LCD-MX4 vs MM-100: which needs more amplifier?

The Audeze LCD-MX4 is 20Ω at 105.0 dB/mW; the Audeze MM-100 is 18Ω at 98.0 dB/mW. This page covers what they ask of an amplifier, not how they sound.

The MM-100 needs 7.0 dB more than the LCD-MX4 to reach the same loudness — 1.6 mW against 0.32 mW.

The numbers that decide it

SpecificationLCD-MX4MM-100
Impedance20 Ω18 Ω
Sensitivity105.0 dB/mW98.0 dB/mW
Sensitivity (voltage)122.0 dB/V115.4 dB/V
Power for 100 dB0.32 mW1.6 mW
Voltage for 100 dB80 mV0.17 V
Current for 100 dB4.0 mA9.4 mA
Highest source impedance
that leaves them alone (one-eighth rule)
2.50 Ω2.25 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.

2 sources stay below the audible-hiss threshold with the MM-100 but cross it with the LCD-MX4 (FiiO BTR11, Rupert Neve RNHP).

280 of the 280 sources here reach 100 dB on both.

What each one needs from 80 to 105 dB

The MM-100 is more demanding than 51% of the 567 non-electrostatic models in this database; the LCD-MX4 than 25%.

dB SPLLCD-MX4 powerLCD-MX4 voltageMM-100 powerMM-100 voltage
803.2 µW8 mV0.02 mW17 mV
850.01 mW14 mV0.05 mW30 mV
900.03 mW25 mV0.16 mW53 mV
950.10 mW45 mV0.50 mW95 mV
1000.32 mW80 mV1.6 mW0.17 V
1051.0 mW0.14 V5.0 mW0.30 V

The cheapest source that satisfies both

SourcePriceHeadroom, LCD-MX4Headroom, MM-100Output impedanceNoise
JadeAudio JA11$2017.7 dB10.3 dB0.5 Ω1.7 µV
FiiO KA11$2928.5 dB21.7 dB0.7 Ω1.7 µV
FiiO BTR13$5925.4 dB18.6 dB0.6 Ω1.0 µV

Of the 280 sources here, 280 reach 100 dB on both. 67 of them also publish an output impedance low enough for both under the one-eighth rule and a noise figure that stays below the audible-hiss threshold with both.

The cheapest of the 67 is the JadeAudio JA11, at $20. It leaves 17.7 dB of headroom on the LCD-MX4 and 10.3 dB on the MM-100, its output impedance is 0.5 Ω against a one-eighth limit of 2.50 Ω and 2.25 Ω, and its noise figure puts the hiss floor 13 dB and 20 dB below the 20 dB SPL this site treats as the point where a quiet room stops hiding it.

Try any other source.

What each sheet prints, and what it is worth

ModelAs printedToleranceStandard
LCD-MX410Hz - 50kHznot printednot printed
MM-10020Hz - 25kHznot printednot printed

Audeze prints 10Hz - 50kHz for the LCD-MX4 and 20Hz - 25kHz for the MM-100.

Neither range has a tolerance printed beside it, so a wider range on one sheet is not deeper bass or more treble.

Not a measurement; maker by maker.

Both pages in full

Both have a page of their own. In full: Audeze LCD-MX4 and Audeze MM-100. Every figure on this page comes from what Audeze published, or is derived from it — what that maker publishes, counted.

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