Does your amp drive your headphones?
527 headphone × amplifier pairings, computed from measured specs. Power headroom, damping, and an honest verdict — all from published figures, none from guesswork.
How it works
Measured specs
Where available we use independently measured impedance and sensitivity (from Reference Audio Analyzer), not just manufacturer claims. Both values are shown and labeled.
Standard acoustics formula
Required power = 10((110 dB − sensitivity) / 10). Headroom = 10 × log10(delivered / required). No magic — textbook power engineering.
Honest verdict
Ample (≥10 dB), Adequate (3–10 dB), Marginal (0–3 dB), or Insufficient. Plus a damping check against output impedance — with different rules for OTL tube amps.
Example pairings
The textbook pairing — an OTL tube amp with a 300 Ω dynamic headphone, matching by design.
Massively overpowered: a flagship desktop amp driving the most efficient headphone in the catalog.
A cautionary example — the popular USB-C dongle can't get close to target SPL on a 600 Ω load.