The Thieaudio Monarch MK3 is 20Ω at 99.0 dB (no reference unit printed); the Thieaudio Origin is 9Ω at 102.0 dB (no reference unit printed). This page covers what they ask of an amplifier, not how they sound.
The Monarch MK3 needs 3.0 dB more than the Origin to reach the same loudness — 1.3 mW against 0.63 mW.
| Specification | Monarch MK3 | Origin |
|---|---|---|
| Impedance | 20 Ω | 9 Ω |
| Sensitivity | 99.0 dB | 102.0 dB |
| Sensitivity (voltage) | 116.0 dB/V | 122.5 dB/V |
| Power for 100 dB | 1.3 mW | 0.63 mW |
| Voltage for 100 dB | 0.16 V | 75 mV |
| Current for 100 dB | 7.9 mA | 8.4 mA |
| Highest source impedance that leaves them alone (one-eighth rule) | 2.50 Ω | 1.12 Ω |
| Sources that reach 100 dB out of 280 | 280 | 280 |
One caution before reading the rows. Thieaudio Monarch MK3 and Thieaudio Origin printed a decibel figure with no reference unit, so this page reads it as per milliwatt. If it is really per volt, each of them needs far more than the table says. Why the two readings differ by so much.
Every source in the database that drives one of them drives the other. On power, the choice between these two changes nothing about what amplifier you need.
11 sources are low enough in output impedance for the Monarch MK3 under the one-eighth rule but not for the Origin (FiiO KA13, FiiO K11, Schiit Vali 2+, 8 more).
2 sources stay below the audible-hiss threshold with the Monarch MK3 but cross it with the Origin (FiiO BTR11, Rupert Neve RNHP).
280 of the 280 sources here reach 100 dB on both.
The Monarch MK3 is more demanding than 49% of the 567 non-electrostatic models in this database; the Origin than 24%.
| dB SPL | Monarch MK3 power | Monarch MK3 voltage | Origin power | Origin voltage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 80 | 0.01 mW | 16 mV | 6.3 µW | 8 mV |
| 85 | 0.04 mW | 28 mV | 0.02 mW | 13 mV |
| 90 | 0.13 mW | 50 mV | 0.06 mW | 24 mV |
| 95 | 0.40 mW | 89 mV | 0.20 mW | 42 mV |
| 100 | 1.3 mW | 0.16 V | 0.63 mW | 75 mV |
| 105 | 4.0 mW | 0.28 V | 2.0 mW | 0.13 V |
| Source | Price | Headroom, Monarch MK3 | Headroom, Origin | Output impedance | Noise |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| JadeAudio JA11 | $20 | 11.7 dB | 11.3 dB | 0.5 Ω | 1.7 µV |
| FiiO KA11 | $29 | 22.5 dB | 23.4 dB | 0.7 Ω | 1.7 µV |
| FiiO BTR13 | $59 | 19.4 dB | 20.3 dB | 0.6 Ω | 1.0 µV |
Of the 280 sources here, 280 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 JadeAudio JA11, at $20. It leaves 11.7 dB of headroom on the Monarch MK3 and 11.3 dB on the Origin, its output impedance is 0.5 Ω against a one-eighth limit of 2.50 Ω and 1.12 Ω, and its noise figure puts the hiss floor 19 dB and 13 dB below the 20 dB SPL this site treats as the point where a quiet room stops hiding it.
| Model | As printed | Tolerance | Standard |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monarch MK3 | nothing printed | — | — |
| Origin | 20Hz – 44kHz | not printed | not printed |
Thieaudio prints nothing at all for the Monarch MK3 and 20Hz – 44kHz for the Origin.
So one side of this comparison has a frequency-response number and the other does not — which changes less than it looks. The range printed for the Origin comes with no tolerance beside it, and a range without a ±dB figure says nothing about how loud the headphone is at either end of it: thirty decibels down at the bottom and the sentence would still be true. On the only reading that would have made it a specification, the two sheets say the same amount: nothing.
Not a measurement; maker by maker.
Both have a page of their own. In full: Thieaudio Monarch MK3 and Thieaudio Origin. 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.