A community for discussion around all topics related to headphones and personal audio.
Personally, I'd just manually calibrate with real sounds such as my voice or fingersnap. Another trick is by playing very quiet at first so when you increase the volume, it will sound significantly louder while actually still low in db.
And don't underestimate other factors. I lost a bit of my hearing due to flu and some medications.
You can use any official apple or beats earphones to find out the listening volume in the health app. It'll give you an idea of what a safe volume sounds like and then you can listen at that loudness on your other headphones
This is what i use. I’m not sure if it’s entirely accurate but i’d assume so?
Anyways, i check how loud i listen with my airpods, then try and match that volume with my iems (just by listening to it)
Just a heads up: iOS "volume limitation" implements compression, it will affect music quality.
If you use Spotify their volume normalization works wonders (does not affect quality on Normal/Quiet levels).
Protecting your hearing is a great idea, specially at young ages. Always wear earplugs in places you expect exposure to noise (concerts, bars, clubs). All it takes is one long and loud exposure to do permanent damage. There are some cheap and discreet options.
I would also try to listen with low volumes, personally I listen ~44/48 dB and I have no issue noticing the details/enjoying the experience. It also allows me to listen to music as much as I want to at that exposure level.
Airpods do this automatically but frequency response changes with volume, you basically want to bump the lower frequencies so an EQ helps here.
whenever you turn on music, start at a low volume, and then adjust upwards, until you like it. if you start right away blasting your ears with loud music, they will go into a kind of protective shock mode, making you percieve things quieter than they are. this might mislead you into turning up the volume even more.