EA500 vs EW300: which needs more amplifier?

The Simgot EA500 is 16Ω at 123.0 dB (no reference unit printed); the Simgot EW300 is 28Ω at 105.5 dB/mW. This page covers what they ask of an amplifier, not how they sound.

The EW300 needs 17.5 dB more than the EA500 to reach the same loudness — 0.28 mW against 0.01 mW.

The numbers that decide it

SpecificationEA500EW300
Impedance16 Ω28 Ω
Sensitivity123.0 dB105.5 dB/mW
Sensitivity (voltage)141.0 dB/V121.0 dB/V
Power for 100 dB0.01 mW0.28 mW
Voltage for 100 dB9 mV89 mV
Current for 100 dB0.6 mA3.2 mA
Highest source impedance
that leaves them alone (one-eighth rule)
2.00 Ω3.50 Ω
Sources that reach 100 dB
out of 280
280280

One caution before reading the rows. Simgot EA500 printed a decibel figure with no reference unit, so this page reads it as per milliwatt. If it is really per volt, that model needs far more than the table says. Why the two readings differ by so much.

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.

77 sources stay below the audible-hiss threshold with the EW300 but cross it with the EA500 (JadeAudio JA11, Kiwi Ears Allegro Mini, FiiO KA11, 74 more).

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

What each one needs from 80 to 105 dB

The EW300 is more demanding than 27% of the 567 non-electrostatic models in this database; the EA500 than 0%.

dB SPLEA500 powerEA500 voltageEW300 powerEW300 voltage
800.1 µW1 mV2.8 µW9 mV
850.2 µW2 mV8.9 µW16 mV
900.5 µW3 mV0.03 mW28 mV
951.6 µW5 mV0.09 mW50 mV
1005.0 µW9 mV0.28 mW89 mV
1050.02 mW16 mV0.89 mW0.16 V

The cheapest source that satisfies both

SourcePriceHeadroom, EA500Headroom, EW300Output impedanceNoise
Topping L30 II$14958.4 dB40.0 dB0.1 Ω0.3 µV
Topping A30 Pro$24960.8 dB42.9 dB0.1 Ω0.3 µV
Topping A90$49953.0 dB37.9 dB0.1 Ω0.2 µV

Of the 280 sources here, 280 reach 100 dB on both. 5 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 5 is the Topping L30 II, at $149. It leaves 58.4 dB of headroom on the EA500 and 40.0 dB on the EW300, its output impedance is 0.1 Ω against a one-eighth limit of 2.00 Ω and 3.50 Ω, and its noise figure puts the hiss floor 9 dB and 29 dB below the 20 dB SPL this site treats as the point where a quiet room stops hiding it.

Try any other source.

Both pages in full

Both have a page of their own. In full: Simgot EA500 and Simgot EW300. Each figure on this page is labelled on those pages with where it came from, including the ones Simgot never published — what that maker publishes, counted.

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