Dusk (2024) vs Quarks: which needs more amplifier?

The Moondrop Dusk (2024) is 14.5Ω at 100.6 dB/mW; the Moondrop Quarks is 16Ω at 98.0 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 Quarks needs 2.6 dB more than the Dusk (2024) to reach the same loudness — 1.6 mW against 0.87 mW.

The numbers that decide it

SpecificationDusk (2024)Quarks
Impedance14.5 Ω16 Ω
Sensitivity100.6 dB/mW98.0 dB/mW
Sensitivity (voltage)119.0 dB/V116.0 dB/V
Power for 100 dB0.87 mW1.6 mW
Voltage for 100 dB0.11 V0.16 V
Current for 100 dB7.8 mA10.0 mA
Highest source impedance
that leaves them alone (one-eighth rule)
1.81 Ω2.00 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.

3 sources are low enough in output impedance for the Quarks under the one-eighth rule but not for the Dusk (2024) (Astell&Kern HC3, RME Fireface UFX II, RME Fireface UFX III).

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 Dusk (2024) and Moondrop Quarks. Every figure on this page comes from what Moondrop published, or is derived from it — what that maker publishes, counted.