I don’t know what decibel I listen but I know a lot of HiFi stores turned me off because they played the music too loud IMO. I guess they were trying to impress me. Yet I generally play it louder than the casual listener. Often I don’t really think my system is that loud til I go to speak to my wife and I have to raise my voice quite a bit. This was one of the surprises to me is that it doesn’t sound that loud til i go to talk and I have a loud voice. However I am of the opinion that every album has a sweet spot where the volume is optimal for that album. I usually try to find that. I guess I need a db meter. tried on on my phone but didn’t trust its accuracy
Turn down the Volume!
One topic that seems rarely discussed is volume. If you listen to mixing engineers, it’s their most feared aspect of how their work is measured, since it’s out of their control. This leads to things like loudness wars (assume the worst). As my system has improved, my main takeaway is I can be engaged with 60db peaks, where when I hear other systems you often have to turn it up to 90db peaks for it to sound decent. I’m pretty sure it all has to do with bass and room energy, but wonder if others have a similar experience. Side note that reviews or any subjective ‘better’ statements about gear rarely indicate how loud they are listening. since all we can perceive if volume it is puzzling. I will say if it sounds good with 110 db peaks then that is impressive.