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You're probably listening too loud

After many years of being a professional musician and spending hundreds of hours in the recording studios on both sides of the glass, I believe that most listeners undermine the pleasure of the listening experience by listening too loud and deadening their ears.

As a resident of NYC, there are a million things here that make the ears shut down, just the way pupils close up in bright light. People screaming, trucks, subways, city noise. Your ears keep closing up. Then you go home and try to listen on the hifi, but your ears are still f'kd up to get to the point. Try this experiment.

Hopefully, you can all have some degree of quiet when you can sit down and listen. Start with a record or CD of acoustic music with some inner detail and tonality. I like to use the Naim CD with Forcione and Hayden, or the piano/bass CD with Taylor/Hayden. Just simple, relaxing music. Real instruments doin' real things.

Start by sitting back and leaving the volume just a little lower than you find comfortable. Just like you want to turn it up a bit, but leave it down. Sit back and relax. I would bet that in 7-10 minutes, that "too low" volume is going to sound much louder. That's because you're ears have opened up. Now, without changing anything, that same volume is going to sound right. Step out of the room for a second, but don't talk with anybody. Just go get a glass of water and come back - now, that same volume is going to sound louder than you thought.

Sit back down and listen for a minute or two - now, just the slightest nudge of the volume control upwards will make the sound come alive - the bass will be fuller and the rest of the spectrum will be more detailed and vibrant.

Try it - every professional recording engineer knows that loud listening destroys the subtleties in your hearing. Plus, lower volumes mean no or less amplifier clipping, drivers driven within their limits and ears that are open to receive what the music has to offer.

Most of all - have fun.
chayro
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almarg
8,673 posts
 
It all depends on the dynamic range of the music. A lot of my listening is to classical symphonic music, usually on well engineered recordings (meaning with little or no dynamic range compression). I would definitely feel that I'm missing out if I did not turn the volume up to some approximation of what I hear in a concert hall, and in so doing I have no concerns about effects on my hearing because average power levels are so far below the brief and infrequent peaks.

I once sat in the very front row at a concert at Tanglewood at which the BSO performed Prokofiev's "Romeo and Juliet." The closing passages contained probably the loudest sounds I have ever heard, aside from a 105mm howitzer that I once heard go off at a distance of about 30 feet.

While I would not want to be exposed to that sort of volume regularly, playing more typical symphonic music at less than say mid-hall volume levels I would consider to be a waste of the capabilities that I developed my system to be able to provide. With highly compressed rock music, it would be a completely different story, and concerns about my hearing would definitely be a consideration.

A good classical symphony has to be played at realistic levels to make it feel right and if I listen to a small jazz combo or voices, I want them "in my room". All else is less than satisfying for me.

Exactly!

Regards,
-- Al
tvad
9,467 posts
 
Chayro, you make good points, and I agree with you.
trelja
3,215 posts
 
For me, the argument that a system played at 70 something dB is the height of resolution and therefore, audiophilia, has always sounded more like some sort of perverse blend of arrogance and defense mechanism on the part of its devotees.

The Equal Loudness (Fletcher-Munson) curves are such that if one listens to a 1 KHz tone at 70 dB, the corresponding 100 Hz and 10 KHz tones would need to be almost 80 dB to sound as if they're being produced at the same level. Reverse that, and if listening to those same 100 Hz and 10 KHz tones at 70 dB, the corresponding 1 KHz tone would need to be played at about 55 dB to sound in balance. Given that tone controls are considered anathema to the audiophile experience, it certainly wouldd be rare to see a system capable of that much correction - not that we'd even desire it.

I personally don't demand a high-end audio system be full range in the truest sense of things, but 100 Hz and 10 KHz are frequencies I most certainly consider fundamental. And while I know plenty of people who do, I believe one who listens at less than 80 dB, where the frequency spectrum is beginning to come into balance, is truly kidding themselves in trying to wear the badge of "audiophile". That person leaves an incredible amount of music outside of what is actually taken in. They may like the sound being produced, and the music may possess true and deep meaning, but it's the antithesis of reality, or even high-fidelity. At 85 - 95 dB, things have evened out nicely, and that is probably what could be considered a sweet spot.

By the way, very few people realize that OSHA recognizes the Fletcher-Munson curve, and set its guidelines (levels for which a person is not at any statistical risk for noise-induced hearing loss) for loudness in accordance with it. Beyond that, the SPL/time ratios (I think most of us are safely inside the lines) are as follows:
85 dB for 16 hours/day
90 dB for 8 hours/day
95 dB for 4 hours/day
100 dB for 2 hours/day
unsound
6,115 posts
 
Trelja, another good post. Bravo! It's not loud volume in it's self that is dangerous, but, loud volume for prolonged times. There are those that seem to listen to their systems nearly all the time. A love of music? Justification of expense? I can listen for fairly prolonged periods, but, just the act of seriously listening can become fatiguing. Unfortunately too much of todays pop music is recorded way too loud, and the subsequent lowering of volume destroys the dynamics. Too much of my favorite meal, too often, ruins that enjoyment too.
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onhwy61
4,163 posts
 
Modern acoustic instruments are nearly always designed to fill large acoustic spaces. They are loud instruments. Unless it's a purist recording with two microphones suspended in mid-air at a distance from the performers, typical recording technique is to position the microphones inches from the instrument. I argue that this combination of instrument type and recording technique allows the in-home audio playback SPLs to be lower than the performance SPLs amd still retain sufficient detail and immediacy. It's also my experience that purist recordings need to be played at high volume levels in order to sound correct.
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