Is louder better?

Louder to be louder is not better, but I certainly find that getting volume in the area to reproduce the event as recorded is most enjoyable.  No doubt that is is nice listening at lower levels if your system has the resolution to reproduce low level detail at low volumes. 

i find that if you have good equipment and a lot of power, i hear sounds that you would'nt hear at low volume!

What??? 

10' by 13' room...somewhat nearfeild listening in "early am" can be more enjoyable than louder in that size room.

dweller,

it is not my experience that all systems sound good at moderate levels.

The best systems sound great at moderate levels.

Mediocre systems need to be cranked up to give the impression of sounding better, all they are doing is amplifying everything that’s wrong with the system. They are just louder. 

Think ghetto boom box blasting out of someone’s car trunk as they are driving by. Loud? Hell yeah. Better? They don’t realize - or care - that 95% of what they are listening to is distortion and the sound of their car’s body vibrating.

DON'T Click on @dastenpen56's link. It is spam.

Search "Equal Loudness Contour". We don’t hear everything equally well at all frequencies. Really low bass and really high treble have to be fairly loud to hear well. This is why the Loudness switch used to be so common. At low levels we have to turn up the bass, and the treble, to have them sound right.

+1. Ignore at your own peril, unless your system is challenged at higher volume levels.

Dear @syntax : With the same recording each room/system has its " perfect " SPL to listen it where it does not matters that you put the SPL higher you can't listen more detail.

All room/systems has a threshold about that can be as wider as the quality levels of each one room/system.

Now, in any room/system we can make that threshold wider about SPL if we puts at minimum all kind of distortions/noises developed through the room/system.

But yes you can achieve more details with higher SPLs if you are out of that threshold stratting range. In the other side if you are out of the threhold to range not even you will have more details but the other way around.

Regards and enjoy the MUSIC NOT DISTORTIONS,
R.

@noromance If you’re still hearing OK after the Jools Holland piano wank at top volume, things are going to be just fine!

I tend to listen high 60s to high 70s. Any higher is disturbing.
Have a pretty refined $130K system and cranking it up does not necessarily distort but my ears seem to not like it louder. I may have inadequate power.
My speakers are 91db and minimum impedance 6 ohms and my amp is an Atma-Sphere M-60 which is 60 watts. I just rolled in NOS output tubes and the power is boosted to 80 watts. I clearly hear louder more comfortably. My speakers do like more power! Am waiting on Speltz Zero Autoformers which will change the impedance and raise to power to about 100 watts. Now anxious to hear even higher levels!

The room will have a say too.
Low volume works well with bad rooms/very little acoustic treatment. 

You can listen louder and longer in better rooms.
There's a sweet spot in my room probably because my room is lacking. But at least I can listen well within my range.

Many interesting responses hear that have lots of relevance.  But I don't believe their is a universal rule that can be applied to answer your question.  Tends on the music, mostly.  Recordings too can be sublime or harsh.  Obviously one sounds better at high volumes.  Some bands just need to be played at higher volumes.  Some LP tell you to crank it up. 

@audioguy85
my mind also pictured a felt dogs playing poker art on your side wall and a big g graphic on the coffee table. Sorry I am having a flash back that was my room!

Your question can be addressed in the same simplistic form asked or broken down into more details. Simple answer yes an no. I like different artists at different levels. It is easy to measure as I start an album at at set level and as the listening session goes on I find my self either turning it up or turning it down. Detailed answer has to breakdown the rig. SS class A class A/B, tubes in the chain, types of power source in the amp ( I don’t get caught up in watts per as in my mind this is and can be overrated) then speaker efficiency. Some speakers will sing at low to moderate levels with the right amp and others crave high current high power and high volume. This reminds me of college in the 80’s with my Bose 901’s running a Sansui 9090 amp. The power supply on this amp could double as a welder if needed. The 901’s only made acceptable sound at ear bleeding levels.
So is louder better yes and no.

Low levels late night with big A$$ Tannoy concentric drivers driven by a class A Sugden being fed from a tubed Tavish Design phono preamp and Jensen MC 2rr SUT receiving a signal from a Hana EL mc with Alnico magnets on the end of a Pro-ject 9 inch carbon fiber /aluminum tonearm attached to a well isolated Pro-Ject The Classic belt driven turntable. Clean power courtesy of my AQ Niagara 1200 and AQ Thunder PC connected to my dedicated 12/2 20 Amp circuit provided by my AQ Edison receptacle, ahhh heaven....all Analog baby....oh and the volcano Lava lamp and the lights down low😁

I'm surprised the elephant in the listening room hasn't been mentioned: loud cost more money. Doesn't everyone like loud once in awhile? Not a big believer in a "correct" listening level unique for every recording. That said, sure lots of speakers sound best at a certain level for THAT specific room. (Least appreciated factor when designing acoustical treatments for a room.)

Many less expense systems are as competent as others with the difference being the ability to play at concert levels. Cheap ribbons or cheap electrostatics beat cheap boxes any day of the week. As prices increase, things are't that simple.  (But this is another topic)

https://boomspeaker.com/noise-level-chart-db-level-chart/

This is a solid resource I send to people.

On previous forums, I've seen posters siting 90db or something crazy like that. Above all, go see an audiologist and have your hearing tested. I've known folks who had terrible hearing and top notch systems. 

I dunno... in my late 20’s I put together a car stereo featuring a 2700w amp driving a pair of extremely efficient 15” subs. Tended to make people sick to their stomachs, and no one wanted to ride with me twice. So... maybe not always?

There are some general guidance documents on setting up studio monitoring systems for level. Many adopt Bob Katz* approach (1). I came across the following link which is a bit easier to follow (2).
The size of the room is very important, since the -20dB point will need to be at somewhere between 75dB for a smallish room (UK lounge :-) ) to 85dB for a big room which is a big range difference.
* Well known mastering engineer.

When you have a system setup like this, it is surprising how many recordings "snap into focus! In terms of loudness they sound right. Obviously, most systems can go louder, but I've observed that when doing so, although everything is louder, it seems less right. Bear in mind, that domestically available recordings are mixed for domestic consumption, not PA levels of energy. I feel that a system that sounds right at PA levels is probably not right.

(1) https://www.digido.com/portfolio-item/level-practices-part-1/ and https://www.digido.com/portfolio-item/level-practices-part-2/
(2) https://www.gearslutz.com/board/mastering-forum/1024714-depth-bob-katz-k-system-tutorial.html

...prefer Breakfast in America, but some ST better than none...*S*
To each....*S*

Agreed, this older stuff makes the image in the mirror really annoying.
The aids certainly restored mids in a satisfactory fashion...

...esp. when spouse proclaims "You haven't heard anything I've said!" in a much closer proximity....

Saying 'what?' is tantamount to "Kill me Now..." *L*

(Think of it as an 'onboard inline eq with nifty functions...."The best amp you own....You Wear!*VBS* (nft applied for). ;)

I find that the optimum level for listening is about a tenth of a twist higher than the level at which I worry that it is going to bother the people in neighboring apartments. I do believe there is a minimum level that you must have to get the full benefit of your system. Paul McGowan of PS Audio has done a number of enlightening YouTube clips on this subject:

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=PS+audio+low+level

I like loud (90+db) but usually I listen more in the 70-80db (peak) volumes. It’s more comfortable over time. My system isn’t fatiguing at all. I am just bombarded by loud all the time. A little more mellow is good. And I totally disagree with “play at concert levels” thing... that will kill your ears faster than anything. I’m a professional drummer, so I am VERY familiar with loud. I always wear ear protection at concerts these days. We are only getting older and I like hearing with detail.

@skyscraper —true indeed

quiet music played loud please 

Again, louder does wonders for speakers output. 
   Raises bass, and sound.    I play a bit louder to make the speakers sound their best.  

Yes, when you’re 25 and not planning to ever be 65. No, when you are 65 and cussing predisposing yourself to tinnitus when you were 25 listening to high volumes. Who knew you’d ever be getting that old? That kind of age is reserved for old people

All I know there is a wife's dinner's ready loud and an after-dinner loud.  Before dinner, I find myself slowly cranking up the volume to whatever my head calls for at that moment, then returning after dinner that predinner level is way too loud. 

If it's too loud,  you're too old

It is called Supertramp Loud.

I thought it is called The The / Infected Loud.

I know. They’re not paying me enough.

Yes.

Excellent response MC.

«Volume are like brain, it is not the bigger that give the best»- Groucho Marx 🤓

Louder is always better?? Why else do I have line arrays in my living room?? 

When your spl meter says you are hitting jet engine spl levels without hurting your ears and you feel the sound, now you have a stereo!!!!

Cerwin Vega said it best in their 1973 and later ads, 'Loud is beautiful, if it is clean.'

jdane, I am a professional orchestral player, and I don’t wear ear plugs anymore.

A good attitude apparently helps, when it comes to hearing loss.

A German study of hearing loss in orchestra musicians found that if the musician had a negative feeling towards the repertoire being played, more often, than players who liked the repertoire more often, the negative emotion players suffered much greater levels of hearing loss than the positive feelings players.

I imagine it has much to do with stress hormones being produced when in a negative mood, which probably make the ear cells and cilia more brittle and less resilient to sudden transients like timpani blasts, but I am not sure of the details.

Concert levels?   Holy crap!  No one has a house that big.  If I played a recording of even, say, a single trombone at 'concert level', or had a singer friend open up in my living room, I would soon be deaf.  Even orchestra players wear earplugs.  

For me and my system, 80 dB, give or take, is just about perfect. 

I still forget with my planar/ribbons, that they ARE in fact playing loudly, they just sound not as thinkly loud as the driver-based speakers I have owned. Took me a while, but now I recognize that tradional cone driver "thickness", as distortion.

The downside is if I set the volume too loud, like rock concert levels, with difficult 20th century orchestral recordings, they can break up with things like ffff timpani shots.

Those times when I want head-banger levels, I use my Tannoys or Cerwin Vegas. Otherwise I listen to undistorted sound at high but realistic levels on my planar ribbons.

There are not but you hear the high treble and the low bass frequencies better at certain volumes because that is how the ear works.

Yes - until the wife comes downstairs and gives you the stink eye as she walks by.

Still, the louder you go the more distortion you get, so..

I find louder better as long as I stay below 90db. 

«Details are in the silence before the explosion»-Anonymus Smith


For sure the volume must be set optimally, between loud and too quiet, music live between the threshold of hearing and listening....

"In this world louder is better David."

If you're looking to find a natural volume level, go to a party. Wait until there's no music blasting on the stereo. Listen to people speak.  Listen to shouts and laughter.  Listen to little kids yelling. Listen as folks play acoustic instruments.

Agree with the thought that each track has optimal level to sound best. However, I think each particular room should be taken into consideration as well. Too loud in one room but just right in another.

As with many things more is not necessarily better, but there is a "proper" volume that is determined by your individual circumstance of all the factors mentioned above.  Probably didn't need my 2 cents on this one... as I'm confident you know when it is the correct volume for a given recording.

I do find late night listening at moderate levels very rewarding.

Regards,
barts

Is louder better?

Search "Equal Loudness Contour". We don’t hear everything equally well at all frequencies. Really low bass and really high treble have to be fairly loud to hear well. This is why the Loudness switch used to be so common. At low levels we have to turn up the bass, and the treble, to have them sound right.

Recording engineers know this. The levels they set are based on the music being played back at a certain level. That is one reason certain recordings sound "right" when played at a certain volume. Also part of why people say some gear has to be turned up loud to "bloom". A lot of it is equal loudness.

So yes louder is better, at least until you reach this point.

Above it things become a lot more complicated. Many systems will become congested or compressed at high volume. Many rooms will retain so much energy this adds to the feeling of overload, compression and congestion. At some point if it is loud enough your hearing acuity first becomes less, and the goes away altogether. If you experience ringing that is a sure sign it was too loud. Keep going, you can lose it altogether.

Loudness and volume are complicated. That is why back in the 1970’s engineers studying the problem did extensive real-world testing to determine the optimal amount of loud. Where you feel it in every cell of your body, yet still crystal clear and just below the point of damage. This became the industry standard, which like so many things learned at great cost has been forgotten and must continually be relearned. It is called Supertramp Loud. That’s what you want. Just be sure to use your Crime of the Century reference LP.