Music: how loud is loud? (video)

[Sal1950]

Not to go OT so far, but there's more to music than db or THD

Very true, those are only 2 of the measureable areas of sound reproduction.

 

[Sokel]

Yes live sound from ordinary events are more dynamic than any recorded music. Thank goodness, due to the perceptual limitations in human hearing we don’t have to maintain the natural dynamics of a snare drum to have the recorded signal sound like a snare drum. The film and broadcast industry standards recommend an 18 to 20 dB crest factor, relative to 0 daBFS.
Music recording on analog media were typically limited to 13dB Crest factor Max. Less for Cassette.
With digital signals there are little technical limits other than the need or risk of needing to tweek the volume control between songs.

Check out this video I did a while back!

Thanks for this,really nice,short,dense,simple and to the point.
Tools like this demolish myths and speculations.

 

[danadam]

Check out this video I did a while back!

You can get similar plots just by analyzing the files. The data here is from ffmpeg's ebur128 filter:

 

[Andysu]

my cat Bear washing himself a little startled when explosion went off , yes it was loud in THX sound system !

 

[Killingbeans]

 

[stalepie2]

I got Beyerdynamic's recent headphones the DT 900 Pro X and they have a short term maximum input power of 100 mW and rated maximum input power (continuous operation) of only 30 mW:

(from the spec sheet).

So according to a headphone power calculator, I can get it to 113.2 dB for short term (?) by maxing out the volume on the 1 volt Apple USB-C adapter before the "built like a tank" driver goes kaput.

However I find that most music is starting to sound pretty loud at around 40 to 60 % on this adapter. I wonder how loud I really listen, typically.