The Thieaudio Monarch MKIV is 10Ω. Its maker prints a sensitivity of 100.0 dB and never says whether that is per milliwatt or per volt, so this page reads it as per milliwatt — on that reading it needs 1.0 mW to reach 100 dB SPL, or 0.10 V across the drivers. If the figure is really per volt, it needs far more.
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, 261 have at least 10 dB of headroom and another 19 have enough. The cheapest portable source that does the job is the Apple USB-C dongle (US) at $9.
This maker printed a decibel figure and no reference unit, so the number above is shown exactly as printed. Everything below reads it as per milliwatt, which is the commoner convention on a sheet that omits the unit — if it is really per volt, this headphone is about 20 dB harder to drive than the rest of this page assumes. The converter explains the difference.
Thieaudio publishes a sensitivity of 100 dB and does not state whether that is per milliwatt or per volt — the spec sheet simply stops at the number.
Both readings are given here so you can judge for yourself. If that 100 dB is per milliwatt, the figures on this page are right as they stand. If it is per volt, the real sensitivity is 80.0 dB/mW — 20 dB lower at 10Ω — and everything above understates what these need by that much. The per-milliwatt reading is the one shown, because it is the more common convention on a spec sheet that omits the unit; treat it as an indication rather than a specification.
Thieaudio prints the impedance as 10/9 ohms (±1 ohm) @1kHz, not as a bare number. Everything on this page is calculated with 10Ω, the first of the two figures the maker prints, and the rest of that line is quoted here rather than tidied away, because how a figure is qualified is part of the specification too.
Source: thieaudio.com. How this data was built.
| As it is labelled | As printed | Tolerance | Standard |
|---|---|---|---|
| Frequency Response | 10Hz – 44kHz | not printed | not printed |
Thieaudio prints 10Hz – 44kHz for the Thieaudio Monarch MKIV, under the heading “Frequency Response”. Source: thieaudio.com.
No tolerance is printed with it, so “10Hz – 44kHz” says nothing about how loud this headphone actually is at 10 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 | 18 mV | 1.8 mA |
| 95 dB SPL | normal listening | 0.32 mW | 56 mV | 5.6 mA |
| 100 dB SPL | loud listening | 1.0 mW | 0.10 V | 10.0 mA |
| 105 dB SPL | very loud | 3.2 mW | 0.18 V | 17.8 mA |
| 110 dB SPL | peaks on dynamic music | 10 mW | 0.32 V | 31.6 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 10Ω 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 10Ω | Headroom | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FiiO SnowSky Tiny A | USB dongle | $22 | 28 mW | +14 dB | Comfortable |
| FiiO SnowSky Tiny B | USB dongle | $22 | 43 mW | +16 dB | Comfortable |
| Tanchjim Stargate II | USB dongle | $40 | 51 mW | +17 dB | Comfortable |
| ddHiFi TC35AL | USB dongle | $46 | 66 mW | +18 dB | Comfortable |
| ddHiFi TC35Air | USB dongle | $46 | 66 mW | +18 dB | Comfortable |
| Fosi Audio N3 | Bluetooth receiver | $50 | 43 mW | +16 dB | Comfortable |
| Hidizs SD2 | USB dongle | $50 | 22 mW | +13 dB | Comfortable |
| FiiO BTR13 | Bluetooth receiver | $59 | 75 mW | +19 dB | Comfortable |
| iFi GO link | USB dongle | $59 | 22 mW | +13 dB | Comfortable |
| Kiwi Ears Allegro Pro | USB dongle | $60 | 21 mW | +13 dB | Comfortable |
| ddHiFi TC35Pro (Mountain2) | USB dongle | $66 | 20 mW | +13 dB | Comfortable |
| iBasso DC03 Pro | USB dongle | $69 | 31 mW | +15 dB | Comfortable |
| DUNU DTC 480 | USB dongle | $70 | 20 mW | +13 dB | Comfortable |
| EPZ TP35 Pro | USB dongle | $70 | 35 mW | +15 dB | Comfortable |
| Aiyima A2 Pro | desktop DAC/amp | $75 | 47 mW | +17 dB | Comfortable |
Hiss. At 120.0 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 28 dB SPL in these headphones — clearly audible in quiet passages. Check your own source.
Output impedance. At 10Ω these want a source output impedance below 1.25Ω to satisfy the one-eighth rule; 46 of the 192 sources that publish one miss it. Check yours here.
9Ω · 102.0 dB · Easy
See requirements →15Ω · 104.0 dB · Easy
See requirements →16Ω · 104.0 dB · Easy
See requirements →14.8Ω · 101.7 dB/mW · Easy
See requirements →15.5Ω · 101.9 dB/mW · Easy
See requirements →41.6Ω · 106.2 dB/mW · Easy
See requirements →Compared with its stablemates: vs Hype 10 · vs Hype 2 · vs Oracle MKII · vs Origin.