Decibel question

Somewhere, on another thread around here, someone pointed out that those db meters on a phone can be off by as much as 8db, if not more.
(they don't have the best mics for picking up sound) Chances are that you were subjected to something more than 100db, and at sustained levels. 

I don't go to rock concerts anymore because of that. Haven't for many a year. Once you get tinnitus, you'll understand, unless you already have it. There's nothing like having that monkey on your back.

All the best,
Nonoise

First, keep in mind that in many and perhaps most cases SPL meters do not respond fast enough to capture the full amplitude of a musical peak whose duration may be measured in milliseconds.

Second, recordings which have wide dynamic range, such as many well engineered minimally compressed classical symphonic recordings, may reach brief dynamic peaks of 100 to 105 db at the listening position, yet not seem uncomfortably loud because their average volume may only be in the 70s. While recordings which are dynamically compressed and/or don’t have much dynamic range to begin with, such as many and probably most pop and rock recordings, may very well sound excruciatingly loud at 90 db, since their average volume won’t be all that much different than their peak volume.

Third, keep in mind that as Atmasphere has pointed out in a number of threads here our hearing mechanisms tend to interpret even very small amounts of certain higher order harmonic distortion components as loudness cues. So small amounts of those distortion components, whether present in the recording or introduced by the playback equipment, can make a recording seem louder than it actually is.

Regards,
-- Al

You can get a calibrated microphone for "normal" phones from Parts Express. The imm6 I think it is called. 

Second, how high you can turn up the volume is a matter of speaker efficiency, impedance and amplifier "size" or power output at that impedance. A speaker swap could make your ears bleed. :) 

Best,

E