C5 vs T3 Plus: which needs more amplifier?

The Tin HiFi C5 is 9Ω at 98.5 dB/mW; the Tin HiFi T3 Plus is 32Ω at 105.0 dB/mW. 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 C5 needs 6.5 dB more than the T3 Plus to reach the same loudness — 1.4 mW against 0.32 mW.

The numbers that decide it

SpecificationC5T3 Plus
Impedance9 Ω32 Ω
Sensitivity98.5 dB/mW105.0 dB/mW
Sensitivity (voltage)119.0 dB/V119.9 dB/V
Power for 100 dB1.4 mW0.32 mW
Voltage for 100 dB0.11 V0.10 V
Current for 100 dB12.5 mA3.1 mA
Highest source impedance
that leaves them alone (one-eighth rule)
1.12 Ω4.00 Ω
Sources that reach 100 dB
out of 280
280280

Where the two part company

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 T3 Plus under the one-eighth rule but not for the C5 (FiiO KA13, FiiO K11, Schiit Vali 2+, 8 more).

280 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: Tin HiFi C5 and Tin HiFi T3 Plus. Every figure on this page comes from what Tin HiFi published, or is derived from it — what that maker publishes, counted.