Rupert Neve RNHP: power output and what it will drive

The Rupert Neve RNHP is a desktop amplifier at $699. It delivers 262 mW into 32Ω and 88 mW into 300Ω, which ranks it 144 of 280 for raw power among the sources in this database.

Measured at 100 dB SPL it has comfortable headroom on 553 of the 567 dynamic and planar headphones catalogued here, enough but not generous on 12, only marginal on 1 and not enough power for 1. Power is published at 16Ω, 44Ω, 150Ω; the rest of the table is derived from those figures.

The manufacturer publishes 230 mW into 16Ω, 300 mW into 44Ω, 175 mW into 150Ω. The rest of the table is worked out from those.

Derived rows hold output voltage steady, as an amplifier does (method).

Source: rupertneve.com, rupertneve.com.

Easiest to hardest to drive, with headroom at a 100 dB SPL peak.

At 8.03 µV of output noise, here is where that noise lands in the five most revealing in-ears in the database.

This one hisses. With the most sensitive in-ears in the database its own noise lands around 39 dB SPL, which you will hear between tracks and in quiet passages.

At 0.08Ω output impedance this source satisfies the one-eighth rule with every headphone in the database, down to the 3Ω in-ears. Nothing here will have its frequency response shaped by the source.

Check any pair.

Of the 280 sources here, 14 do everything the Rupert Neve RNHP does as a headphone output: reach 100 dB on every headphone it reaches, stay inside the one-eighth rule wherever it does and stay under the audible-hiss threshold wherever it does. The cheapest of them is the Schiit Magni Unity at $119, against this one’s $699 — $580 less.

This counts the headphone output only; inputs, converters, the volume control and the build are outside it.

Compared with its closest rivals: vs Aune S17 Pro EVO · vs Grace Design m900 · vs Gustard H20 · vs iFi iCAN Pro · vs Schiit Lyr 5 · vs Schiit Valhalla 3 · vs Singxer SA-1 · vs SMSL SH-X · vs xDuoo TA-30.

Compare any two or match your own headphones. Every Rupert Neve source here.