Kind of a weird question, but I'm a bit insecure about this sort of thing... I own a 20g, 4G iPod with the standard earbuds, and I was wondering at what percentage (estimated, of course) of the maximum volume one can listen to music without the people in their immediate surrounding area hearing sound out of their headphones. I know this varies from situation to situation, so I'm concerned primarily with sitting in a classroom or library, standing in line at a store, walking on the sidewalk/standing at the intersection of two roads, and other similar scenarios one can encounter on a college campus. Perhaps some of you may say that I could answer my own question through simple experimentation, though some potential sources of error in that could stem from the fact that I would be aware that sound was coming out of the earbuds and would be actively seeking it. I'm a bit self-conscious and would like to avoid strange "turn that damn thing down!!" looks; hopefully you understand...
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iPod iPod volume question
- Thread starter PC Convert
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Well this is an awkward question to answer...
With the Apple earphones, I use my 3G at 70% volume and no one hears it. With GOOD headphones I can use it at like 50% because they are better...
With the 4G, I would say 50% volume for no one to hear it
With the Apple earphones, I use my 3G at 70% volume and no one hears it. With GOOD headphones I can use it at like 50% because they are better...
With the 4G, I would say 50% volume for no one to hear it
If you're really worried, you can limit your iPod volume so it's like the ones we get over here (UK) - don;t worry it's completely reversible if it isn't loud enough any more!
Also you can use the Settings>Sound Check on/off on the ipod to protect you ears.
Lock/Unlock the volume limit with this
Also, headphones that pipe the music directly onto your drum are virtually silent to surrounding people, like these - Also the sound quality is about 100000 times better than the apple buds, i should know, because of this!
Hope this Helped!
Also you can use the Settings>Sound Check on/off on the ipod to protect you ears.
Lock/Unlock the volume limit with this
Also, headphones that pipe the music directly onto your drum are virtually silent to surrounding people, like these - Also the sound quality is about 100000 times better than the apple buds, i should know, because of this!
Hope this Helped!
dotdotdot said:
Is the 4G louder than the 3G, Dottie?
I think the self-experimentation still makes sense. While it's true that you know you are listening for sound from the 'phones, that just provides a sort of safety margin. If you're listening for it, and you can't hear it, the people who definitely aren't listening for it won't be able to either!
I'm kinda neurotic about this. I always take mine off and check and see if they're audible. And I have this lab-mate who annoyingly always insists I'm yelling and screaming if I'm wearing headphones when talking to her. I know she's full of it, because, one, I can hear her with no problems, and two, half the time when she says this, the iPod isn't even on, because I paused it when she started talking
, and three, I took the 'phones off and I didn't have to lower my volume. She just feeds into my neuroticism though. But since I moved to in-ears, they run at much lower power levels to begin with....
In-ear headphones
With in-ear headphones you can listen to music at any volume and no-one would hear you. Of course you would not hear anyone around you so I would not recommend them in a classroom. Anyway, shouldn't you be paying attention to the teacher?
With in-ear headphones you can listen to music at any volume and no-one would hear you. Of course you would not hear anyone around you so I would not recommend them in a classroom. Anyway, shouldn't you be paying attention to the teacher?
Sol said:
Most in-ears don't really prevent you from hearing people speak at a normal level unless they're really turned up. Actually, most industrial *ear-plugs* don't prevent you from hearing people speaking at a normal level. In fact, if you are standing in an environment that has a lot of white or grey noise, like a factory floor, you will be able to hear people speak at lower volumes when you are wearing earplugs than when you are not. I don't think a lot of people who won't wear them inside a factory don't really grasp this....
The human ear is *extremely* sensitive at the pitches people use in their spoken voices, for some unsurprising Darwinian reason
... as long as there is no masking noise. And music doesn't generate masking noise, for the most part, because its frequencies are also higher.
I think it depends on a lot of things (location, ambient sounds and ear shape for starters) but I can't listen to my 4G in lectures at all because even at the lowest volume settings (so I can't even see the volume bar) people can still hear that. Maybe I just listen to crashy-bangy music...
Sol said:With in-ear headphones you can listen to music at any volume and no-one would hear you. Of course you would not hear anyone around you so I would not recommend them in a classroom. Anyway, shouldn't you be paying attention to the teacher?
I disagree. If I turn vol. to max and put those Buds on the table then go out of the room, I can still clearly hear whats playing
eXan said:
But that's because they're not in your ears...when they make a seal with your ears, all the sound that is coming out the end of the tube is going into your ear. But when they're sitting on the desk, it's going right out into the air!
That's because the buds aren't in anyone's ears. There's nothing containing the sound, of course you're going to be able to hear them. Especially if you were in a room with no background noise. If I press my earbuds into a pillow or something to absorb the sound coming out of the part that goes into your ear, so the only sound is coming out the little holes in the back, in a dead quiet room I can kind of hear the music if the iPod's volume is at 2/3 of full, if there's any background noise at all though, the volume has to be at almost full, about 1/2 way between 3/4 and full, to really hear anything.eXan said:
Basically, with in-ear headphones, unless you're completely blasting the music in a quiet room, no one is going to hear it.
I totally disagree... and find such remarks offensive...Sol said:
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Edit: As to the subject, I usually have my iPod mini (bought in the US and not one of the Eoropean ones with dampers in it) on 50% volume, using my KOSS SportaPros...