The Meze 105 AER is 42Ω with a sensitivity of 112.0 dB/mW, which is 125.8 dB/V. To reach 100 dB SPL — genuinely loud, louder than most people listen — it needs 0.06 mW, or 51 mV 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, 280 have at least 10 dB of headroom and another 0 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.
Meze publishes this directly as 112 dB SPL/mW (at 1 kHz), per milliwatt, so nothing was converted.
Source: mezeaudio.com. How this data was built.
| As it is labelled | As printed | Tolerance | Standard |
|---|---|---|---|
| Frequency Range | 5 Hz - 30 kHz | not printed | not printed |
Meze prints 5 Hz - 30 kHz for the Meze 105 AER, under the heading “Frequency Range”. Source: mezeaudio.com.
No tolerance is printed with it, so “5 Hz - 30 kHz” 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 | 0.00 mW | 9 mV | 0.2 mA |
| 95 dB SPL | normal listening | 0.02 mW | 29 mV | 0.7 mA |
| 100 dB SPL | loud listening | 0.06 mW | 51 mV | 1.2 mA |
| 105 dB SPL | very loud | 0.20 mW | 92 mV | 2.2 mA |
| 110 dB SPL | peaks on dynamic music | 0.63 mW | 0.16 V | 3.9 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 42Ω 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 42Ω | Headroom | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FiiO SnowSky Tiny A | USB dongle | $22 | 26 mW | +26 dB | Comfortable |
| FiiO SnowSky Tiny B | USB dongle | $22 | 26 mW | +26 dB | Comfortable |
| Tanchjim Stargate II | USB dongle | $40 | 57 mW | +30 dB | Comfortable |
| ddHiFi TC35AL | USB dongle | $46 | 160 mW | +34 dB | Comfortable |
| ddHiFi TC35Air | USB dongle | $46 | 160 mW | +34 dB | Comfortable |
| Fosi Audio N3 | Bluetooth receiver | $50 | 105 mW | +32 dB | Comfortable |
| Hidizs SD2 | USB dongle | $50 | 53 mW | +29 dB | Comfortable |
| iFi GO link | USB dongle | $59 | 55 mW | +29 dB | Comfortable |
| Kiwi Ears Allegro Pro | USB dongle | $60 | 52 mW | +29 dB | Comfortable |
| ddHiFi TC35Pro (Mountain2) | USB dongle | $66 | 50 mW | +29 dB | Comfortable |
| DUNU DTC 480 | USB dongle | $70 | 50 mW | +29 dB | Comfortable |
| EPZ TP35 Pro | USB dongle | $70 | 85 mW | +31 dB | Comfortable |
| Aiyima A2 Pro | desktop DAC/amp | $75 | 114 mW | +33 dB | Comfortable |
| ddHiFi TC35Pro (Eye2) | USB dongle | $76 | 50 mW | +29 dB | Comfortable |
| ddHiFi TC44 Pro E2 | USB dongle | $99 | 190 mW | +35 dB | Comfortable |
Hiss. At 125.8 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 34 dB SPL in these headphones — clearly audible in quiet passages. Check your own source.
Output impedance. At 42Ω these want a source output impedance below 5.25Ω to satisfy the one-eighth rule; 34 of the 192 sources that publish one miss it. Check yours here.
42Ω · 112.0 dB/mW · Easy
See requirements →40Ω · 112.0 dB/mW · Easy
See requirements →40Ω · 111.0 dB/mW · Easy
See requirements →32Ω · 111.1 dB/mW · Easy
See requirements →38Ω · 112.0 dB/mW · Easy
See requirements →20Ω · 108.0 dB · Easy
See requirements →Compared with its stablemates: vs 99 Classics · vs 99 Classics (2nd Gen) · vs 99 Neo · vs ARTA · vs Elite · vs Elite Tungsten · vs Empyrean · vs Empyrean II · vs Liric · vs POET · vs STRADA.