Bottlehead Forum
General Category => General Discussion => Topic started by: saunaboi17 on January 28, 2018, 10:59:39 AM
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So I have a Bottlehead Crack 1.1 with Speedball and HD 6xx headphones and I was wondering how loud can I turn it up before its at the level where my hearing is slowly damaged over time? For most songs I have the volume dial turned 90 degrees (directly away from tube amp), but some songs that need a little more oomf, I turn it up another 45-90 degrees. I don't know if the knob position would produce the same volume across builds because it may vary with the DAC and input too, but I would appreciate any advice and info on figuring out how to avoid damaging volumes. For the sake of our ears, I feel this is an important discussion.
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It's a complex subject, for sure.
It's generally accepted that a continuous noise above 85dB, for 8 hours a day, will result in enough hearing loss over a career to damage the ability to hear and understand speech. The louder the noise, the less time you can be exposed to it without permanent damage. This is the OSHA standard - you can understand your bosses instructions as long as you're working; after that you don't need to hear ...
But most music is not continuously loud, and one recording is not the same loudness another recording at the same setting of the control. And of course, one headphone may be wildly different from another at the same setting of the control. In industrial applications, noise dosimeters are used to evaluate the noise environment, typically in a factory. They measure the cumulative potential damage based on minute-by-minute level readings, and are used to determine whether hearing protection is required, and how much.
Not much of an answer, I'm afraid. You can probably find a cheap sound level meter (Radio Shack used to have one) and, if you have speakers, set it on "A" scale equalization, "slow" response, and play some music, trying to set the level of the peaks to 85dB. Try to remember how loud that sounded. Then you can match that level with earphones using the same recording, and know you are safe - for that particular recording. You'll still need to adjust the level for the next recording though.
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Sorry for going off topic here.
I noticed you're using the HD6XX, how do you like them with the Crack?
Reason I'm asking is because that's the exact same setup I'm getting.
-HD6XXs won't ship until the end of March, Crack should ship aaany day now.
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To augment a bit what PJ said, the knob position is an unreliable way to figure this out. Even for someone else using the same HD6XX headphone source levels can be different and the gain of the Crack differs by a few dB depending upon whether it has the Speedball upgrade or not, whether a 6080 or 5998 is used, etc.. Then of course there is the simple fact that everyone mounts the knob a little differently - full mute at 6, full mute at 7:30, full mute at 12 (PB likes to torture me with this), etc.
And everyone has a different threshold. Though I have a reputation for listening to speakers on the loud side, more often than not I have to turn the volume down when someone hands me headphones that they have been listening to.
If you are concerned, just keep the level a bit to the low side of what is comfortable.
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(PB likes to torture me with this), etc.
The clock starts at the top!
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Half-way should be straight up.
This is the only correct way.
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Like this?
(sorry to the OP for totally derailing your thread)
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Half-way should be straight up
Killer name for an album
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If you use a clock to determine attenuation shouldn't we use a full 24 hour clock? In that case you can have full or no attenuation at either 0 or 12. 6 would be at 1/4 or 3/4 volume based on your reference point of straight up or straight down.
And maybe it's based on time zone so there would be a two hour offset in CST (where I reside) as to the PST (where the kit is built) reference. So...I should put my full attenuation 2 "marks" past (or ahead?) of the PST standard reference (once established).
I'm really struggling with this... :o
;)
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Then we need to adjust our volume knobs for daylight savings? I think we are on to something here!