The Campfire Audio Ara is 8Ω at 94.0 dB (no figure from the maker at all); the Campfire Audio Chimera is 5.5Ω at 108.1 dB/mW. This page covers what they ask of an amplifier, not how they sound.
The Ara needs 14.1 dB more than the Chimera to reach the same loudness — 4.0 mW against 0.15 mW.
| Specification | Ara | Chimera |
|---|---|---|
| Impedance | 8 Ω | 5.5 Ω |
| Sensitivity | 94.0 dB | 108.1 dB/mW |
| Sensitivity (voltage) | 115.0 dB/V | 130.7 dB/V |
| Power for 100 dB | 4.0 mW | 0.15 mW |
| Voltage for 100 dB | 0.18 V | 29 mV |
| Current for 100 dB | 22.3 mA | 5.3 mA |
| Highest source impedance that leaves them alone (one-eighth rule) | 1.00 Ω | 0.69 Ω |
| Sources that reach 100 dB out of 280 | 278 | 280 |
One caution before reading the rows. For Campfire Audio Ara 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.
2 of the 280 sources have the power for the Chimera but not for the Ara — Apple USB-C dongle (EU), Steinberg UR22C.
42 sources are low enough in output impedance for the Ara under the one-eighth rule but not for the Chimera (FiiO SnowSky Tiny B, FiiO KA11, JDS Labs Atom+ (2nd gen), 39 more).
28 sources stay below the audible-hiss threshold with the Ara but cross it with the Chimera (Kiwi Ears Allegro Mini, FiiO BTR11, Fosi Audio SK02, 25 more).
278 of the 280 sources here reach 100 dB on both.
The Ara is more demanding than 54% of the 567 non-electrostatic models in this database; the Chimera than 3%.
| dB SPL | Ara power | Ara voltage | Chimera power | Chimera voltage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 80 | 0.04 mW | 18 mV | 1.5 µW | 3 mV |
| 85 | 0.13 mW | 32 mV | 4.9 µW | 5 mV |
| 90 | 0.40 mW | 56 mV | 0.02 mW | 9 mV |
| 95 | 1.3 mW | 0.10 V | 0.05 mW | 16 mV |
| 100 | 4.0 mW | 0.18 V | 0.15 mW | 29 mV |
| 105 | 13 mW | 0.32 V | 0.49 mW | 52 mV |
| Source | Price | Headroom, Ara | Headroom, Chimera | Output impedance | Noise |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| JadeAudio JA11 | $20 | 2.8 dB | 15.2 dB | 0.5 Ω | 1.7 µV |
| FiiO BTR13 | $59 | 11.8 dB | 24.3 dB | 0.6 Ω | 1.0 µV |
| iBasso DC03 Pro | $69 | 7.9 dB | 20.4 dB | 0.12 Ω | 0.9 µV |
Of the 280 sources here, 278 reach 100 dB on both. 25 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 25 is the JadeAudio JA11, at $20. It leaves 2.8 dB of headroom on the Ara and 15.2 dB on the Chimera, its output impedance is 0.5 Ω against a one-eighth limit of 1.00 Ω and 0.69 Ω, and its noise figure puts the hiss floor 20 dB and 5 dB below the 20 dB SPL this site treats as the point where a quiet room stops hiding it.
Both have a page of their own. In full: Campfire Audio Ara and Campfire Audio Chimera. 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.