Z890 Taichi
host
$460
Used market: $275*
Specifications
3 of 8 values have a recorded sourceExpert Audio Engineering Commentary
Headroom Notes
The two Thunderbolt 4 / USB4 Type-C ports are documented as "USB PD 3.0 up to 5V@3A (15W) charging" — 15 W at the 5 volt rail, which is the rail a bus-powered interface uses, so this is one of the few motherboard numbers that transfers directly into a power budget. The Type-A ports carry no published figure and fall back to the USB specification floor.
Amplification Warning
ASRock is the only one of the four board vendors that says anything about headphone load at all: "Direct Drive Technology on Front headphone port (Supports up to 600 Ohm headsets)". It is a compatibility statement, not an output level. A 600 ohm headphone connected to a source with no published voltage is still an open question about loudness.
What the datasheet actually says
Quoted verbatim from the manufacturer’s own page, with the date we checked it. We state what is printed, not what anyone intended by it.
«Direct Drive Technology on Front headphone port (Supports up to 600 Ohm headsets)»
The line names an impedance the port accepts and no level at which it drives it. Loudness into 600 ohms depends on output voltage, which ASRock does not publish for this board — so the sentence rules nothing out and promises no volume.
checked 8/5/2026* Estimated with the depreciation fallback (~60% retained value). · checked on 8/5/2026