It's easy to get a Decibel Meter for your phone.

I don't like Music over about 75 DBL peak at my sitting position.  But I can't play it this loud most of the time.  Scandal sounds amazing at these levels.  I have a really good 2 channel audio system so that likely helps.

I'm sure this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equal-loudness_contour

Has an effect as well.

But everyone is different - what level do other members listen to Scandal at?

Interesting topic! I always have a decibel meter going when listening or playing an instrument.

I have an acoustically treated room (all walls at critical points, some corner traps, ceiling cloud). Small-ish room, 2.1 audio. Measured and tuned to get my monitoring as flat as possible. Since the space is pretty quiet and audio is focused and not bouncing off everything crazily I don't listen that loud to music.

Usually I listen to everything to where the chorus/loudest part of the song is around 65dB up to 70dB if it's a dynamic mix and master. So the quietest part is usually around 58-60dB for most music.

I could listen louder but then my ears will fatigue faster and I start missing the details and fun production elements. So I prefer to keep it comfortable and listen longer while getting to still appreciate the details.

I probably don't listen louder than 75dB when I'm less listening focused and multi-tasking some chores or tasks.

Most of time I listen to Scandal at headphones level when I am at work or at home on the computer.

Couple of times I play my KFTD LP loud enough to hear it around my flat.

Not that loud, really. Just at a normal, comfortable level.

There was a time back when I was a teenager (and didn't know about SCANDAL or any other japanese band), when I would blast my favorite music to absolute maximum - particularly when traveling to and from school. Looking back, it was probably not the best idea. Not because it might have annoyed people around me, but for my own ears.

Nowadays, I usually listen to music at normal volume. When I go out, I might put it slightly louder, but only to block loud noises from outside (cars etc.) - but not to the extent that I did in my teenage years. The only times I might put my music very loud (and usually I don't do that with SCANDAL - I take much heavier music), is if I am super upset and I need the music to take away my negative feelings.

nosferous wrote:

I have an acoustically treated room (all walls at critical points, some corner traps, ceiling cloud). Small-ish room, 2.1 audio. Measured and tuned to get my monitoring as flat as possible. Since the space is pretty quiet and audio is focused and not bouncing
I probably don't listen louder than 75dB when I'm less listening focused and multi-tasking some chores or tasks.

Nice Room, I have acoustic panels in my home theater, but my office is less well engineered.  I have an anthem preamp that has room correction - without it I'd be forced to treat my room or the bass gain would be too much.  It's also a 2.1 system.

Too loud = fatiguing that's for sure.

Alxa wrote:

Nice Room, I have acoustic panels in my home theater, but my office is less well engineered.  I have an anthem preamp that has room correction - without it I'd be forced to treat my room or the bass gain would be too much.  It's also a 2.1 system.

Too loud = fatiguing that's for sure.

Very nice! Room correction can make an incredible difference and not have to get too crazy about panels everywhere eating into the physical space.

I have Sonarworks/SoundID. But it's corrected at the computer level which is less ideal for my setup. Though apparently soon I may be able to export the profile and load it into my audio interface hardware directly.

I'd love to get a Trinnov for room correction which is supposed to be leaps and bounds better because it's correcting a lot more about the audio hitting the listening position and much more accurately, but crazy expensive.

nosferous wrote:
I have Sonarworks/SoundID. But it's corrected at the computer level which is less ideal for my setup. Though apparently soon I may be able to export the profile and load it into my audio interface hardware directly.

I'd love to get a Trinnov for room correction which is supposed to be leaps and bounds better because it's correcting a lot more about the audio hitting the listening position and much more accurately, but crazy expensive.

I used to use software to correct from my PC, but I bought a Rotel DT-6000 and like to play CDs so I wanted a Pre amp that can correct - I have an AVM 60 in the other room, so I like ARC Genesis so I decided to get an Anthem STR Preamp and it's amazing since it integrates subwoofers.  That lead to new speakers - Audiovector R3 and a new sub, SVS-SB4000...  And speakers led to upgraded 2 channel amp: Buckeye Hypex NCx500.

Pop music sounds good, symphonic music sounds amazing.  Which was my end goal.

I think Anthem is cheaper then Tinnov and people will debate which is better all the time

Typically as loud as my ears or my neighbours can withstand (I've had the very occasional complaint).

My neighbours over the back had their wedding reception in their yard last weekend so when their music started up, I went into my media room and let it rip at a level I absolutely wouldn't dare usually do.

I cranked a whole bunch of Scandal.

At some point a concert video finished and I noticed I couldn't hear any other music anymore. I stuck my head outside and it was lights out at the neighbours' place. I had out-partied the party, thanks to Scandal.

@nosferous, yeah, my ears tire out pretty fast. I think it's all the compression. The sound is just a solid wall all the time.
In general, not loud at all. For a new album, I'll wait until my neighbors are gone and crank it up a bit, but just for one play-through. I also roll off the bass for normal listening. I'll also play something new through different speakers.