Singxer SA-1: power output and what it will drive

The Singxer SA-1 is a desktop amplifier at $699. It delivers 5.5 W into 32Ω and 785 mW into 300Ω, which ranks it 9 of 280 for raw power among the sources in this database.

Measured at 100 dB SPL it has comfortable headroom on 567 of the 567 dynamic and planar headphones catalogued here. Fully discrete, with output impedance that changes with the gain setting — worth knowing before pairing it with in-ears.

The manufacturer publishes 10.0 W into 16Ω, 5.5 W into 32Ω, 3.1 W into 68Ω, 2.0 W into 120Ω, 380 mW into 600Ω. The rest of the table is worked out from those.

The published figures describe the balanced output. A single-ended jack on the same unit will put out less — usually about half the voltage and a quarter of the power.

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

Source: singxer.com.

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

At 0.3 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 11 dB SPL, which you will hear between tracks and in quiet passages.

At 1.4Ω output impedance, the one-eighth rule says this source suits headphones of 11.2Ω and above. 51 of the 567 models here fall below that. Most of them are multi-driver in-ears, and the mismatch tilts the frequency response audibly rather than subtly.

Check any pair.

Of the 280 sources here, 4 do everything the Singxer SA-1 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 Topping L30 II at $149, against this one’s $699 — $550 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 H26 · vs Lake People G111 Mk II · vs Rupert Neve RNHP · vs Schiit Valhalla 3 · vs SMSL SH-X.

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