For sure. Especially if you are listening to music you know and love. You just don't really need 'loud' for most music to enjoy it. Most of my music plays at about 75 db on average and I don't feel I'm missing anything.
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I used to be 85-90 dB most of the time, now 75- 80 & maybe 85 on peaks.
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I agree with Paul McGowen who says music should be played appropriately loud.
There's a restriction of resolution when the volume knob is too low. Low volume acts like stepping on the brake pedal.
It's reasonable to play acoustic music at a natural volume level in order to sound 'real'. Isn't that what we're trying to achieve? Think how loud a single live violin player would sound standing in your living room or any live instrument. Trumpet? Clarinet? Piano? An acoustic trio would be WAY too loud? In a condo the neighbors would complain.
A good system can/should play louder levels without fatigue and enhances the 'live' experience at appropriate levels for the genre being played. I'm not paying for an expensive system that can play music well at lower levels. Not an attribute for a live experience.
However, whatever works for you is good.
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As my systems have improved over the decades this is exactly what has happened to me. My systems have become completely satisfying at lower volumes. Most of the time I now listen between 65 and 75db.
Typically I go through an upgrade cycle about every seven to ten years. Typically it takes a couple years to upgrade… because of the intense research and breakin of components that is necessary between new components.
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You listen at lower volumes as you age. I’m a 38yr carpenter and I can’t take loud volumes anymore even if I’m listening to the cult. I measured cutting an outlet opening inside a cabinet for an outlet with a multi tool and it was 120db! I’m afraid my hearing is going as well. Sometimes it seems as if people are mumbling to me when they speaking. I guess this is why I love my system very much on the warm side. All carpentry tools are horrifically on the bright side. I’ve improved it with tubes and high end interconnects and yes, I’m hearing the difference and liking it. I stay away from tweeters that are beryllium or titanium or ribbon. It’s all silk dome for me.
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My short answer is that I used to listen a lot louder than I do now.
(Kind of similar to you, I put my system into mothballs back in 2010 and brought it back out in late 2017. Since then I have upgraded to better pieces of gear, so I do not know if that is a coincidence or a direct correlation.)
Regardless, it sounds better to me now playing low than it used to, although occasionally I still feel the need for speed and step on the gas "a bit".)
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I notice I am also really sensitive (and very quickly responds negatively) to high frequency distortion as is so common in iPhones, low end systems and detail scraping solid state high end audio systems. Although technically I am sure my hearing in the high frequencies has been attenuated with age.
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@fthompson241
I have done the exact same thing and I listen at the same levels.
I used to be 85-90 dB most of the time, now 75- 80 & maybe 85 on peaks
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You know you are there or almost 99% there when you don't need crank up the volume and you don't want to leave your listening chair when you start listening to your favorite CDs/Records. Yesterday, I just fired up my system and played Coleman Hawkins' Reevaluations: The Impulse Years. What a treat. This is a 2LP set well recorded and Hawk's play was sublime. An all star supporting cast has contributed to tracks on this set. Then I played Johnny Hodges' Rippin' & Runnin'. Rabbit kept me tied up to my chair until past midnight.Volume level was around 75-80 dB range.
My biggest fear is, my phono cartridge is very old and I am planning to change it. I am a bit worried that the new cartridge may take time to break-in and am not sure if it will sound as good as old one even after 200-300 hrs.
So my advise to you is make sure you can get back to this position if further improvements/changes are not to your liking.
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Ditto, ditto, ditto. You can now hear into the depths at lower volume. Surprising when you first notice this has happened. Then you grasp it's because the tech has become so much more refined.
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Sitting here at 12:30am listening at about 45db so my neighbors don’t hate me and I can hear all the details of the songs I’m listening to. Sometimes I even hear new things pop out of songs I’ve listened to many times listening at lower volumes late at night. It is better around 60db-70db but I can’t turn it up that loud late at night. I rarely listen louder than that as I listen more or less near field since I have a smaller listening space. My speakers really open up around that loudness as well and I don’t find the need to turn it up to hear more.
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For me it's just the opposite. My system sounds so good loud and most of the music I play now is so dynamic, the extra volume is tangible. My average is 90-100db. I am 60 and work in a plywood mill and have my hearing checked every 4 months and so far, so good.
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Last night I went on an Allman Brothers jag. Have seen them many times. Starting out gently and choosing tracks to get progressively louder. By the time I got to Live at the Fillmore I just wanted to really crank it. Had been listening in the 75-80db range. In Memory of Elizabeth Reed caused me give it more juice. When I looked at the db meter on the iphone it was 85-95db. That is exactly how I remember them playing it. Nice to have a full range system! And I still haven't got any of the Pass amps out of class A operation.
To answer the OPs question, yes I enjoy listening softly as well. Back in the day many receivers had "loudness" switches. Now with an external x-over and tri-amped I can play that game for low level listening just better.
Regards,
barts
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I've had a similar experience for sure. I always used my system but started making significant upgrades in 2017. It took me a little longer to get through all the components than you but 2 turntables, 3 tonesrms, 3 cartridges, 4 ramps, new amps, new speakers and a digital front end that I rarely use, I have a system that literally stuns me every time I sit down in front of it. Even if it's a moderately crappy mono recording it still sounds amazing. The better the recording, the better it sounds and I just sit there with a big smile on my face.
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Many good and valid points were made here. There's also the possibility that the speakers you upgraded to had progressively higher sensitivity ratings and thus sound better at lower volume. Also the treated room should have a lower noise floor as well.
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Go Tigers! Yes, can't do Hard rock concerts either. Actually causes pain. Try some good planar speakers.
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“They” say that over 80 db hurts your ears. So I try to play close to that level but not above because the ringing bells of tinnitus have already ruined so much.
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Not as loud as I've aged
80db limit now @55
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While reading these posts I wanted to mention that I believe speakers have improved over the years and don't need to be driven so hard to get good results. aewarren beat me to the point.
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Occasionally I like to listen loudly to certain pieces. It adds another dimension to the presentation. That being said, loudly for me is peak decibels of 90-95. Mostly I listen at 75-80 and hear everything just fine. I want to preserve my hearing for as long as I can so I never lose the love of this wonderful hobby.
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I also probably listen less loud typically as time goes on, but with my system so improved over the years, loud sounds better than ever before...
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Absolutely, 75 db is pretty much my peak. No need for much more than that once you get your system and room acoustics just right.
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I have generally noticed that my listening volumes have receeded as I have upgraded my system. But in all honesty if I have the need to listen to The Who Live at Leeds it never going to be loud enough...
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I usually listen at moderate level and rarely have to touch volume control, anyway.
The better your system is the lower the distortion, more so at higher volume, so I would think you would listen at higher not lower level.
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As a musician, I was always cognizant of protecting my hearing. Whether performing live or in the studio, I made sure to wear hearing protection. Lucky for me ... at 63, my hearing is great (according to the audiologist). I listen to my system typically at 60-65 dbs, and never have felt that I was missing out on detail. That level is plenty loud for one to enjoy their system and preserve their hearing.
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Fletcher Munson Curve
"Loudness" Control
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Gotta turn it up? I got my system 5 yrs ago. Streaming was new to me. I was using the volume on the Bluesound and I really didn’t know it bit stripped, but it didn'tsound good til 90 dB.. Now, whatever volume I choose sounds good. I’m still a musical gear head, you just have to step on the gas once in awhile.
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Hello! My experience with relatively non expensive equipment (about 1500-2000€ for a component): in the beginning without any warm up and wrong placement of speakers in too big room for bookshelf speakers I wanted to turn up the volume louder and louder every time. And it really had some effect! But after severel tens of hours of warming up, placing speakers in suitable room on stands and with right positioning, finding suitable speaker cables (silver plated for more highs) everything became normal. It was no need to turn up the volume any more. Also I thik that one of the important exponents of quality of an amplifier is an ability to play well exactly at low level of volume, which cheap equipment can not have.
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When working, and just have it on, it's around 60db, doing some critical listing, 80-90 db. Sometimes, I want the house to shake, to have the neighbors have a listen.
100+ db happens at times, but usually I'm moving around the house wanting to feel the music.
My system really starts to wake up around 80db. I go one or two notches on the volume, it feels like the speakers are pumped with adrenaline, fully waking up.
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I’ve found that the constant adjustment of volume is absolutely essential to my listening sessions, because every song and it’s delivery as a recorded track is different - some begin very softly to explode into incredibly loud and dynamic highs, others maintain a steady output all the way through; some songs are intended to be played loud and brash, while others are so nuanced, they are sung like a whisper, as in Inger Marie Gundersen’s ‘Sebastians waltz’. The range of adjustment I make between those two may be as much as ten decibels. Tracks have differently recorded volume levels - I cannot listen to ‘bohemian rhapsody’ at the same level I listen to Tori Amos’ ‘icicle’; and I generally listen to almost all classical music at a higher level than most other genres. For the full impact of its performance, I listen to tchaikovsky’s violin in D by Perlman and Ormandy at about the same level as I do with ‘bohemian rhapsody’. Occasionally, I even adjust the volume between tracks on the same album, sometimes up or down by just a decibel. The starting track of ‘Friday night in San Francisco’ has to be heard at a higher volume level, but it starts much more gently, so that balance has to found at the very beginning of the track. I guess what I am trying to say is that the realistic experience of each and every track I play is so very determined by volume control.
In friendship - kevin.
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I have a question related to this topic:
My current speakers have a sensitivity of 86db *Dynaudio Evoke 20". I am curious about getting (and building) the CSS Criton 2TDX MTM which has a sensitivity of 90db. My question is: "would the increase in sensitivity lead to better sound at low volumes? Is the sensitivity related to how the speakers perform at low volumes?
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Yes…. This happens if one is making the right moves for system upgrades (components and cables).
Better/improved equipment should mean more resolution and less noise.
Lowered noise, particularly from better cables, allows one to listen and be satisfied at a lower volume due to the increase in resolution and the lowering of noise.
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Yep. Generally listen in the mid 70s now but occasionally like to turn it up.
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