AKG K702 vs Audio-Technica ATH-M40X: which needs more amplifier?

The AKG K702 is 62Ω at 92.9 dB/mW; the Audio-Technica ATH-M40X is 35Ω at 98.0 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 AKG K702 needs 5.1 dB more than the Audio-Technica ATH-M40X to reach the same loudness — 5.1 mW against 1.6 mW.

The numbers that decide it

SpecificationAKG K702Audio-Technica ATH-M40X
Impedance62 Ω35 Ω
Sensitivity92.9 dB/mW98.0 dB/mW
Sensitivity (voltage)105.0 dB/V112.6 dB/V
Power for 100 dB5.1 mW1.6 mW
Voltage for 100 dB0.56 V0.24 V
Current for 100 dB9.1 mA6.7 mA
Highest source impedance
that leaves them alone (one-eighth rule)
7.75 Ω4.38 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 AKG K702 under the one-eighth rule but not for the Audio-Technica ATH-M40X (Shanling H5).

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: AKG K702 and Audio-Technica ATH-M40X. Every figure on this page comes from what AKG and Audio-Technica published, or is derived from it — what AKG publishes and what Audio-Technica publishes, both counted.