[liamo]

In all likelihood it is the volume difference. Most of us have a loudness bias.

I had to venture down to to my basement system to confirm that loudness is as real as galvanic isolation, I’ve even have a dedicated switch for it.

 

[hagenhays]

I had to venture down to to my basement system to confirm that loudness is as real as galvanic isolation, I’ve even have a dedicated switch for it.

I have a loudness push button on my 2 vintage Marantz. I Do have a loudness switch on.my sansui. I will never buy a new receiver....headphone amp..yes.
What model is yours?

 

[hagenhays]

i wonder what exactly (scientifically) loudness measures. It's obviously more than a db bump, lo freq extension. There is nothing sweeter than a vintage amp!

 

[liamo]

I have a loudness push button on my 2 vintage Marantz. I Do have a loudness switch on.my sansui. I will never buy a new receiver....headphone amp..yes.
What model is yours?

Technics SA-700, I still love it. My brother had the SA-1000.....woof. I have multiple systems and it’s the differences that make each special. All different Schiit dacs. Yggy some day.......sigh.

 

[artur9]

I thought I read somewhere that a Loudness button was bad and that one really wanted a Loudness knob. Something along the lines of different listening levels needed different Loudness applied.

 

[Ableza]

IIRC "Loudness" controls are an EQ contour circuit that boosts frequencies below 1500 Hz by up to +20db.

 

[liamo]

With all the possible adjustments on the old gear, knob, switch hardly seem to matter. A tinkerers heaven.

 

[MWSVette]

My first vintage receiver;

My favorite vintage receiver;

Wish I had never sold either of them...

 

[liamo]

Those Sansui’s were gorgeous. I feel your pain, I asked my brother about his SA-1000 and he couldn’t even remember what he did with it. They still go for a grand. The loudness setting was not something I used as my Bose 501’s never needed assistance in that department but I do remember playing with it with bro’s L-100’s. It seemed to get old quickly.

 

[AudioBear]

Forgive me to those who know all this and excuse my excursion into the past of audio. I promise it won't a sound science post. Many of us want accurate sound reproduction from our systems above all. Most reject reject equalizers (disclosure: I bought an Loki Mini the first day it was announced). We want the least number of circuits and circuit elements possible, we avoid DSP, and yet some applaud vinyl and tubes because they are analog and sound better to us. "Sound better to us" is the key here. Most of us are ultimately in this for listening pleasure. The conundrum is, to paraphrase Pogo, I have found the enemy and it is us. Our hearing is far from an perfect linear reception system. Most of you are aware of the Fletcher-Munson curves that led to loudness controls on those old receivers. Take a close look at just how non-linear our hearing frequency response is with varying loudness: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equal-loudness_contour. Those loudness controls have pretty much disappeared today except in DSP format and maybe some receivers. The problem was that they were hard to implement well, introduced distortion of their own, and each of us has a different loudness contour which changes with age; and they added cost to do well. For some listeners boosting the frequency extremes to linearize frequency response actually overemphasizes boosted frequencies in their view. Since nobody wanted extra circuits that could spoil the sound manufacturers have mostly abandoned loudness controls. One solution is to always listen at the same volume. Looking at the curves you would be correct in concluding the louder the better. Perhaps that is why some of us listen at high volumes. The music is actually more linearly presented to our ears. The equal loudness curves may also explain why some prefer V or U shaped response curves in earphones. Personally, I'm ready to go back to loudness controls for casual listening and background music because they really made an improvement in my ears, or at least I liked the effect they had. I wish I still had my 1969 Sansui 5000A with loudness control, distortion, and a damping factor of 15 -- just kidding. Of course I have known for a while that I am not an true audiophile.

 

[OldRoadToad]

For me, I just listen to what makes me happy. If I want more bass, I up it. Less, I turn it down. L/R balance? I just leave it alone. Louder? Turn it up. Not so loud? Turn it down. For me, PLL means, "Pretty Little Lights".

If some thing works for you, it just does. You can share the experience but never force it on any one. Kinda like sitting in traffic and having cRap "music" or that horrid "death growl" metal blare out of a vehicle next to you. If they want to share that I just point a can of air horn at 'em and hit the button. And if they look like they want more, I inflate the "balloon of friend ship". Silly kids these days. Sadly, many of them are old enough to know better but they are too stupid to do so. By choice. Grown, obese males in wife-beaters and baggy snorts with red tennis and black socks, saying "wuttup dawg"... I am such a meanie!

So, if you like some thing, you like it for what it does for you. If you want an EQ, get one. Borrow one or buy a used one or get the dinky Schiit one and see if it makes you happy. I pretty much leave the my music flat but there are times in a car when I change a few things to suit my drive.

Like McCartney said on the album "Let It Be", "I've got a feeling"...

ORT

 

[Pietro Cozzi Tinin]

Oooh...
So excited what our DIY project will be....

 

[sam6550a]

i wonder what exactly (scientifically) loudness measures. It's obviously more than a db bump, lo freq extension. There is nothing sweeter than a vintage amp!

Look up Fletcher-Munson loudness curves and see how human hearing frequency response varies with sound pressure level.

 

[AudioBear]

On Wikipedia that redirects to equal loudness contours at the link I cited above. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equal-loudness_contour

 

[Pandahead]

Oooh...
So excited what our DIY project will be....

Anything would be over the top after enduring the GAMMA (guerilla ass multibit measurement attack) week. Good grief. Here's to this week being better and Jason having time to share something educational with us rather than block irrationals. we need Constanza to be the moderator supremus. No wonder it took me years to get up the nerve to post!

Jason, if you're out there keep up the good work.