The Sennheiser HD 480 PRO is 130Ω at 98.0 dB/mW; the Sennheiser HD 579 is 50Ω at 93.0 dB (no figure from the maker at all). 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 HD 579 needs 5.0 dB more than the HD 480 PRO to reach the same loudness — 5.0 mW against 1.6 mW.
| Specification | HD 480 PRO | HD 579 |
|---|---|---|
| Impedance | 130 Ω | 50 Ω |
| Sensitivity | 98.0 dB/mW | 93.0 dB |
| Sensitivity (voltage) | 106.9 dB/V | 106.0 dB/V |
| Power for 100 dB | 1.6 mW | 5.0 mW |
| Voltage for 100 dB | 0.45 V | 0.50 V |
| Current for 100 dB | 3.5 mA | 10.0 mA |
| Highest source impedance that leaves them alone (one-eighth rule) | 16.25 Ω | 6.25 Ω |
| Sources that reach 100 dB out of 280 | 280 | 280 |
One caution before reading the rows. For Sennheiser HD 579 the maker publishes no sensitivity figure at all. The number in the table was collected when this database was first built and has never been traced to a manufacturer document, so treat every row below it as an estimate rather than a specification.
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.
17 sources are low enough in output impedance for the HD 480 PRO under the one-eighth rule but not for the HD 579 (Zoom AMS-22, Arturia MiniFuse 2, Arturia MiniFuse 1, 14 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: Sennheiser HD 480 PRO and Sennheiser HD 579. Each figure on this page is labelled on those pages with where it came from, including the ones Sennheiser never published — what that maker publishes, counted.