Freya Vanir vs Sylvie: which needs more amplifier?

The Kinera Freya Vanir is 16Ω at 88.0 dB/mW; the Kinera Sylvie is 16Ω at 107.0 dB (no reference unit printed). 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 Freya Vanir needs 19.0 dB more than the Sylvie to reach the same loudness — 16 mW against 0.20 mW.

The numbers that decide it

SpecificationFreya VanirSylvie
Impedance16 Ω16 Ω
Sensitivity88.0 dB/mW107.0 dB
Sensitivity (voltage)106.0 dB/V125.0 dB/V
Power for 100 dB16 mW0.20 mW
Voltage for 100 dB0.50 V57 mV
Current for 100 dB31.5 mA3.5 mA
Highest source impedance
that leaves them alone (one-eighth rule)
2.00 Ω2.00 Ω
Sources that reach 100 dB
out of 280
262280

One caution before reading the rows. Kinera Sylvie printed a decibel figure with no reference unit, so this page reads it as per milliwatt. If it is really per volt, that model needs far more than the table says. Why the two readings differ by so much.

Where the two part company

18 of the 280 sources have the power for the Sylvie but not for the Freya Vanir — Apple USB-C dongle (US), Apple USB-C dongle (EU), JadeAudio JA11, 15 more.

8 sources stay below the audible-hiss threshold with the Freya Vanir but cross it with the Sylvie (FiiO BTR11, FiiO K11 R2R, Lake People G103-S Mk II, 5 more).

262 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: Kinera Freya Vanir and Kinera Sylvie. Each figure on this page is labelled on those pages with where it came from, including the ones Kinera never published — what that maker publishes, counted.