[J3mo]

Hey all, this question's been nagging at me for quite some time, but it suddenly dawned on me today that you guys'd be the best ppl to ask this to.

I commute to my school and I had some crappy no-namer open cans before i switched to my e3's. With these junk phones i had to crank up the volume to the top of my ipod mini's setting for the music to be even audible. Ever since i got the e3's, i only had to raise the volume on my mini about two clicks for me to hear comfortably and if i wanted to really hear the music, then about a third of the max volume. So hence the question: do i incur hearing damage relative to the absolute volume? or relative volume?

cause if my hearing gets damaged just by how much of sound there are in the bus / train, then my ears should be taking quite a beating just by commuting. Not only that, i don't perceive the background sound to be loud at all while i'm commuting. However, when i put my e3's on and crank up my volume dial to half the max volume, the ipod should only be outputting the volume at a level that would not have even been audible for me when i had my no-namer cans on. And yet, the level of sound is beyond comfort...

thanks

 

[wakked1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by J3mo Hey all, this question's been nagging at me for quite some time, but it suddenly dawned on me today that you guys'd be the best ppl to ask this to. I commute to my school and I had some crappy no-namer open cans before i switched to my e3's. With these junk phones i had to crank up the volume to the top of my ipod mini's setting for the music to be even audible. Ever since i got the e3's, i only had to raise the volume on my mini about two clicks for me to hear comfortably and if i wanted to really hear the music, then about a third of the max volume. So hence the question: do i incur hearing damage relative to the absolute volume? or relative volume? cause if my hearing gets damaged just by how much of sound there are in the bus / train, then my ears should be taking quite a beating just by commuting. Not only that, i don't perceive the background sound to be loud at all while i'm commuting. However, when i put my e3's on and crank up my volume dial to half the max volume, the ipod should only be outputting the volume at a level that would not have even been audible for me when i had my no-namer cans on. And yet, the level of sound is beyond comfort... thanks

Eh? Whaaat?

Volume on the iPod != volume in the ear. e3's are probably more efficient.. but the again, the noise reduction they afford probably lets you turn down the absolute volume.

I got an rat shack SPL meter.. you know 80+ db is pretty loud, I realized that I never listend to phones for any length of time at that volume.

 

[7even]

I tried the experiment the other day with an spl meter and my speakers. Even 80 db is pretty scary loud

 

[GrooveTropics]

No nothing is wrong I think those crappy open air cans just needed more juice to get up to the same volume that your E3s get with just a little juice. Im pretty sure that doesnt effect hearing. But I think constant flying would because of cabin pressure!!!!!

 

[Gibo]

I had the same problem with the stock headphones that came with my creative mp3 player.

 

[J3mo]

emmm, so what would be 80 dbs on the ipod mini's volume control?

and also, from what you guys are saying, i can hear the music better with my e3's better at a smaller volume not only because of it blocks out sound (the obvious part) but also because it's more efficient?

which means the volume control doens't really tell me how much output of sound there is?

 

[7even]

Quote:

Originally Posted by J3mo emmm, so what would be 80 dbs on the ipod mini's volume control? and also, from what you guys are saying, i can hear the music better with my e3's better at a smaller volume not only because of it blocks out sound (the obvious part) but also because it's more efficient? which means the volume control doens't really tell me how much output of sound there is?

I guess it depends on the headphones. And no, it doesn't really tell you much, it's just a relative scale imo..

 

[Purgatos]

Quote:

Originally Posted by 7even I guess it depends on the headphones. And no, it doesn't really tell you much, it's just a relative scale imo..

Exactly, some headphones are hungrier than others and need more power out of your system to hit the same volume as other headphones would. The volume on your iPod tells you what the iPod is doing, not what the headphones are.

IEMs are much less power-hungry than full-size cans(in general) and therefore take a lot less effort from the player to give the same amount of volume to your ears.

 

[rem7]

how can I measure the how loud I am listening to music on my ipod w/headphones ? SPL Meter??? I've never used one, I went to radioshack.com and did a search on sound meter, this is what I found: http://www.radioshack.com/product/in...entPage=search

would that work to measure headphones?

or if you guys know any other sound meters (or methods) that I could use to measure my headphones

 

[ojnihs]

It's actually scary how loud 80db really is. A lot of people on this forum, after reading reports on the hearing loss due to headphones, sort of freaked out about their listening levels and turned their music down. Some went out and got the meter and measured their listening levels. A lot of people are surprised at how loud 90db's really is, but make sure you don't crank the iPod up to full volume just to hear some music. I gain all my files and still only go about 25-30% maximum volume on my iPod, even if I'm in a heavy commuting location, such as when I'm on the el or near heavy traffic. I may not be able to hear my music, but I'm not going to risk damage to my ears to hear it more clearly.

 

[Clutz]

Quote:

Originally Posted by J3mo emmm, so what would be 80 dbs on the ipod mini's volume control? and also, from what you guys are saying, i can hear the music better with my e3's better at a smaller volume not only because of it blocks out sound (the obvious part) but also because it's more efficient? which means the volume control doens't really tell me how much output of sound there is?

The volume control on your iPod controls the output voltage at the headphone jack. When the volume on your iPod is set to 100%, then it's outputting the maximum amount of voltage it is capable of, when it's set to 50%, it's only outputting 50% of the maximum voltage it's capable of. What determines the "loudness" that you hear through your headphones is a combination of the amount of voltage that your iPod (or your source) is outputting, and youir headphone's ability to convert that voltage into audio. Some headphones are better able toconvert voltage into volume. This is referred to as the 'sensitivity' of the headphones. The more sensitive the headphones are, the greater the change in volume heard for a given change in 'volume' on your source.

I hope that answers things for you.

 

[GreatDane]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ojnihs It's actually scary how loud 80db really is.

Are you serious?

 

[omedon]

Quote:

Cause if my hearing gets damaged just by how much of sound there are in the bus / train, then my ears should be taking quite a beating just by commuting. Not only that, i don't perceive the background sound to be loud at all while i'm commuting. However, when i put my e3's on and crank up my volume dial to half the max volume, the ipod should only be outputting the volume at a level that would not have even been audible for me when i had my no-namer cans on. And yet, the level of sound is beyond comfort...

Sound is cumalitive if you are blasting the old open cans to mask the noise of the bus then you are hearing nearly all the bus noise plus all the headphone noise to mask it.

Open headphones in a loud enviroment is a bad idea.

It would be a really bad idea to bring your open headphones to a noisy club, concert, or construction zone.


If you want to use open phones in a loud enviroment the way to go would be to get some custom fit ear plugs like ER-25's. They would block out both background noise and headphone noise. So you would have to crank the headphones. Bad for your batteries but good for your ears.

 

[threepointone]

for the sake of making sure i'm not killing my ears, does anyone know any cheap volume measuring device?

 

[Skylab]

The Radio shack SPL meter is $40, and it is worth every penny. Saving your hearing it crucial.

I have been very happy listening below 80db, and I feel better knowing I am not damaging my hearing.