Rat Shack SPL meter: Analog or Digital?

When I was demoing audio gear, I considered buying one of these to allow me to do a more fair comparison -- apparently it is very hard to set gear to identical volumes, and the louder gear sounds better.

I was told elsewhere, though, that the accuracy of the meters is not good enough to help in this project (I think it's +/-2db?). Is that the opinion here also?

Thanks,

Eric

Eric, the meter is very reproducible, and you would likely be setting levels with a calibrated pink noise, rather than individual test tones. For you what you propose I think the meter would be very well suited, except in the case of comparing an electrostatic with a dynamic speaker. The dispersion patterns of these two are very different and I would question whether or not it's really the same volume. At the moment, I can't really conceive of an alternate method.

The digital version actually has a bar-graph analog display that is just as good as a moving pointer. And the numeric readout sure makes it easier to log results as you vary the speaker setup etc. The digital/analog issue is just about readout convenience...actual performance characteristic of the devices (including any deficiencies) is identical.

Very Interesting: I purchased both the analog and the digital RS sound meters. The analog goes +/- 15 db over
the range 83 Hz to around 8300Hz while the digital stays
around +/- 2 db range; below 83hz it drops like a rock on
both analog and digital and sames goes above 8300Hz both
at exactly where the A or C weighting starts to come in.
I am using both the Rives and the Stereophile test CDs.
I do not quite understand considering I can hear petal
notes down to 25 hz without any apparent loss of sound, maybe 3 or 6 db but 25 DB? At 25Hz, it says I am down 25DB.
At 20khz, I am down 30db. 30DB!!Something is wrong but what??? Yes I followed the instructions,yes I put it on tripod, yes it was steady, yes it was at listening distance and height.

A quick heads up-Radio Shack now has a sale on the analog meter-$29.99 (a big $5 off).