bluesfordan
Member
until I'm settled in a treated room, I'll be using open backed phones for playback/mixing. I'm currently running out from the mac mini headphone output and 90% of the time going to a stereo receiver to monitor/listen. The phones are plugged into the receiver's phone jack.
I've got two volume controls to contend with, the computer's and the receiver's. As such, I don't really have a metric, to say, half way up on the volume dial on the receiver because it depends on how high the computer's headphone out volume is set.
I was listening to some bass tracks the other day and heard crackling in the phones. Yes, the bass was sort of loud but was it the speaker in the phone or something else? This made me wonder just how loud was I listening to.
Google totally failed me in searching for testing headphone volume. The closest I got was some site saying to get a styrofoam head and cut holes in it to approximate ear canals and a place to put the volume meter's mic. WTF? Seriously? The vast majority of the hits were admonitions to not listen too loud. Well, duh. How about showing me how to test the bloody phones so I know what it's doing? The other videos were about how loud phones can get for DJs, reviews, etc. I'm not interested in max volume, I'm trying to find a working volume that I can mix with for extended periods without hurting my hearing.
"Can somebody hear your music if they're sitting beside you?" Um, nobody else is around.
"Hold your phones at arm's length, can you hear the music clearly?" yeah, about that, they're open back phones, of course I'm going to hear the freaking music clearly at arm's length.
"Have other people noticed you having hearing difficulty?" jumping jebus on a pogo stick, that's what I'm trying to avoid.
If I get a meter like this Galaxy Audio Live Sound Monitor (CM130), do I just hold the phones and put the meter's mic right into the cup? Do I try to push the two cups together over the meter's mic?
forget about smartphone apps, they have to use the built in mic and undoubtedly contend with all kinds of Automatic Gain Control and compression programs. They may be able to give a limited idea of how loud a room is, but not s single source item like a headphone speaker.
I've got two volume controls to contend with, the computer's and the receiver's. As such, I don't really have a metric, to say, half way up on the volume dial on the receiver because it depends on how high the computer's headphone out volume is set.
I was listening to some bass tracks the other day and heard crackling in the phones. Yes, the bass was sort of loud but was it the speaker in the phone or something else? This made me wonder just how loud was I listening to.
Google totally failed me in searching for testing headphone volume. The closest I got was some site saying to get a styrofoam head and cut holes in it to approximate ear canals and a place to put the volume meter's mic. WTF? Seriously? The vast majority of the hits were admonitions to not listen too loud. Well, duh. How about showing me how to test the bloody phones so I know what it's doing? The other videos were about how loud phones can get for DJs, reviews, etc. I'm not interested in max volume, I'm trying to find a working volume that I can mix with for extended periods without hurting my hearing.
"Can somebody hear your music if they're sitting beside you?" Um, nobody else is around.
"Hold your phones at arm's length, can you hear the music clearly?" yeah, about that, they're open back phones, of course I'm going to hear the freaking music clearly at arm's length.
"Have other people noticed you having hearing difficulty?" jumping jebus on a pogo stick, that's what I'm trying to avoid.
If I get a meter like this Galaxy Audio Live Sound Monitor (CM130), do I just hold the phones and put the meter's mic right into the cup? Do I try to push the two cups together over the meter's mic?
forget about smartphone apps, they have to use the built in mic and undoubtedly contend with all kinds of Automatic Gain Control and compression programs. They may be able to give a limited idea of how loud a room is, but not s single source item like a headphone speaker.