C5 vs T4 Plus: which needs more amplifier?

The Tin HiFi C5 is 9Ω at 98.5 dB/mW; the Tin HiFi T4 Plus is 32Ω at 106.0 dB/mW. This page covers what they ask of an amplifier, not how they sound.

The C5 needs 7.5 dB more than the T4 Plus to reach the same loudness — 1.4 mW against 0.25 mW.

Side by side

The numbers that decide it

Specification	C5	T4 Plus
Impedance	9 Ω	32 Ω
Sensitivity	98.5 dB/mW	106.0 dB/mW
Sensitivity (voltage)	119.0 dB/V	120.9 dB/V
Power for 100 dB	1.4 mW	0.25 mW
Voltage for 100 dB	0.11 V	90 mV
Current for 100 dB	12.5 mA	2.8 mA
Highest source impedance that leaves them alone (one-eighth rule)	1.12 Ω	4.00 Ω
Sources that reach 100 dB out of 280	280	280

What separates them

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 T4 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.

At the level you actually listen at

What each one needs from 80 to 105 dB

The C5 is more demanding than 38% of the 567 non-electrostatic models in this database; the T4 Plus than 29%.

dB SPL	C5 power	C5 voltage	T4 Plus power	T4 Plus voltage
80	0.01 mW	11 mV	2.5 µW	9 mV
85	0.04 mW	20 mV	7.9 µW	16 mV
90	0.14 mW	36 mV	0.03 mW	28 mV
95	0.45 mW	63 mV	0.08 mW	50 mV
100	1.4 mW	0.11 V	0.25 mW	90 mV
105	4.5 mW	0.20 V	0.79 mW	0.16 V

What drives both

The cheapest source that satisfies both

Source	Price	Headroom, C5	Headroom, T4 Plus	Output impedance	Noise
JadeAudio JA11	$20	7.8 dB	20.8 dB	0.5 Ω	1.7 µV
FiiO KA11	$29	19.9 dB	29.0 dB	0.7 Ω	1.7 µV
FiiO BTR11	$36	12.5 dB	20.8 dB	0.5 Ω	8.0 µV

Of the 280 sources here, 280 reach 100 dB on both. 62 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 62 is the JadeAudio JA11, at $20. It leaves 7.8 dB of headroom on the C5 and 20.8 dB on the T4 Plus, its output impedance is 0.5 Ω against a one-eighth limit of 1.12 Ω and 4.00 Ω, and its noise figure puts the hiss floor 16 dB and 14 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
C5	nothing printed	—	—
T4 Plus	nothing printed	—	—

Tin HiFi prints the same thing for both the C5 and the T4 Plus: nothing at all.

There is nothing here to compare, and that is worth saying plainly rather than filling the gap with somebody else’s measurement. Of the 578 models checked against a maker document so far, 490 carry a printed range and only 58 of those print the ±dB tolerance that would make a range mean anything.

Not a measurement; maker by maker.

Both pages in full

Both have a page of their own. In full: Tin HiFi C5 and Tin HiFi T4 Plus. Every figure on this page comes from what Tin HiFi published, or is derived from it — what that maker publishes, counted.