PARA vs SKYLAND: which needs more amplifier?

The Moondrop PARA is 8Ω at 80.0 dB/mW; the Moondrop SKYLAND is 60Ω at 83.8 dB/mW. This page covers what they ask of an amplifier, not how they sound.

The PARA needs 3.8 dB more than the SKYLAND to reach the same loudness — 100 mW against 42 mW.

Side by side

The numbers that decide it

Specification	PARA	SKYLAND
Impedance	8 Ω	60 Ω
Sensitivity	80.0 dB/mW	83.8 dB/mW
Sensitivity (voltage)	101.0 dB/V	96.0 dB/V
Power for 100 dB	100 mW	42 mW
Voltage for 100 dB	0.89 V	1.58 V
Current for 100 dB	111.8 mA	26.4 mA
Highest source impedance that leaves them alone (one-eighth rule)	1.00 Ω	7.50 Ω
Sources that reach 100 dB out of 280	130	235

What separates them

Where the two part company

105 of the 280 sources have the power for the SKYLAND but not for the PARA — ddHiFi TC35Air, ddHiFi TC35AL, Fosi Audio N3, 102 more.

13 sources are low enough in output impedance for the SKYLAND under the one-eighth rule but not for the PARA (FiiO KA13, FiiO K11, Schiit Vali 2+, 10 more).

130 of the 280 sources here reach 100 dB on both.

At the level you actually listen at

What each one needs from 80 to 105 dB

The PARA is more demanding than 100% of the 567 non-electrostatic models in this database; the SKYLAND than 99%.

dB SPL	PARA power	PARA voltage	SKYLAND power	SKYLAND voltage
80	1.0 mW	89 mV	0.42 mW	0.16 V
85	3.2 mW	0.16 V	1.3 mW	0.28 V
90	10 mW	0.28 V	4.2 mW	0.50 V
95	32 mW	0.50 V	13 mW	0.89 V
100	100 mW	0.89 V	42 mW	1.58 V
105	316 mW	1.59 V	132 mW	2.81 V

What drives both

The cheapest source that satisfies both

Source	Price	Headroom, PARA	Headroom, SKYLAND	Output impedance	Noise
FiiO KA11	$29	0.9 dB	4.1 dB	0.7 Ω	1.7 µV
JDS Labs Atom+ (2nd gen)	$99	4.0 dB	12.2 dB	0.7 Ω	1.99 µV
FiiO KA15	$109	1.6 dB	3.6 dB	0.8 Ω	1.7 µV

Of the 280 sources here, 130 reach 100 dB on both. 53 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 53 is the FiiO KA11, at $29. It leaves 0.9 dB of headroom on the PARA and 4.1 dB on the SKYLAND, its output impedance is 0.7 Ω against a one-eighth limit of 1.00 Ω and 7.50 Ω, and its noise figure puts the hiss floor 34 dB and 39 dB below the 20 dB SPL this site treats as the point where a quiet room stops hiding it.

Try any other source.

Frequency response

What each sheet prints, and what it is worth

Model	As printed	Tolerance	Standard
PARA	15-53kHz (IEC61094, Free Field)	not printed	IEC61094 (free field)
	20-20kHz (IEC60318-4, -3dB)	-3 dB	IEC60318-4
SKYLAND	8Hz - 34kHz (IEC61094, FreeField)	not printed	IEC61094 (free field)
	20Hz - 20kHz (IEC60318-4, -3dB)	-3 dB	IEC60318-4

Moondrop prints two ranges, “15-53kHz (IEC61094, Free Field)” and “20-20kHz (IEC60318-4, -3dB)”, for the PARA and two ranges, “8Hz - 34kHz (IEC61094, FreeField)” and “20Hz - 20kHz (IEC60318-4, -3dB)”, for the SKYLAND.

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 pages in full

Both have a page of their own. In full: Moondrop PARA and Moondrop SKYLAND. Every figure on this page comes from what Moondrop published, or is derived from it — what that maker publishes, counted.