Pontakorn’s Burson Playmate 2 with Sennheiser HD 800 S and Sennheiser GSX500

• Impedance: 300 Ω
• Sensitivity: 102 dB SPL @ 1 V ≈ 96.8 dB/mW (calc.)
• Frequency response: 4 Hz – 51 kHz
• Plugs / cables supplied: 6.35 mm unbalanced; 4.4 mm balanced

Matching notes: At 300 Ω and 102 dB/V, the HD 800 S is a high-impedance load that needs voltage more than current: about 2.5 V (21 mW, 8.4 mA) for 110 dB SPL (calc.). Burson rates the Playmate 2 at 0.15 W (SE) into 300 Ω, which is about 6.7 V RMS (calc.), roughly 9 dB more than that. The Playmate 2’s under 2 Ω headphone output impedance is less than 1/150 of the load. ^{[1] [2] [3]}

• Impedance: 35 Ω
• Sensitivity: 93 dB (reference not stated by HiFiMAN)
• Frequency response: 20 Hz – 35 kHz
• Plugs / cables supplied: 3.5 mm / 6.35 mm plugs (as published)
• Other: weight 370 g

^[4]

• Output power (headphone): 16 Ω 3.5 W · 32 Ω 2.5 W · 100 Ω 0.6 W · 150 Ω 0.4 W · 300 Ω 0.15 W
• Output impedance: <2 Ω (headphone); 15 Ω (pre out)
• Output voltage: RCA not published
• Gain: High / Low; dB not published
• Inputs: USB (XMOS; PCM to 768 kHz/32-bit, native DSD512); Toslink
• Input impedance: 38 kΩ
• Outputs: RCA pre out; headphone jack (SE)
• DAC / chipset: ESS SABRE32 ES9038Q2M
• Other: Model P171; SE only; THD <0.002%; FR ±1 dB 0-35 kHz; DAC THD+N 0.0018%

^{[2] [3]}

Specs from manufacturer data unless a source below says otherwise. “calc.” values are worked out from those figures (V = √(P × R); 110 dB SPL used as a loud reference level). Gear listed without specs is not in our spec library yet.

1. Sennheiser HD 800 S: us.sennheiser-hearing.com
2. Burson Playmate 2 product page
3. Burson Playmate 2 User Manual V1.6 (Burson downloads)
4. HiFiMAN HE400i: hifiman.com