T50RPmk4Q vs T60RP: which needs more amplifier?

The Fostex T50RPmk4Q is 28Ω at 97.0 dB/mW; the Fostex T60RP is 50Ω at 92.0 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 T60RP needs 5.0 dB more than the T50RPmk4Q to reach the same loudness — 6.3 mW against 2.0 mW.

The numbers that decide it

SpecificationT50RPmk4QT60RP
Impedance28 Ω50 Ω
Sensitivity97.0 dB/mW92.0 dB/mW
Sensitivity (voltage)112.5 dB/V105.0 dB/V
Power for 100 dB2.0 mW6.3 mW
Voltage for 100 dB0.24 V0.56 V
Current for 100 dB8.4 mA11.2 mA
Highest source impedance
that leaves them alone (one-eighth rule)
3.50 Ω6.25 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.

1 source is low enough in output impedance for the T60RP under the one-eighth rule but not for the T50RPmk4Q (Shanling H5).

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: Fostex T50RPmk4Q and Fostex T60RP. Every figure on this page comes from what Fostex published, or is derived from it — what that maker publishes, counted.