Hey, Im no audiophile but I used to put my ATH m50s (and apple earbuds) all the way up on my iPhone before  I got my macbook pro.... (Is that normal? I'm glad I didn't go death!!!!!)
 
I was just curious what volume you guys put your standard apple earbuds to...Did you go  All the way up? -_-
 
I finally upgraded to a grado sr 325is... and I actually can't go past 50 or 60 percent even on a phone....
 
 
Any audiophiles around here that can tell me what is the ideal listening level for headphones in general?

I'm not sure how loud the M50s would be. I think ear buds don't sit properly in my ears, making them quieter, so I can't really speak for them either.
 
I would try to keep it at least below 80dB SPL. Take a look at some decibel scale charts to see examples of things that are that loud. A quick Google search will find places that say any more than that can cause hearing damage with long term exposure. Maybe some time you're in a crowded place, driving down the freeway (better if someone else is driving), using a vacuum cleaner, etc., try to set your headphones to the level of the background noise and take note of that volume setting.
 
If your music is too loud, your ears will adjust by restricting your ear canal to compensate, and this will cause distortion in the sound. You've probably been to a rock concert or some other loud situation and noticed that your hearing changes, quieter things will sound muffled. You will hear the clearest and most accurate sound from your headphones if the volume is set no louder than necessary.

I used to listen very loud, until I progressively realized that my hearing was indeed getting worse over the years. Now I've gotten used to hearing on relatively low volume.
 
Also, both the M50 and apple earbuds on max volume even from a phone is way too loud. Even listening at moderate levels will damage your hearing over time... Better safe than sorry.

mindsmirror said:

  I'm not sure how loud the M50s would be. I think ear buds don't sit properly in my ears, making them quieter, so I can't really speak for them either.
 
I would try to keep it at least below 80dB SPL. Take a look at some decibel scale charts to see examples of things that are that loud. A quick Google search will find places that say any more than that can cause hearing damage with long term exposure. Maybe some time you're in a crowded place, driving down the freeway (better if someone else is driving), using a vacuum cleaner, etc., try to set your headphones to the level of the background noise and take note of that volume setting.
 
If your music is too loud, your ears will adjust by restricting your ear canal to compensate, and this will cause distortion in the sound. You've probably been to a rock concert or some other loud situation and noticed that your hearing changes, quieter things will sound muffled. You will hear the clearest and most accurate sound from your headphones if the volume is set no louder than necessary.

Click to expand...

I'm no medical expert, but AFAIK - the ear canal is not going to do anything.  Instead, the bones in the middle ear that transmit sound from the eardrum to the inner ear constrict.  This is done by the stapedius and tensor tympani muscles acting upon the different bones in the middle ear.  They stretch or relax in order to release or dampen vibrations in those bones. 

chronicliar said:

  Hey, Im no audiophile but I used to put my ATH m50s (and apple earbuds) all the way up on my iPhone before  I got my macbook pro.... (Is that normal? I'm glad I didn't go death!!!!!)
 
I was just curious what volume you guys put your standard apple earbuds to...Did you go  All the way up? -_-
 
I finally upgraded to a grado sr 325is... and I actually can't go past 50 or 60 percent even on a phone....
 
 
Any audiophiles around here that can tell me what is the ideal listening level for headphones in general?

Click to expand...

 
I need to max out most mainstream mobile devices (save for my laptop) on the HD600. In all those situations you have two problems as to why it sounds better loud:
 
1) You are using a very non-linear amplification circuit, and you actually like the higher harmonic distortion at higher volume (kind of like how people use tubes to introduce a certain kind of harmonic distortion)
 
2) You might want to see an ENT as there can be something wrong with your ears. You might have earwax build up causing a blockage and hence, lower SPL reaching your ear drums; or, while the human ears' response isn't perfectly flat like a quality microphone, your ears may be waaaaay out of the normal range for non-flat response. I know someone who when talking to people needs to do so with the person talking either directly in front of him (to take advantage of stereoscopic hearing) or their mouth needs to speak in a direct path to one ear (ie the person on the passenger seat needs to turn towards him), all because his ears' response has a huge valley in the midrange where voices are. He's a candidate for "most misheard lyrics" before it was easy to search for song lyrics on the internet.
 
While volume levels vary between every audio system owing to signal strength between each device up until the output power and THD of the amp plus the headphone's impedance and efficiency, if you can go to max volume on your stock earbuds, something is very wrong. Even my tone deaf friends know what obvious distortion sounds like, and it's way over 50% on their iPhones.

I agree with the others.

In a way, talking about the volume setting on a phone or laptop is kind of meaningless for these discussions since both the headphone and the amplifier in the source device affect the volume output.

If you want to get a feel how loud is loud in terms of recommended db level exposure, get a SPL app for your iPhone and experiment with taking measurements from speakers.