RSV vs Volume: which needs more amplifier?

The Softears RSV is 8Ω at 104.0 dB/mW; the Softears Volume is 5Ω at 100.7 dB/mW. 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 Volume needs 3.3 dB more than the RSV to reach the same loudness — 0.85 mW against 0.40 mW.

The numbers that decide it

SpecificationRSVVolume
Impedance8 Ω5 Ω
Sensitivity104.0 dB/mW100.7 dB/mW
Sensitivity (voltage)125.0 dB/V123.7 dB/V
Power for 100 dB0.40 mW0.85 mW
Voltage for 100 dB56 mV65 mV
Current for 100 dB7.1 mA13.0 mA
Highest source impedance
that leaves them alone (one-eighth rule)
1.00 Ω0.62 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.

42 sources are low enough in output impedance for the RSV under the one-eighth rule but not for the Volume (FiiO SnowSky Tiny B, FiiO KA11, JDS Labs Atom+ (2nd gen), 39 more).

4 sources stay below the audible-hiss threshold with the Volume but cross it with the RSV (Lake People G103-S Mk II, RME Babyface Pro FS, Violectric V222, 1 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.

Both pages in full

Each model has a page of its own with the full source list, the hiss estimate and the provenance of every figure above: Softears RSV and Softears Volume. Every figure on this page comes from what Softears published, or is derived from it — what that maker publishes, counted.