Do you hear music at safe volume?

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haraakiri

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A few weeks back, I was reading |joker|'s review of M1 and he mentions that he listens M1 with sansa fuze at 45% volume and most other IEMs at 35%. To be honest, I was shocked. I hear most of my IEMs at around 70% volume on my clip+ and if they have similar volume, I think I am hearing music really loud.

I tried getting SPL meter, but couldn't find where I could get in Hyderabad. Tried to order from US but interestingly I found UE's iphone app which measure SPL with iphone's microphone. I am sure it will not be correct, but atleast I would get an idea. When I checked the my volume levels I hear at, it was around 95db. :(
And then I checked M1 with clip+ and at 55% volume it's 80-85db. From now on, hopefully I would hear at that volume. And hopefully my ears still are good enough. :ashamed:

Could you guys share the volume level you use for your IEM+player? Should give us an idea what volume levels we guys generally use.
For Brainwavz M1 + sansa clip+(OF) 55% is around 85db, safe for listening upto 8 hours a day.

HeadWize - Article: Preventing Hearing Damage When Listening With Headphones (A HeadWize Headphone Guide)
 
I am not listening at ljokerl's levels either, but only slightly higher, I guess!

I have a SPL meter and with speakers, my listening range is around 75 dbC most of the time (so peaks would be around 80 dbC). My limit for IEMs (placing SPL meter close to the edge of tip) is around 80 dbC and should be very slightly lesser at my ear drum.

I usually keep volume as much higher as required for hearing all details, then typically reduce the volume a notch down after a few mins. This way, brain will get adjusted to "finding" details at lower levels after a minute or two. I let the IEM and my ear sensitivity to decide. Will try to post a few numbers if I find time.
 
I hear my D2+ at 7-10, max 12 with in-ears and with headphones it is max 30. I think the max volume is about 50 in D2+.

On comp my ears pain if i hear on more than vol 30 for more than an hour. So I usually keep it at 20-25max even with headphones. With in-ears its always around 10-12.
 
This is how I check if my music is loud enough or not.

I just listen through one channel. i.e. one ear at a time. If the volume level is not comfortable on one ear, I lower it down.

You see, you loose a sense of the sound level, when you are listening to the music with both ears together. And its true that sometimes we kick up the volume a little too much to the level our ears are not capable of bearing. The problem is that most of the equipments start showing better response at a rather higher volume levels. The higher frequencies primarily work better at a little higher volume levels.

Fortunately, I do not like listening to the music at higher volumes for I listen to the music mostly when I sleep.
 
I usually listen to low sensitivity /easy to drive IEMs ~60-70% volume on Fuze and 80% volume for most midrange IEMs like .. Brainwavz M2 etc. For RE-0 etc even 100% is not enough :P

Also Ive found that i am able to get my perfect balance of volume since the time Ive installed Rockbox on Fuze. It has lot of steps and you can even decide volume in dB .I usually keep it at 2-4 dB. 6 dB being max. Also the volume depends a lot on the environment. In trains/traffic its usually 3-4dB ...whereas at home even 2 dB sounds very loud .
 
I used to listen at high volumes and I think I am half deaf now.... People have to keep shouting to get my attention :(
 
It seems most of you do listen at sensible volumes. I am the only idiot. :P
@esantosh Where did you get SPL meter from? Actually I hear speakers at 70db. And that looks good enough volume and with IEMs 85db looks low. I hope I am measuring correctly.
 
ronnie_gogs said:
People have to keep shouting to get my attention :(
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haarakiri, here is a very simple way to tell if you are listening at too high a volume.

A normal conversation is 50-60dB. Now, if you were listening with speakers and could still have a conversation with some one else then you are listening at a safe volume.

What is safe ? I'm assuming anything that is within normal conversation range.

Now the thing is, IEM's block out all other noise ? So even if you listened at the same level with them you would not be able to have a conversation. Does this means you are listening at a safe volume or not ? or does it need to be lower still.

Anyone ?
 
Thanks blr_p, that's good test. I think noise induced hearing loss is about noise levels( above 85db), so IEMs blocking noise would only allow you to listen at lower volumes, so I think they are safer. I don't think volume should be lowered. Any audiologist here? :P
 
I hear at 20% volume on Winamp on my Grado's. On my sflo2 -> tf10 i don't really know cuz its a scroll wheel with no indication on the UI but i'm sure its pretty less too.

Thank the grado's for having a aggressive mid and bass line that i don't have to increase the volume.

Then again, this is mostly when i'm in office or at home. SG being a very quite city(unlike mumbai) doesn't need the volume to be kept higher than 40-50% while i'm travelling either. Anything more than 60-70% is just overkill on a good rig(unless we're talking orthos or RE1 :P ).
 
haraakiri said:
It seems most of you do listen at sensible volumes. I am the only idiot. :P
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Not really. Sometime back I had a tendency to crank it up to 90-100% with almost anything .:ashamed: .Ask VB or BF1983 , they will tell you. :rofl: But then I realized I wont be able to afford customs till I am in my 40s or so and want my hearing to be intact to enjoy the customs. So now its max 80% ..otherwise 60-70%.
 
haraakiri said:
I think noise induced hearing loss is about noise levels( above 85db), so IEMs blocking noise would only allow you to listen at lower volumes, so I think they are safer. I don't think volume should be lowered. Any audiologist here? :P
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I'm not sure why you said IEM's only allow you to listen at lower volumes :huh:

The thing is you are going to pick a volume based on what you are comfortable with. That volume to some extent depends on how loud your surroundings are. If they are quiet, let's say you were in a room all by yourself and there was no other noise source around you but the IEM's. In this case and only this one would you be expected to pick a volume safe enough.

But there is always a temptation to listen at louder volumes, something that to me is little more dangerous with IEM's than with speakers as they are much closer to your eardrums.

I don't use any sort of headphones and prefer speakers. My ears used to pain after like just an hour or so of listening so i stopped listening in this way very long time ago. And i was not exactly listening at very loud levels this would be like 5/10.
 
I just realized that my hearing power has decreased in past 3-4 weeks. I used to listen at vol. 10 in my car (crappy speakers). But now i find myself listening at 16-18 !!!
just to hear better details i had started hearing car speakers at higher volume but now i think i have damaged my hearing !! Damn :(
 
Even i hear it at safe levels ... In my car when i last tested using Term Lab meter on the front windscreen it recorded 146.6 DB LOL
 
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