Crimson vs Zenith: which needs more amplifier?

The Symphonium Crimson is 6.05Ω at 83.8 dB/mW; the Symphonium Zenith is 6.1Ω at 85.9 dB/mW. This page covers what they ask of an amplifier, not how they sound.

The Crimson needs 2.1 dB more than the Zenith to reach the same loudness — 42 mW against 26 mW.

Side by side

The numbers that decide it

Specification	Crimson	Zenith
Impedance	6.05 Ω	6.1 Ω
Sensitivity	83.8 dB/mW	85.9 dB/mW
Sensitivity (voltage)	106.0 dB/V	108.0 dB/V
Power for 100 dB	42 mW	26 mW
Voltage for 100 dB	0.50 V	0.40 V
Current for 100 dB	83.0 mA	64.9 mA
Highest source impedance that leaves them alone (one-eighth rule)	0.76 Ω	0.76 Ω
Sources that reach 100 dB out of 280	166	197

What separates them

Where the two part company

31 of the 280 sources have the power for the Zenith but not for the Crimson — FiiO SnowSky Tiny B, Tanchjim Stargate II, ddHiFi TC35Air, 28 more.

166 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 Crimson is more demanding than 96% of the 567 non-electrostatic models in this database; the Zenith than 87%.

dB SPL	Crimson power	Crimson voltage	Zenith power	Zenith voltage
80	0.42 mW	50 mV	0.26 mW	40 mV
85	1.3 mW	89 mV	0.81 mW	70 mV
90	4.2 mW	0.16 V	2.6 mW	0.13 V
95	13 mW	0.28 V	8.1 mW	0.22 V
100	42 mW	0.50 V	26 mW	0.40 V
105	132 mW	0.89 V	81 mW	0.70 V

What drives both

The cheapest source that satisfies both

Source	Price	Headroom, Crimson	Headroom, Zenith	Output impedance	Noise
FiiO KA11	$29	3.5 dB	5.6 dB	0.7 Ω	1.7 µV
FiiO BTR13	$59	0.4 dB	2.5 dB	0.6 Ω	1.0 µV
FiiO KA3	$79	0.4 dB	2.5 dB	0.5 Ω	1.7 µV

Of the 280 sources here, 166 reach 100 dB on both. 41 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 41 is the FiiO KA11, at $29. It leaves 3.5 dB of headroom on the Crimson and 5.6 dB on the Zenith, its output impedance is 0.7 Ω against a one-eighth limit of 0.76 Ω and 0.76 Ω, and its noise figure puts the hiss floor 29 dB and 27 dB below the 20 dB SPL this site treats as the point where a quiet room stops hiding it.

Try any other source.

Frequency response

What each sheet prints, and what it is worth

Model	As printed	Tolerance	Standard
Crimson	10Hz - 24kHz, ± 2 dB	±2 dB	not printed
Zenith	10Hz - 20kHz, ± 2 dB	±2 dB	not printed

Symphonium prints 10Hz - 24kHz, ± 2 dB for the Crimson and 10Hz - 20kHz, ± 2 dB for the Zenith.

Both sheets print a tolerance, which is rare enough to be worth pointing at: only 58 of the 490 models with a printed range do. These two ranges can be set against each other, because each of them says how far down the response is allowed to be at the ends.

Not a measurement; maker by maker.

Both pages in full

Both have a page of their own. In full: Symphonium Crimson and Symphonium Zenith. Every figure on this page comes from what Symphonium published, or is derived from it — what that maker publishes, counted.