Helios vs Triton: which needs more amplifier?

The Symphonium Helios is 8.5Ω at 83.3 dB/mW; the Symphonium Triton is 8.3Ω at 86.2 dB/mW. This page covers what they ask of an amplifier, not how they sound.

The Helios needs 2.9 dB more than the Triton to reach the same loudness — 47 mW against 24 mW.

Side by side

The numbers that decide it

Specification	Helios	Triton
Impedance	8.5 Ω	8.3 Ω
Sensitivity	83.3 dB/mW	86.2 dB/mW
Sensitivity (voltage)	104.0 dB/V	107.0 dB/V
Power for 100 dB	47 mW	24 mW
Voltage for 100 dB	0.63 V	0.45 V
Current for 100 dB	74.2 mA	53.8 mA
Highest source impedance that leaves them alone (one-eighth rule)	1.06 Ω	1.04 Ω
Sources that reach 100 dB out of 280	179	229

What separates them

Where the two part company

50 of the 280 sources have the power for the Triton but not for the Helios — FiiO SnowSky Tiny B, Tanchjim Stargate II, Fosi Audio N3, 47 more.

179 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 Helios is more demanding than 98% of the 567 non-electrostatic models in this database; the Triton than 86%.

dB SPL	Helios power	Helios voltage	Triton power	Triton voltage
80	0.47 mW	63 mV	0.24 mW	45 mV
85	1.5 mW	0.11 V	0.76 mW	79 mV
90	4.7 mW	0.20 V	2.4 mW	0.14 V
95	15 mW	0.35 V	7.6 mW	0.25 V
100	47 mW	0.63 V	24 mW	0.45 V
105	148 mW	1.12 V	76 mW	0.79 V

What drives both

The cheapest source that satisfies both

Source	Price	Headroom, Helios	Headroom, Triton	Output impedance	Noise
FiiO KA11	$29	4.4 dB	7.2 dB	0.7 Ω	1.7 µV
FiiO BTR13	$59	1.3 dB	4.1 dB	0.6 Ω	1.0 µV
FiiO KA3	$79	1.3 dB	4.1 dB	0.5 Ω	1.7 µV

Of the 280 sources here, 179 reach 100 dB on both. 60 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 60 is the FiiO KA11, at $29. It leaves 4.4 dB of headroom on the Helios and 7.2 dB on the Triton, its output impedance is 0.7 Ω against a one-eighth limit of 1.06 Ω and 1.04 Ω, and its noise figure puts the hiss floor 31 dB and 28 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
Helios	12Hz - 24kHz, ± 2 dB	±2 dB	not printed
Triton	11Hz - 21kHz, ± 3 dB	±3 dB	not printed

Symphonium prints 12Hz - 24kHz, ± 2 dB for the Helios and 11Hz - 21kHz, ± 3 dB for the Triton.

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 Helios and Symphonium Triton. Every figure on this page comes from what Symphonium published, or is derived from it — what that maker publishes, counted.