I specifically purchase noise cancelling headphones / earbuds now since it makes it easy to listen at MUCH quieter levels. I have done some tests with the noise cancelling disabled and setting the volume and with it on… It really makes a huge difference as I am not cranking it up to drowned out noise on transit or walking down the street.
Came here say this. Absolutely agree. Being able to reduce background noise is huge.
As a side point - having a car that’s quiet has really allowed me to enjoy music at a much more reasonable level when driving as well.
11, obviously!
Sound engineer here. Please protect your ears people, there’s no way to reverse hearing damage.
I try to target under 70db to protect my ears. Some earbuds and DAC’s can show you a db estimate
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As someone else said, I’m referring to the Qudelix where you can input the Impedance and Sensitivity manually
I believe you’re correct. DACs obviously can’t determine volume at all, but amps can try to use the impedance to create an estimate.
This probably isn’t accurate though. If you really want a good estimate, you would have to calculate it with current voltage output and the specs of the headphones/IEMs in question.
I’m just a hobbyist too, but my headphones are extremely inefficient so I’ve spent some time looking into this. Too bad we don’t have oratory here
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Some amps do indicate how much power they’re outputting. The little portable dac/amp Qudelix 5k is $100 and does this. I think it also has fields for impedance and sensitivity, wherein it calculates SPL (dB), but I don’t actually have one so I’m not confident.
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11
As quietly as possible, you don’t notice hearing damage until it’s too late to do anything about it.
multiples of 5
A 5 is the only exception to it being an even number
I primarily listen to music in my car and it’s usually as loud as I can stand.
Some very arbitrary answers up in here
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For short car journeys or if I’m sharing, quietish background level
If I’m motorwaying it alone, fairly (but not stupidly) loud
20-40% when I’m at home and there are no noises that interrupt the sound. 50-75% when I’m outside and can’t hear anything on lower levels. I try to keep this stuff as quiet as possible so as not to damage my hearing
Full on speakers, around 50% to 80% on IEMs/headphones; depends on the max volume I can do without getting tinnitus.
I use Reduce Loud Sounds on the iPhone with my AirPods Pro to reduce the maximum volume to 80dB so that I don’t damage my hearing. That way, I can crank the volume buttons to maximum without having to think about it, knowing that it will be safe.