The Meze 109 Pro is 40Ω at 112.0 dB/mW; the Philips SHP9600 is 32Ω at 102.0 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 Philips SHP9600 needs 10.0 dB more than the Meze 109 Pro to reach the same loudness — 0.63 mW against 0.06 mW.
| Specification | Meze 109 Pro | Philips SHP9600 |
|---|---|---|
| Impedance | 40 Ω | 32 Ω |
| Sensitivity | 112.0 dB/mW | 102.0 dB |
| Sensitivity (voltage) | 126.0 dB/V | 116.9 dB/V |
| Power for 100 dB | 0.06 mW | 0.63 mW |
| Voltage for 100 dB | 50 mV | 0.14 V |
| Current for 100 dB | 1.3 mA | 4.4 mA |
| Highest source impedance that leaves them alone (one-eighth rule) | 5.00 Ω | 4.00 Ω |
| Sources that reach 100 dB out of 280 | 280 | 280 |
One caution before reading the rows. Philips SHP9600 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.
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 Meze 109 Pro under the one-eighth rule but not for the Philips SHP9600 (Shanling H5).
13 sources stay below the audible-hiss threshold with the Philips SHP9600 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.
Each model has a page of its own with the full source list, the hiss estimate and the provenance of every figure above: Meze 109 Pro and Philips SHP9600. Each figure on this page is labelled on those pages with where it came from, including the ones Meze and Philips never published — what Meze publishes and what Philips publishes, both counted.