13 lists, each sorting one part of this database on a single figure. Ten of them rank sources — amplifiers, dongles, interfaces — and three rank the headphones themselves, because “what is hardest to drive” is asked as often as “what drives it” and the answer is in the same numbers read from the other side. None of them is a ranking of sound quality, and each one says plainly how many products are not on it and why — whether that is because the maker never published the figure, because the product does not clear the bar, or because the list simply covers a different category.
That last part is the reason these exist. A shortlist built only from products that publish the relevant figure is a shortlist of 169 sources at best, not of the 280 in this database — and the usual way of writing them hides that.
Every dongle and Bluetooth receiver here sorted by the noise figure its maker published, with how many in-ears stay below the audible-hiss threshold on each.
Open →The one specification that changes how headphones sound rather than how loud they go, sorted lowest first, with how many models each source leaves alone.
Open →High-impedance headphones want volts. This sorts every source here by what it delivers into 300 ohms, with the usual caveat about how little of it you need.
Open →Every source that reaches 100 dB on all 567 non-electrostatic models here, sorted by price — cheapest first, because that is the only useful ordering.
Open →The most common headphone amplifier in the world, and the category where output impedance goes wrong most often. Every interface here, by price.
Open →Every source here at $100 or less, sorted by what it delivers into 32 ohms, with how many of the headphones in this database each one reaches 100 dB on.
Open →The models that need the most power for 100 dB, calculated from each maker’s own published sensitivity — and they are mostly not the high-impedance ones.
Open →The in-ears most likely to hiss, sorted by published sensitivity, with how many sources here stay below the audible-hiss threshold on each.
Open →Desktop amps, DAC/amps and audio interfaces sorted by the noise their makers published, with how many in-ears stay below the audible-hiss threshold on each.
Open →Each maker’s own balanced power divided by its own single-ended power at the same load. Some reach +6 dB, some gain nothing at all.
Open →Every DAP here by what it delivers into 32 ohms, with the 300-ohm column beside it, because that ratio is what decides high-impedance headphones on the move.
Open →Milliwatts into 32 ohms divided by price. The most honest list here and the least useful one, and the page says why.
Open →Every model here at 150 ohms or above, with the voltage swing each one needs for 100 dB — the figure that matters on these, and the one nobody quotes.
Open →