2.1 mA
Highest source impedance
that leaves them alone (one-eighth rule)
1.57 Ω1.12 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.

6 sources are low enough in output impedance for the 64 Audio U12t under the one-eighth rule but not for the Shure SE846 (FiiO K11, FiiO BTR7, FiiO M11S, 3 more).

26 sources stay below the audible-hiss threshold with the 64 Audio U12t but cross it with the Shure SE846 (Kiwi Ears Allegro Mini, FiiO KA13, JDS Labs Atom+ (2nd gen), 23 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 U12t and Shure SE846. Every figure on this page comes from what 64 Audio and Shure published, or is derived from it — what 64 Audio publishes and what Shure publishes, both counted.