FA19 vs FX15: which needs more amplifier?

The FiiO FA19 is 10Ω at 106.0 dB/mW; the FiiO FX15 is 24Ω at 103.0 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 FX15 needs 3.0 dB more than the FA19 to reach the same loudness — 0.50 mW against 0.25 mW.

The numbers that decide it

SpecificationFA19FX15
Impedance10 Ω24 Ω
Sensitivity106.0 dB/mW103.0 dB/mW
Sensitivity (voltage)126.0 dB/V119.2 dB/V
Power for 100 dB0.25 mW0.50 mW
Voltage for 100 dB50 mV0.11 V
Current for 100 dB5.0 mA4.6 mA
Highest source impedance
that leaves them alone (one-eighth rule)
1.25 Ω3.00 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.

8 sources are low enough in output impedance for the FX15 under the one-eighth rule but not for the FA19 (FiiO KA13, Schiit Vali 2+, Astell&Kern HC3, 5 more).

13 sources stay below the audible-hiss threshold with the FX15 but cross it with the FA19 (FiiO BTR11, FiiO K11 R2R, Lake People G103-S Mk II, 10 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: FiiO FA19 and FiiO FX15. Every figure on this page comes from what FiiO published, or is derived from it — what that maker publishes, counted.