Chimera vs Solaris 2020: which needs more amplifier?

The Campfire Audio Chimera is 5.5Ω at 108.1 dB/mW; the Campfire Audio Solaris 2020 is 15Ω at 94.0 dB (no figure from the maker at all). 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 Solaris 2020 needs 14.1 dB more than the Chimera to reach the same loudness — 4.0 mW against 0.15 mW.

The numbers that decide it

SpecificationChimeraSolaris 2020
Impedance5.5 Ω15 Ω
Sensitivity108.1 dB/mW94.0 dB
Sensitivity (voltage)130.7 dB/V112.2 dB/V
Power for 100 dB0.15 mW4.0 mW
Voltage for 100 dB29 mV0.24 V
Current for 100 dB5.3 mA16.3 mA
Highest source impedance
that leaves them alone (one-eighth rule)
0.69 Ω1.88 Ω
Sources that reach 100 dB
out of 280
280280

One caution before reading the rows. For Campfire Audio Solaris 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

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.

51 sources are low enough in output impedance for the Solaris 2020 under the one-eighth rule but not for the Chimera (FiiO SnowSky Tiny B, FiiO KA11, FiiO KA13, 48 more).

25 sources stay below the audible-hiss threshold with the Solaris 2020 but cross it with the Chimera (Kiwi Ears Allegro Mini, FiiO BTR11, FiiO K11 R2R, 22 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: Campfire Audio Chimera and Campfire Audio Solaris 2020. 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.