barometric level change ?

Ouch,!! turn that music down;this is your mother speaking.I have heard that humidity,makes your speakers work harder;When the air they are moving contains higher humidity .

no, my sound pressure metre was reading "only" about 91 db peaks. surprisingly the sound was anything but harsh. i think the track was on sara k's fleetwood mac's remix.

Hi Mw...; Haven't had your experience, but long term listening above about 80 t0 85 dBs (depending on who you read) can cause long term hearing loss. Save your ears. Craig.

I seem to recall something in college that spoke about the human ear being able to "push back" against sound pressure levels that it found uncomfortable. It might be interesting to go a web site about such topics and see if this could be a factor (the situation you are describing). I am not certain how this could be, but I think it has to do with the tiny bones in the inner ear that provide the linkage to the eardrum. In any event, don't rely on your sound pressure meter, do as Garfish says (and perhaps as your ears are warning) turn it down a bit and save them for the long term.