EA500LM vs EW300: which needs more amplifier?

The Simgot EA500LM is 21Ω at 106.2 dB/mW; 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 0.7 dB more than the EA500LM to reach the same loudness — 0.28 mW against 0.24 mW.

Side by side

The numbers that decide it

Specification	EA500LM	EW300
Impedance	21 Ω	28 Ω
Sensitivity	106.2 dB/mW	105.5 dB/mW
Sensitivity (voltage)	123.0 dB/V	121.0 dB/V
Power for 100 dB	0.24 mW	0.28 mW
Voltage for 100 dB	71 mV	89 mV
Current for 100 dB	3.4 mA	3.2 mA
Highest source impedance that leaves them alone (one-eighth rule)	2.62 Ω	3.50 Ω
Sources that reach 100 dB out of 280	280	280

What separates them

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 stay below the audible-hiss threshold with the EW300 but cross it with the EA500LM (FiiO BTR11, FiiO K11 R2R, Rupert Neve RNHP).

280 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 EW300 is more demanding than 27% of the 567 non-electrostatic models in this database; the EA500LM than 22%.

dB SPL	EA500LM power	EA500LM voltage	EW300 power	EW300 voltage
80	2.4 µW	7 mV	2.8 µW	9 mV
85	7.6 µW	13 mV	8.9 µW	16 mV
90	0.02 mW	22 mV	0.03 mW	28 mV
95	0.08 mW	40 mV	0.09 mW	50 mV
100	0.24 mW	71 mV	0.28 mW	89 mV
105	0.76 mW	0.13 V	0.89 mW	0.16 V

What drives both

The cheapest source that satisfies both

Source	Price	Headroom, EA500LM	Headroom, EW300	Output impedance	Noise
JadeAudio JA11	$20	19.1 dB	19.7 dB	0.5 Ω	1.7 µV
FiiO KA11	$29	29.6 dB	28.6 dB	0.7 Ω	1.7 µV
FiiO BTR13	$59	26.6 dB	25.6 dB	0.6 Ω	1.0 µV

Of the 280 sources here, 280 reach 100 dB on both. 66 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 66 is the JadeAudio JA11, at $20. It leaves 19.1 dB of headroom on the EA500LM and 19.7 dB on the EW300, its output impedance is 0.5 Ω against a one-eighth limit of 2.62 Ω and 3.50 Ω, and its noise figure puts the hiss floor 12 dB and 14 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 EA500LM 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.