[rx7_fan]

85 SPL for 4 hours of continuous use.

 

[Whorehay]

the lowest i can get before it is silent on my 5th generation iPod

 

[teemi]

I have my mp3s gained down to 79db to get a little more adjustability in the lower ranges, so I can have my ipod's volume bar up to 50% in traffic. Usually it hangs out around 10-25% when I'm using them to avoid hearing my aunt play Diablo and in the first one or two settings up in a quiet room.

The only problem with gaining your music down is that lineout suffers.

 

[vulc4n]

HJE50 @ 75-85% on my Nano... Thats with all my songs mp3gained to 89dB.

 

[enzoferrari650]

25% - 50% on my ipod nano with um2's. Music is directly encoded from cd's with itunes mp3 converter.

 

[Jam_Master_J]

Quote:

Originally Posted by steel102 in a fairly quiet room, i find volume 1 on my karma to be too loud, and even the lowest volume setting on the ipod (you can't even see any grey color on the volume bar) is too loud.

+1.

I use 1/30 about 75% of the time for my E4s when used with either the Karma or the Forge. I find this setting too loud when in quiet environments with "hot" sounding tracks mostly.

 

[Jam_Master_J]

Quote:

Originally Posted by gorman ... I am very surprised by this statement. Volume 1 on Karma equals a -58 dB attenuation. Now... UE-10, which are very efficient phones, on a song with more or less average loudness (consindering today's unfortunate standards), let's say 95dB measured with ReplayGain, would be playing at 57 dB average level (Karma with UE-10 tends to reach an average SPL similar to what's measured by ReplayGain at volume 20 out of 30, and every step is -2dB). 57dB is less than conversational speech (http://home.new.rr.com/trumpetb/audio/dBexamp.html)... how can it be too loud?

I also find 1/30 too loud in some cases but not really in an absolute sense. Meaning that the SPL certainly isn't painful, but it's higher than I need to hear with good clarity.

 

[exkgb]

I have mine nearly @ Max on an ipod nano.

Using the super inefficient IM716 at the moment.

 

[tha_dude]

iAudio U2 with Super.fi pro 5. regular room around 4-6; noisy places i've only gone up to 9.

 

[Bob Mahoy]

8 to 10 on my zen micro with super.fi 3s (which I intend to replace), depending on the recording and my environment. They don't block as well as other IEMs (or sound as good).

 

[Skrying]

4 to 7 out of 25 on my Creative Zen Touch. Any thing I use on this player gets extremely loud once I get past 10, and at 25 I believe it would seriously damage your ears within a few hours. An extremely aggressive volume increase.

 

[yellafella321]

er, without an amp the best analogy is ~60-75% on ipod 5g with e3c, (louder when im working out)

anyone know ~db of that?

 

[l_simon_l]

I have the ipod set so I just can't hear my tinnitus... with the ER6is that is about 30% of the volume slider

 

[jSatch]

Quote:

Originally Posted by exkgb I have mine nearly @ Max on an ipod nano. Using the super inefficient IM716 at the moment.

Whoa, that's killer volume Dude!

I run my iM716s at 50-80% (4th Gen, color iPod).

Overeall I agree, I wish these phones weren't such hogs to drive. But (silver lining), there are a couple of good things to say about inefficient earphones: (1) Sonic boom. I turn my iPod volume up to near max when I'm using it in the car (via FM transmitter). The next time the iPod is turned on it resumes at max volume. If I just happen to be plugged it in with my phones (very likely), the shock could possibly damage my hearing. This sonic boom has surprised friends on turn on, even with their relatively inefficient Apple earbuds. (2) Tinnitus. Many non-US DAPs have their max output reduced to protect from hearing loss. (3) Impedance. Lower impedances are often associated with efficient earphones. At very low frequencies, this could impose a more difficult load for the tiny DAP amp and roll off the low bass a bit quicker. With an already bass deficient iPod, this might be noticeable.

But yes, when comparing earphones, headphones or even speakers, the more efficient (ie, louder) ones always sound better, until you equalize the volume differential.