headwhacker
Headphoneus Supremus
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- Sep 4, 2013
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Why would one want to listen at more than 110dB is beyond me. Even 90dB is irritating already. DSD music format prolly needs more than 110dB though.
Modern pop/rock records goes very loud at around 90dB. The older mastered rock albums you may need more than that. usually > 100dB. But there are a few classical recordings with a DR of around 30 - 35dB (transients/peaks). The assumption is the average listening level is 85dB. Add 30 - 35 dB and that accounts for 115 - 120dB peak.
If you never listen to those kind of records then 110 dB peak is adequate. But I imagine your volume pot is always near if not close to the maximum position
To put things into perspective, I have a few classical and lots of old rock/rock n roll albums (e.g. nut cracker, beatles, eagles). I find myself turning the volume pot of my O2+ODAC @ 3.5x to 1 o'clock position a few times listening to some of these records using my HE-400i (93dB/mW). HE-6 requires approximately 8 times the power needed by HE-400i to reach the same level of SPL. O2 obviously don't have enough power for these types of records.