The Austrian Audio Hi-X60 is 25Ω with a sensitivity of 94.0 dB/mW, which is 110.0 dB/V. To reach 100 dB SPL — genuinely loud, louder than most people listen — it needs 4.0 mW, or 0.32 V across the drivers.
That puts it in the easy category. A phone, a laptop headphone jack or the cheapest USB dongle will drive it to painful levels. Of the 280 sources in the database, 252 have at least 10 dB of headroom and another 28 have enough. The cheapest portable source that does the job is the Apple USB-C dongle (US) at $9.
Sensitivity here is in dB per milliwatt. Why the unit matters.
Austrian Audio publishes this as 110 dBspl/V (1 V (no measurement frequency stated)) — a figure per volt, not per milliwatt. At 25Ω the two differ by 16.0 dB, so the 94.0 dB/mW above is that published number converted, not a different measurement.
This is the conversion that online calculators skip. Quote the per-volt number as if it were per-milliwatt and this headphone looks 16 dB easier to drive than it is — which is roughly the difference between a dongle being enough and not being enough.
Source: austrian.audio. How this data was built.
| As it is labelled | As printed | Tolerance | Standard |
|---|---|---|---|
| Frequency range | 5Hz - 28kHz | not printed | not printed |
Austrian Audio prints 5Hz - 28kHz for the Austrian Audio Hi-X60, under the heading “Frequency range”. Source: austrian.audio.
No tolerance is printed with it, so “5Hz - 28kHz” says nothing about how loud this headphone actually is at 5 Hz.
Only what the maker printed; maker by maker.
| Level | What it is | Power | Voltage | Current |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 85 dB SPL | quiet background listening | 0.13 mW | 56 mV | 2.2 mA |
| 95 dB SPL | normal listening | 1.3 mW | 0.18 V | 7.1 mA |
| 100 dB SPL | loud listening | 4.0 mW | 0.32 V | 12.6 mA |
| 105 dB SPL | very loud | 13 mW | 0.56 V | 22.4 mA |
| 110 dB SPL | peaks on dynamic music | 40 mW | 1.00 V | 39.9 mA |
Most people listen between 75 and 85 dB; the 100 dB row leaves room for peaks.
The 15 cheapest of the 280 sources here that reach 100 dB SPL into 25Ω with at least 10 dB of headroom and no known hiss or output-impedance problem with these headphones. All 280 sources, judged for these headphones.
| Source | Type | Price | Power into 25Ω | Headroom | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FiiO SnowSky Tiny B | USB dongle | $22 | 44 mW | +10 dB | Comfortable |
| FiiO KA11 | USB dongle | $29 | 210 mW | +17 dB | Comfortable |
| Tanchjim Stargate II | USB dongle | $40 | 75 mW | +13 dB | Comfortable |
| ddHiFi TC35AL | USB dongle | $46 | 164 mW | +16 dB | Comfortable |
| ddHiFi TC35Air | USB dongle | $46 | 164 mW | +16 dB | Comfortable |
| Fosi Audio N3 | Bluetooth receiver | $50 | 108 mW | +14 dB | Comfortable |
| Hidizs SD2 | USB dongle | $50 | 55 mW | +11 dB | Comfortable |
| FiiO BTR13 | Bluetooth receiver | $59 | 104 mW | +14 dB | Comfortable |
| iFi GO link | USB dongle | $59 | 55 mW | +11 dB | Comfortable |
| Kiwi Ears Allegro Pro | USB dongle | $60 | 53 mW | +11 dB | Comfortable |
| ddHiFi TC35Pro (Mountain2) | USB dongle | $66 | 51 mW | +11 dB | Comfortable |
| iBasso DC03 Pro | USB dongle | $69 | 77 mW | +13 dB | Comfortable |
| DUNU DTC 480 | USB dongle | $70 | 51 mW | +11 dB | Comfortable |
| EPZ TP35 Pro | USB dongle | $70 | 88 mW | +13 dB | Comfortable |
| Tanchjim Space | USB dongle | $70 | 98 mW | +14 dB | Comfortable |
Hiss. At 110.0 dB/V these are sensitive enough to reveal a source's own noise floor. The noisiest source in the database, the Schiit Mjolnir 3, would put its hiss at roughly 18 dB SPL in these headphones — clearly audible in quiet passages. Check your own source.
Output impedance. At 25Ω these want a source output impedance below 3.12Ω to satisfy the one-eighth rule; 35 of the 192 sources that publish one miss it. Check yours here.
25Ω · 97.0 dB/mW · Easy
See requirements →25Ω · 102.0 dB/mW · Easy
See requirements →25Ω · 94.0 dB/mW · Easy
See requirements →120Ω · 100.8 dB/mW · Easy
See requirements →120Ω · 100.8 dB/mW · Easy
See requirements →64Ω · 98.1 dB/mW · Easy
See requirements →Compared with its stablemates: vs Hi-X15 · vs Hi-X20 · vs Hi-X25BT · vs Hi-X55.