The Meze ARTA is 225Ω with a sensitivity of 98.0 dB/mW, which is 104.5 dB/V. To reach 100 dB SPL — genuinely loud, louder than most people listen — it needs 1.6 mW, or 0.60 V across the drivers.
That is a moderate load. Most USB dongles handle it without complaint; the weakest phone outputs will run out of volume before they run out of quality. 277 of 280 sources here have enough headroom. 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 98 dB SPL/mW (at 1 kHz), per milliwatt, so nothing was converted.
The maker adds a power recommendation of its own: Minimum 200 mW output power (225Ω) recommended; 500 mW or greater recommended for ideal performance (this is a recommended AMPLIFIER output, not a headphone power-handling rating)
Source: mezeaudio.com. How this data was built.
| As it is labelled | As printed | Tolerance | Standard |
|---|---|---|---|
| Frequency Range | 3 Hz - 115 kHz | not printed | not printed |
Meze prints 3 Hz - 115 kHz for the Meze ARTA, under the heading “Frequency Range”. Source: mezeaudio.com.
No tolerance is printed with it, so “3 Hz - 115 kHz” says nothing about how loud this headphone actually is at 3 Hz.
Only what the maker printed; maker by maker.
| Level | What it is | Power | Voltage | Current |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 85 dB SPL | quiet background listening | 0.05 mW | 0.11 V | 0.5 mA |
| 95 dB SPL | normal listening | 0.50 mW | 0.34 V | 1.5 mA |
| 100 dB SPL | loud listening | 1.6 mW | 0.60 V | 2.7 mA |
| 105 dB SPL | very loud | 5.0 mW | 1.06 V | 4.7 mA |
| 110 dB SPL | peaks on dynamic music | 16 mW | 1.89 V | 8.4 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 225Ω 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 225Ω | Headroom | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FiiO KA11 | USB dongle | $29 | 29 mW | +13 dB | Comfortable |
| ddHiFi TC35AL | USB dongle | $46 | 30 mW | +13 dB | Comfortable |
| ddHiFi TC35Air | USB dongle | $46 | 30 mW | +13 dB | Comfortable |
| Fosi Audio N3 | Bluetooth receiver | $50 | 20 mW | +11 dB | Comfortable |
| iFi GO link | USB dongle | $59 | 16 mW | +10 dB | Comfortable |
| Tempotec Sonata BHD Pro | USB dongle | $60 | 40 mW | +14 dB | Comfortable |
| EPZ TP35 Pro | USB dongle | $70 | 16 mW | +10 dB | Comfortable |
| Tanchjim Space | USB dongle | $70 | 18 mW | +10 dB | Comfortable |
| Truthear SHIO | USB dongle | $70 | 18 mW | +10 dB | Comfortable |
| Aiyima A2 Pro | desktop DAC/amp | $75 | 21 mW | +11 dB | Comfortable |
| Moondrop Dawn Pro | USB dongle | $75 | 18 mW | +10 dB | Comfortable |
| FiiO KA3 | USB dongle | $79 | 19 mW | +11 dB | Comfortable |
| FiiO KA5 | USB dongle | $99 | 18 mW | +11 dB | Comfortable |
| JDS Labs Atom+ (2nd gen) | desktop amplifier | $99 | 363 mW | +24 dB | Comfortable |
| Schiit Magni Heresy | desktop amplifier | $99 | 485 mW | +25 dB | Comfortable |
Hiss. At 104.5 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 12 dB SPL in these headphones — clearly audible in quiet passages. Check your own source.
Output impedance. At 225Ω these want a source output impedance below 28.12Ω to satisfy the one-eighth rule; 16 of the 192 sources that publish one miss it. Check yours here.
61Ω · 100.0 dB/mW · Easy
See requirements →55Ω · 101.0 dB/mW · Easy
See requirements →42Ω · 112.0 dB/mW · Easy
See requirements →35Ω · 90.0 dB · Moderate
See requirements →35Ω · 90.0 dB · Moderate
See requirements →35Ω · 90.0 dB/mW · Moderate
See requirements →Compared with its stablemates: vs 105 AER · vs 105 SILVA · vs 109 Pro · vs 99 Classics · vs 99 Classics (2nd Gen) · vs 99 Neo · vs Elite · vs Elite Tungsten · vs Empyrean · vs Empyrean II · vs Liric · vs POET · vs STRADA.