Andromeda 2020 vs Astrolith: which needs more amplifier?

The Campfire Audio Andromeda 2020 is 9Ω at 94.0 dB (no figure from the maker at all); the Campfire Audio Astrolith is 8.2Ω at 100.1 dB/mW. This page covers what they ask of an amplifier, not how they sound.

The Andromeda 2020 needs 6.1 dB more than the Astrolith to reach the same loudness — 4.0 mW against 0.98 mW.

The numbers that decide it

SpecificationAndromeda 2020Astrolith
Impedance9 Ω8.2 Ω
Sensitivity94.0 dB100.1 dB/mW
Sensitivity (voltage)114.5 dB/V121.0 dB/V
Power for 100 dB4.0 mW0.98 mW
Voltage for 100 dB0.19 V90 mV
Current for 100 dB21.0 mA10.9 mA
Highest source impedance
that leaves them alone (one-eighth rule)
1.12 Ω1.02 Ω
Sources that reach 100 dB
out of 280
279280

One caution before reading the rows. For Campfire Audio Andromeda 2020 the maker publishes no sensitivity figure at all. The number in the table was collected when this database was first built and has never been traced to a manufacturer document, so treat every row below it as an estimate rather than a specification.

Where the two part company

1 of the 280 sources has the power for the Astrolith but not for the Andromeda 2020 — Steinberg UR22C.

1 source is low enough in output impedance for the Andromeda 2020 under the one-eighth rule but not for the Astrolith (Astell&Kern SR35).

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

What each one needs from 80 to 105 dB

The Andromeda 2020 is more demanding than 56% of the 567 non-electrostatic models in this database; the Astrolith than 28%.

dB SPLAndromeda 2020 powerAndromeda 2020 voltageAstrolith powerAstrolith voltage
800.04 mW19 mV9.8 µW9 mV
850.13 mW34 mV0.03 mW16 mV
900.40 mW60 mV0.10 mW28 mV
951.3 mW0.11 V0.31 mW50 mV
1004.0 mW0.19 V0.98 mW90 mV
10513 mW0.34 V3.1 mW0.16 V

The cheapest source that satisfies both

SourcePriceHeadroom, Andromeda 2020Headroom, AstrolithOutput impedanceNoise
JadeAudio JA11$203.3 dB9.0 dB0.5 Ω1.7 µV
FiiO KA11$2915.4 dB21.1 dB0.7 Ω1.7 µV
FiiO BTR11$368.0 dB13.7 dB0.5 Ω8.0 µV

Of the 280 sources here, 279 reach 100 dB on both. 62 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 62 is the JadeAudio JA11, at $20. It leaves 3.3 dB of headroom on the Andromeda 2020 and 9.0 dB on the Astrolith, its output impedance is 0.5 Ω against a one-eighth limit of 1.12 Ω and 1.02 Ω, and its noise figure puts the hiss floor 21 dB and 14 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
Andromeda 2020nothing printed——
Astrolith5-25 kHznot printednot printed

Campfire Audio prints nothing at all for the Andromeda 2020 and 5-25 kHz for the Astrolith.

So one side of this comparison has a frequency-response number and the other does not — which changes less than it looks. The range printed for the Astrolith comes with no tolerance beside it, and a range without a ±dB figure says nothing about how loud the headphone is at either end of it: thirty decibels down at the bottom and the sentence would still be true. On the only reading that would have made it a specification, the two sheets say the same amount: nothing.

Not a measurement; maker by maker.

Both pages in full

Both have a page of their own. In full: Campfire Audio Andromeda 2020 and Campfire Audio Astrolith. Each figure on this page is labelled on those pages with where it came from, including the ones Campfire Audio never published — what that maker publishes, counted.

↑