DARKSABER vs HARMON: which needs more amplifier?

The Moondrop DARKSABER is 22Ω at 111.4 dB/mW; the Moondrop HARMON is 19Ω at 96.8 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 HARMON needs 14.6 dB more than the DARKSABER to reach the same loudness — 2.1 mW against 0.07 mW.

The numbers that decide it

SpecificationDARKSABERHARMON
Impedance22 Ω19 Ω
Sensitivity111.4 dB/mW96.8 dB/mW
Sensitivity (voltage)128.0 dB/V114.0 dB/V
Power for 100 dB0.07 mW2.1 mW
Voltage for 100 dB40 mV0.20 V
Current for 100 dB1.8 mA10.5 mA
Highest source impedance
that leaves them alone (one-eighth rule)
2.75 Ω2.38 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.

15 sources stay below the audible-hiss threshold with the HARMON but cross it with the DARKSABER (FiiO BTR11, FiiO K11 R2R, Lake People G103-S Mk II, 12 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: Moondrop DARKSABER and Moondrop HARMON. Every figure on this page comes from what Moondrop published, or is derived from it — what that maker publishes, counted.