How loud do you like your music?

[Mr. Widget]

This is not a huge surprise. The human auditory system has not changed in the last 100 years.

Though I guess it might have been possible that the higher quality audio we now have would result in a change in preferred listening level. Clearly though - not significantly.

Not a huge surprise, but it is always nice to see confirmation across the decades and from widely varying sources. Just as those BBC engineers decades ago tended to listen at substantially higher levels than the general public, if you go into a contemporary recording studio today, you will notice the much higher playback levels than most of us normally choose at home.

Also it was interesting to see that musicians who were used to hearing live acoustic instruments chose to playback their music at levels that more closely mimic live music.

 

[a2Thompson]

I still think that a critical un-captured component is the background noise. I would guess that most people would gravitate to a more similar average and peak db above background with a minimum of something like +40db above background (using the test laid out in this thread) for the average.

 

[killdozzer]

I read it as that “listening loud can also be damaging.”
It may not translate well.

Yes, it's difficult answering for other people.

Whatever his fine point is, I'm interested. It would be informative to know.

 

[Sokel]

I still think that a critical un-captured component is the background noise. I would guess that most people would gravitate to a more similar average and peak db above background with a minimum of something like +40db above background (using the test laid out in this thread) for the average.

That's true.
At all the charts I posted at this thread noise floor is visible at the 35-45dB ballpark.
ANY move,walk,coffee grab,keys,etc could reach the listening levels with ease as I was watching it(not the peaks though,I have only seen 105-110db at this chart when I banged a door loudly) .
And another.Whenever the work has extended (by the instruments and mix) highs up at the 10-15kHz (comparable to the rest of the spectrum and not as slopped as usual,like the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra's Scheherazade for example) peaks are registering more (high crest factor of the recording helps too though) .

 

[Soniclife]

Interesting thread, nice try on getting me to listen to Steely Dan, but that's not going to happen . I voted around 80db.

A long while ago I got concerned with how loud I listened so I bought a meter, I didn't really understand the settings on it at the time so I'm guessing I had it in C weighted peak but I'd hit 108db playing things like this on vinyl.

So I've subsequently trained myself to listen quieter, not turn it up to just before the speakers hit their end stops.

I use the volume leveling function in Room, which works surprisingly well, so well that when I close my eyes (so I cannot see the volume setting) and turn up the music till it sounds right I almost always end up on the exact same amp setting, to 0.5db. I then often check the level with my phone, it's usually 80 plus or minus 2, LAeq, my phone is accurate enough for this. I've done this in the car, whilst being driven, and got the same 80db result, I was surprised by that, I thought it was going to be lower. My listening room is quiet, often around 24db A weighted, the car is obviously way higher, I've forgotten how much. I think my brain sets the volume based on the midrange frequencies, what's going on in the low frequencies don't get factored in, unless they are annoyingly wrong.

 

[Sokel]

Pushing things to the extreme a little,I tried to capture the level variation as if it was in a venue,following the track order.

So here's the two last pieces of Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade, Capriccio Espagnole by Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra.
Op.34 -4. Scena e canto gitano and Op.34 -5. Fandango asturiano
There are moments that are seismic at this work,building that crescendo at about 7 min for example,so by this this was my week's loud treat:

 

[Axo1989]

Pushing things to the extreme a little,I tried to capture the level variation as if it was in a venue,following the track order.

So here's the two last pieces of Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade, Capriccio Espagnole by Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra.
Op.34 -4. Scena e canto gitano and Op.34 -5. Fandango asturiano
There are moments that are seismic at this work,building that crescendo at about 7 min for example,so by this this was my week's loud treat:

View attachment 402213

You are not wrong about "seismic" there. Excellent fun.

I caught a live gig by a favourite techno artist yesterday—Swan Meat from Cologne, never expected to see her in Sydney. I prefer her more experimental sets, but this one was hardcore breakbeat (not unlike landing in a corral of stampeding horses, then realising they have gatling guns). Also, quite loud:

*literally louder than I measured those JBL K2 upthread, before giving up. You couldn't (and shouldn't) stay for the whole set (or more than a couple of minutes) without ear protection. So no "realistic concert level" at home for me.

 

[killdozzer]

Interesting thread, nice try on getting me to listen to Steely Dan, but that's not going to happen . I voted around 80db.

A long while ago I got concerned with how loud I listened so I bought a meter, I didn't really understand the settings on it at the time so I'm guessing I had it in C weighted peak but I'd hit 108db playing things like this on vinyl.

So I've subsequently trained myself to listen quieter, not turn it up to just before the speakers hit their end stops.

I use the volume leveling function in Room, which works surprisingly well, so well that when I close my eyes (so I cannot see the volume setting) and turn up the music till it sounds right I almost always end up on the exact same amp setting, to 0.5db. I then often check the level with my phone, it's usually 80 plus or minus 2, LAeq, my phone is accurate enough for this. I've done this in the car, whilst being driven, and got the same 80db result, I was surprised by that, I thought it was going to be lower. My listening room is quiet, often around 24db A weighted, the car is obviously way higher, I've forgotten how much. I think my brain sets the volume based on the midrange frequencies, what's going on in the low frequencies don't get factored in, unless they are annoyingly wrong.

Oh, god no! Whatever you do, don't accuse me for trying to get anyone to listen to Steely Dan. I'd be the last to do that. It was just a well produced sample with no heavy bass, nothing more.