Grado SR80x vs Meze 109 Pro: which needs more amplifier?

The Grado SR80x is 38Ω at 98.0 dB/mW; the Meze 109 Pro is 40Ω at 112.0 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 Grado SR80x needs 14.0 dB more than the Meze 109 Pro to reach the same loudness — 1.6 mW against 0.06 mW.

The numbers that decide it

SpecificationGrado SR80xMeze 109 Pro
Impedance38 Ω40 Ω
Sensitivity98.0 dB/mW112.0 dB/mW
Sensitivity (voltage)112.2 dB/V126.0 dB/V
Power for 100 dB1.6 mW0.06 mW
Voltage for 100 dB0.25 V50 mV
Current for 100 dB6.5 mA1.3 mA
Highest source impedance
that leaves them alone (one-eighth rule)
4.75 Ω5.00 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.

13 sources stay below the audible-hiss threshold with the Grado SR80x but cross it with the Meze 109 Pro (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: Grado SR80x and Meze 109 Pro. Every figure on this page comes from what Grado and Meze published, or is derived from it — what Grado publishes and what Meze publishes, both counted.