Meteor vs Zenith: which needs more amplifier?

The Symphonium Meteor is 9.7Ω at 90.9 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 Zenith needs 5.0 dB more than the Meteor to reach the same loudness — 26 mW against 8.1 mW.

Side by side

The numbers that decide it

Specification	Meteor	Zenith
Impedance	9.7 Ω	6.1 Ω
Sensitivity	90.9 dB/mW	85.9 dB/mW
Sensitivity (voltage)	111.0 dB/V	108.0 dB/V
Power for 100 dB	8.1 mW	26 mW
Voltage for 100 dB	0.28 V	0.40 V
Current for 100 dB	28.9 mA	64.9 mA
Highest source impedance that leaves them alone (one-eighth rule)	1.21 Ω	0.76 Ω
Sources that reach 100 dB out of 280	271	197

What separates them

Where the two part company

74 of the 280 sources have the power for the Meteor but not for the Zenith — Apple USB-C dongle (US), Generic CX31993 dongles, JadeAudio JA11, 71 more.

41 sources are low enough in output impedance for the Meteor under the one-eighth rule but not for the Zenith (FiiO SnowSky Tiny B, FiiO KA15, FiiO BTR15, 38 more).

197 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 Zenith is more demanding than 87% of the 567 non-electrostatic models in this database; the Meteor than 71%.

dB SPL	Meteor power	Meteor voltage	Zenith power	Zenith voltage
80	0.08 mW	28 mV	0.26 mW	40 mV
85	0.26 mW	50 mV	0.81 mW	70 mV
90	0.81 mW	89 mV	2.6 mW	0.13 V
95	2.6 mW	0.16 V	8.1 mW	0.22 V
100	8.1 mW	0.28 V	26 mW	0.40 V
105	26 mW	0.50 V	81 mW	0.70 V

What drives both

The cheapest source that satisfies both

Source	Price	Headroom, Meteor	Headroom, Zenith	Output impedance	Noise
FiiO KA11	$29	12.6 dB	5.6 dB	0.7 Ω	1.7 µV
FiiO BTR13	$59	9.5 dB	2.5 dB	0.6 Ω	1.0 µV
FiiO KA3	$79	9.5 dB	2.5 dB	0.5 Ω	1.7 µV

Of the 280 sources here, 197 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 12.6 dB of headroom on the Meteor and 5.6 dB on the Zenith, its output impedance is 0.7 Ω against a one-eighth limit of 1.21 Ω and 0.76 Ω, and its noise figure puts the hiss floor 24 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
Meteor	12Hz - 21kHz, ± 3 dB	±3 dB	not printed
Zenith	10Hz - 20kHz, ± 2 dB	±2 dB	not printed

Symphonium prints 12Hz - 21kHz, ± 3 dB for the Meteor 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 Meteor and Symphonium Zenith. Every figure on this page comes from what Symphonium published, or is derived from it — what that maker publishes, counted.