Hype 10 vs Monarch MK3: which needs more amplifier?

The Thieaudio Hype 10 is 18Ω at 87.6 dB/mW; the Thieaudio Monarch MK3 is 20Ω at 99.0 dB (no reference unit printed). 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 11.4 dB more than the Monarch MK3 to reach the same loudness — 17 mW against 1.3 mW.

The numbers that decide it

SpecificationHype 10Monarch MK3
Impedance18 Ω20 Ω
Sensitivity87.6 dB/mW99.0 dB
Sensitivity (voltage)105.0 dB/V116.0 dB/V
Power for 100 dB17 mW1.3 mW
Voltage for 100 dB0.56 V0.16 V
Current for 100 dB31.1 mA7.9 mA
Highest source impedance
that leaves them alone (one-eighth rule)
2.25 Ω2.50 Ω
Sources that reach 100 dB
out of 280
264280

One caution before reading the rows. Thieaudio Monarch MK3 printed a decibel figure with no reference unit, so this page reads it as per milliwatt. If it is really per volt, that model needs far more than the table says. Why the two readings differ by so much.

Where the two part company

16 of the 280 sources have the power for the Monarch MK3 but not for the Hype 10 — Apple USB-C dongle (US), Apple USB-C dongle (EU), JadeAudio JA11, 13 more.

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 Monarch MK3. 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.