Will a portable player drive the AKG K612 Pro?

On power: 38 of the 39 portable players here reach 100 dB SPL on the AKG K612 Pro. It needs 6.6 mW at its 120Ω, and 1 of them do not get there.

Power is one of three questions and the one that goes wrong least often. The other two — whether the source’s output impedance leaves the frequency response alone, and whether you will hear its noise floor — are answered further down, separately, because a source can pass one and fail another.

Whether it gets loud enough

The 1 that fall short are Sony NW-A306. The closest of them, the Sony NW-A306, delivers 4.6 mW into 120Ω against the 6.6 mW needed — 1.5 dB short.

The cheapest one that does reach it is the Hidizs AP80 Pro Max at $179, which delivers 19 mW into 120Ω — 5 dB of headroom over the 6.6 mW this headphone needs for 100 dB SPL.

100 dB SPL is a peak level, not a listening level. If you listen at 85 dB the same headphone needs 0.21 mW, which is 15 dB less, and the answer above changes for most of the category. The model page has the full ladder.

Whether it changes how they sound

Under the one-eighth rule the AKG K612 Pro wants a source below 15.00Ω. Of the 26 portable players here that publish an output impedance, 26 are under it and 0 are not.

The other 13 publish nothing at all on this, so they are not on either side of that count. This site leaves them blank rather than assuming a figure.

Whether you will hear it between tracks

Hiss depends on the source’s own noise floor and on how sensitive the headphone is. At 91.8 dB/mW and 120Ω, the AKG K612 Pro turns one microvolt of source noise into about -19 dB SPL — and the threshold where that stops being noticeable in a quiet room is around 20 dB SPL.

Of the 12 portable players here that publish a noise figure, 12 stay below that threshold with this headphone and 0 cross it.

The remaining 27 publish no noise figure, so they cannot be placed on either side.

The 12 best matches in this category

SourcePriceInto 120ΩOutput impedanceHiss in thesePower verdict
TempoTec Variations V3 Blaze$179220 mWnot publishednot publishedComfortable
FiiO JM21$19968 mW1 Ω-15 dB SPLComfortable
TempoTec Variations V6$36988 mWnot publishednot publishedComfortable
iBasso DX180$48070 mW0.6 Ωnot publishedComfortable
FiiO M21$599109 mW1 Ω-13 dB SPLComfortable
Cayin N3 Ultra$64967 mW0.5 Ωnot publishedComfortable
FiiO M33 R2R$730133 mW0.8 Ω-4 dB SPLComfortable
HiBy R6 Pro II$750308 mWnot publishednot publishedComfortable
FiiO M15S$799178 mW1.4 Ω-9 dB SPLComfortable
Astell&Kern SR35$80080 mW1.1 Ωnot publishedComfortable
iBasso DX260$94970 mW0.6 Ωnot publishedComfortable
iBasso DX260 MK2$94970 mW0.6 Ω-19 dB SPLComfortable

Sorted by how many of the three questions the source answers well, then by price. A blank in a column is a blank in the manufacturer’s own documentation, not a zero.

The same headphone, other kinds of source

The AKG K612 Pro on other categories: USB dongles · desktop amplifiers · audio interfaces.

The AKG K612 Pro page has every source in the database against this headphone, and the matcher takes your own numbers.