The Moondrop Armature Art 24 is 5.8Ω at 96.6 dB/mW; the Moondrop ILLUSTRIOUS is 25Ω at 108.0 dB/mW. This page covers what they ask of an amplifier, not how they sound.
The Armature Art 24 needs 11.4 dB more than the ILLUSTRIOUS to reach the same loudness — 2.2 mW against 0.16 mW.
| Specification | Armature Art 24 | ILLUSTRIOUS |
|---|---|---|
| Impedance | 5.8 Ω | 25 Ω |
| Sensitivity | 96.6 dB/mW | 108.0 dB/mW |
| Sensitivity (voltage) | 119.0 dB/V | 124.0 dB/V |
| Power for 100 dB | 2.2 mW | 0.16 mW |
| Voltage for 100 dB | 0.11 V | 63 mV |
| Current for 100 dB | 19.4 mA | 2.5 mA |
| Highest source impedance that leaves them alone (one-eighth rule) | 0.72 Ω | 3.12 Ω |
| Sources that reach 100 dB out of 280 | 279 | 280 |
1 of the 280 sources has the power for the ILLUSTRIOUS but not for the Armature Art 24 — Steinberg UR22C.
49 sources are low enough in output impedance for the ILLUSTRIOUS under the one-eighth rule but not for the Armature Art 24 (FiiO SnowSky Tiny B, FiiO KA13, FiiO KA15, 46 more).
6 sources stay below the audible-hiss threshold with the Armature Art 24 but cross it with the ILLUSTRIOUS (FiiO BTR11, FiiO K11 R2R, Schiit Valhalla 3, 3 more).
279 of the 280 sources here reach 100 dB on both.
The Armature Art 24 is more demanding than 37% of the 567 non-electrostatic models in this database; the ILLUSTRIOUS than 18%.
| dB SPL | Armature Art 24 power | Armature Art 24 voltage | ILLUSTRIOUS power | ILLUSTRIOUS voltage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 80 | 0.02 mW | 11 mV | 1.6 µW | 6 mV |
| 85 | 0.07 mW | 20 mV | 5.0 µW | 11 mV |
| 90 | 0.22 mW | 36 mV | 0.02 mW | 20 mV |
| 95 | 0.69 mW | 63 mV | 0.05 mW | 35 mV |
| 100 | 2.2 mW | 0.11 V | 0.16 mW | 63 mV |
| 105 | 6.9 mW | 0.20 V | 0.50 mW | 0.11 V |
| Source | Price | Headroom, Armature Art 24 | Headroom, ILLUSTRIOUS | Output impedance | Noise |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| JadeAudio JA11 | $20 | 4.0 dB | 21.7 dB | 0.5 Ω | 1.7 µV |
| FiiO KA11 | $29 | 16.1 dB | 31.2 dB | 0.7 Ω | 1.7 µV |
| FiiO BTR13 | $59 | 13.0 dB | 28.2 dB | 0.6 Ω | 1.0 µV |
Of the 280 sources here, 279 reach 100 dB on both. 40 of them also publish an output impedance low enough for both under the one-eighth rule and a noise figure that stays below the audible-hiss threshold with both.
The cheapest of the 40 is the JadeAudio JA11, at $20. It leaves 4.0 dB of headroom on the Armature Art 24 and 21.7 dB on the ILLUSTRIOUS, its output impedance is 0.5 Ω against a one-eighth limit of 0.72 Ω and 3.12 Ω, and its noise figure puts the hiss floor 16 dB and 11 dB below the 20 dB SPL this site treats as the point where a quiet room stops hiding it.
| Model | As printed | Tolerance | Standard |
|---|---|---|---|
| Armature Art 24 | 7Hz-35kHz | not printed | not printed |
| 20Hz-20kHz (IEC60318-4, -3dB) | -3 dB | IEC60318-4 | |
| ILLUSTRIOUS | 10-50kHz (IEC61094, Free Field) | not printed | IEC61094 (free field) |
| 20Hz-20kHz (IEC60318-4, -3dB) | -3 dB | IEC60318-4 |
Moondrop prints two ranges, “7Hz-35kHz” and “20Hz-20kHz (IEC60318-4, -3dB)”, for the Armature Art 24 and two ranges, “10-50kHz (IEC61094, Free Field)” and “20Hz-20kHz (IEC60318-4, -3dB)”, for the ILLUSTRIOUS.
Both sheets print a tolerance, which is rare enough to be worth pointing at: only 58 of the 490 models with a printed range do. These two ranges can be set against each other, because each of them says how far down the response is allowed to be at the ends.
Not a measurement; maker by maker.
Both have a page of their own. In full: Moondrop Armature Art 24 and Moondrop ILLUSTRIOUS. Every figure on this page comes from what Moondrop published, or is derived from it — what that maker publishes, counted.