Hype 10 vs Hype 2: which needs more amplifier?

The Thieaudio Hype 10 is 18Ω at 87.6 dB/mW; the Thieaudio Hype 2 is 16Ω at 104.0 dB (no figure from the maker at all). 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 Hype 10 needs 16.4 dB more than the Hype 2 to reach the same loudness — 17 mW against 0.40 mW.

The numbers that decide it

SpecificationHype 10Hype 2
Impedance18 Ω16 Ω
Sensitivity87.6 dB/mW104.0 dB
Sensitivity (voltage)105.0 dB/V122.0 dB/V
Power for 100 dB17 mW0.40 mW
Voltage for 100 dB0.56 V80 mV
Current for 100 dB31.1 mA5.0 mA
Highest source impedance
that leaves them alone (one-eighth rule)
2.25 Ω2.00 Ω
Sources that reach 100 dB
out of 280
264280

One caution before reading the rows. For Thieaudio Hype 2 the maker publishes no sensitivity figure at all. The number in the table was collected when this database was first built and has never been traced to a manufacturer document, so treat every row below it as an estimate rather than a specification.

Where the two part company

16 of the 280 sources have the power for the Hype 2 but not for the Hype 10 — Apple USB-C dongle (US), Apple USB-C dongle (EU), JadeAudio JA11, 13 more.

2 sources stay below the audible-hiss threshold with the Hype 10 but cross it with the Hype 2 (FiiO BTR11, Rupert Neve RNHP).

264 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: Thieaudio Hype 10 and Thieaudio Hype 2. Each figure on this page is labelled on those pages with where it came from, including the ones Thieaudio never published — what that maker publishes, counted.