The Meze POET is 55Ω with a sensitivity of 101.0 dB/mW, which is 113.6 dB/V. To reach 100 dB SPL — genuinely loud, louder than most people listen — it needs 0.79 mW, or 0.21 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, 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 101 dB SPL/mW (at 1 kHz), per milliwatt, so nothing was converted.
The maker adds a power recommendation of its own: Meze publishes no power handling and no recommended amplifier power for the POET; the only level-related figures are "Maximum SPL: >130 dB" and "Total Harmonic Distortion (THD): <0.05%" (no SPL or drive level is attached to the THD condition).
Source: mezeaudio.com. How this data was built.
| As it is labelled | As printed | Tolerance | Standard |
|---|---|---|---|
| Frequency Range | 4 Hz – 96 kHz | not printed | not printed |
Meze prints 4 Hz – 96 kHz for the Meze POET, under the heading “Frequency Range”. Source: mezeaudio.com.
No tolerance is printed with it, so “4 Hz – 96 kHz” says nothing about how loud this headphone actually is at 4 Hz.
Only what the maker printed; maker by maker.
| Level | What it is | Power | Voltage | Current |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 85 dB SPL | quiet background listening | 0.03 mW | 37 mV | 0.7 mA |
| 95 dB SPL | normal listening | 0.25 mW | 0.12 V | 2.1 mA |
| 100 dB SPL | loud listening | 0.79 mW | 0.21 V | 3.8 mA |
| 105 dB SPL | very loud | 2.5 mW | 0.37 V | 6.8 mA |
| 110 dB SPL | peaks on dynamic music | 7.9 mW | 0.66 V | 12.0 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 55Ω 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 55Ω | Headroom | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| JadeAudio JA11 | USB dongle | $20 | 17 mW | +13 dB | Comfortable |
| FiiO SnowSky Tiny A | USB dongle | $22 | 20 mW | +14 dB | Comfortable |
| FiiO SnowSky Tiny B | USB dongle | $22 | 20 mW | +14 dB | Comfortable |
| FiiO KA11 | USB dongle | $29 | 117 mW | +22 dB | Comfortable |
| Tanchjim Stargate II | USB dongle | $40 | 44 mW | +17 dB | Comfortable |
| ddHiFi TC35AL | USB dongle | $46 | 122 mW | +22 dB | Comfortable |
| ddHiFi TC35Air | USB dongle | $46 | 122 mW | +22 dB | Comfortable |
| Fosi Audio N3 | Bluetooth receiver | $50 | 80 mW | +20 dB | Comfortable |
| Hidizs SD2 | USB dongle | $50 | 41 mW | +17 dB | Comfortable |
| FiiO BTR13 | Bluetooth receiver | $59 | 58 mW | +19 dB | Comfortable |
| iFi GO link | USB dongle | $59 | 43 mW | +17 dB | Comfortable |
| Kiwi Ears Allegro Pro | USB dongle | $60 | 40 mW | +17 dB | Comfortable |
| ddHiFi TC35Pro (Mountain2) | USB dongle | $66 | 38 mW | +17 dB | Comfortable |
| iBasso DC03 Pro | USB dongle | $69 | 57 mW | +19 dB | Comfortable |
| DUNU DTC 480 | USB dongle | $70 | 38 mW | +17 dB | Comfortable |
Hiss. At 113.6 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 22 dB SPL in these headphones — clearly audible in quiet passages. Check your own source.
Output impedance. At 55Ω these want a source output impedance below 6.88Ω to satisfy the one-eighth rule; 34 of the 192 sources that publish one miss it. Check yours here.
61Ω · 100.0 dB/mW · Easy
See requirements →42Ω · 112.0 dB/mW · Easy
See requirements →42Ω · 112.0 dB/mW · Easy
See requirements →44Ω · 100.0 dB/mW · Easy
See requirements →44Ω · 100.0 dB/mW · Easy
See requirements →34Ω · 99.0 dB/mW · Easy
See requirements →Compared with its stablemates: vs 105 AER · vs 105 SILVA · vs ARTA.