EM10 vs EW300: which needs more amplifier?

The Simgot EM10 is 41.6Ω 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 EM10 to reach the same loudness — 0.28 mW against 0.24 mW.

The numbers that decide it

SpecificationEM10EW300
Impedance41.6 Ω28 Ω
Sensitivity106.2 dB/mW105.5 dB/mW
Sensitivity (voltage)120.0 dB/V121.0 dB/V
Power for 100 dB0.24 mW0.28 mW
Voltage for 100 dB100 mV89 mV
Current for 100 dB2.4 mA3.2 mA
Highest source impedance
that leaves them alone (one-eighth rule)
5.20 Ω3.50 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.

1 source is low enough in output impedance for the EM10 under the one-eighth rule but not for the EW300 (Shanling H5).

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

What each one needs from 80 to 105 dB

The EM10 is more demanding than 32% of the 567 non-electrostatic models in this database; the EW300 than 27%.

dB SPLEM10 powerEM10 voltageEW300 powerEW300 voltage
802.4 µW10 mV2.8 µW9 mV
857.6 µW18 mV8.9 µW16 mV
900.02 mW32 mV0.03 mW28 mV
950.08 mW56 mV0.09 mW50 mV
1000.24 mW100 mV0.28 mW89 mV
1050.76 mW0.18 V0.89 mW0.16 V

The cheapest source that satisfies both

SourcePriceHeadroom, EM10Headroom, EW300Output impedanceNoise
JadeAudio JA11$2019.8 dB19.7 dB0.5 Ω1.7 µV
FiiO KA11$2928.1 dB28.6 dB0.7 Ω1.7 µV
FiiO BTR11$3619.8 dB20.6 dB0.5 Ω8.0 µV

Of the 280 sources here, 280 reach 100 dB on both. 69 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 69 is the JadeAudio JA11, at $20. It leaves 19.8 dB of headroom on the EM10 and 19.7 dB on the EW300, its output impedance is 0.5 Ω against a one-eighth limit of 5.20 Ω and 3.50 Ω, and its noise figure puts the hiss floor 15 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 EM10 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.

↑