Titan vs Zenith: which needs more amplifier?

The Symphonium Titan is 3.0Ω at 79.8 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 Titan needs 6.1 dB more than the Zenith to reach the same loudness — 105 mW against 26 mW.

Side by side

The numbers that decide it

Specification	Titan	Zenith
Impedance	3.0 Ω	6.1 Ω
Sensitivity	79.8 dB/mW	85.9 dB/mW
Sensitivity (voltage)	105.0 dB/V	108.0 dB/V
Power for 100 dB	105 mW	26 mW
Voltage for 100 dB	0.56 V	0.40 V
Current for 100 dB	186.8 mA	64.9 mA
Highest source impedance that leaves them alone (one-eighth rule)	0.38 Ω	0.76 Ω
Sources that reach 100 dB out of 280	85	197

What separates them

Where the two part company

112 of the 280 sources have the power for the Zenith but not for the Titan — FiiO SnowSky Tiny B, FiiO KA11, Tanchjim Stargate II, 109 more.

30 sources are low enough in output impedance for the Zenith under the one-eighth rule but not for the Titan (JadeAudio JA11, FiiO SnowSky Tiny A, FiiO KA11, 27 more).

85 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 Titan is more demanding than 100% of the 567 non-electrostatic models in this database; the Zenith than 87%.

dB SPL	Titan power	Titan voltage	Zenith power	Zenith voltage
80	1.0 mW	56 mV	0.26 mW	40 mV
85	3.3 mW	100 mV	0.81 mW	70 mV
90	10 mW	0.18 V	2.6 mW	0.13 V
95	33 mW	0.32 V	8.1 mW	0.22 V
100	105 mW	0.56 V	26 mW	0.40 V
105	331 mW	1.00 V	81 mW	0.70 V

What drives both

The cheapest source that satisfies both

Source	Price	Headroom, Titan	Headroom, Zenith	Output impedance	Noise
Schiit Magni Unity	$119	7.3 dB	16.5 dB	0.1 Ω	1.59 µV
Topping L30 II	$149	8.0 dB	17.2 dB	0.1 Ω	0.3 µV
SMSL HO100	$160	7.3 dB	16.5 dB	<0.1 Ω	1.3 µV

Of the 280 sources here, 85 reach 100 dB on both. 22 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 22 is the Schiit Magni Unity, at $119. It leaves 7.3 dB of headroom on the Titan and 16.5 dB on the Zenith, its output impedance is 0.1 Ω against a one-eighth limit of 0.38 Ω and 0.76 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
Titan	8Hz - 24kHz, ± 2 dB	±2 dB	not printed
Zenith	10Hz - 20kHz, ± 2 dB	±2 dB	not printed

Symphonium prints 8Hz - 24kHz, ± 2 dB for the Titan 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 Titan and Symphonium Zenith. Every figure on this page comes from what Symphonium published, or is derived from it — what that maker publishes, counted.