I use a decibel meter too and discovered the Apple Watch has a pretty cool feature warning you of loud environments as well when listening to my 2.1 setup.
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I use this. Cut out a circle large enough that covers all my headphones ear pads to seal them. Then cut a small circle with some gorilla tape on the inside. The gorilla tape adds some grip to the metal on the reader. The circle can be taken off and put away with the reader when youāre done. Easy peasy lemon squeezy!
BAFX Products - Decibel Meter/Sound Pressure Level Reader (SPL) / 30-130dBA Range - 1 Year Warranty (Standard) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00ECCZWWI/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glc_fabc_zj77FbYAM3A70?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1
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I have that same model!
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Affordable and gets the job done. I check occasionally to see where Iām at with my listing levels and stay around 75-77 average. Occasionally itāll peak 85ish or less. Classic rock can get me occasionally lol.
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I have this one too. For bass heads, I would recommend the db(C) weighting thoughā¦
Thereās a lot of low-spectrum energy that this specific model ā db(A) only ā is not accounting.
Cheers.
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Whatās the requirement for calibration with these things out of the box?
I looked in to getting one a while ago but that seemed to be a stumbling block. I guess as long as itās within a few dB you can compensate to keep your listening on the safe side of the +/- range.
Iām not a loud listener by any means so I think Iām good but still would be interested in getting an absolute number for what I listen at.
They are (supposedly) calibrated out of the box. There is a sensitivity switch I never touched it, btw. Hopefully I havenāt. 
Iām sure if one wants to get serious about it, there are products out there with a calibration certificate and the possibility to commit for follow-up calibrations down the road.
On a separate note on the cheap ones, I feel they have a poor sampling size. E.g.: you hear a hard note of a song and it takes a while (latency) to display in the meter. But Iām sure this somehow itās embedded in the price. 
A rough estimate is enough for me. YMMV. 
A question for me though would be: what hurts ears more, the average SPL or the peaks 
I would dare to say average dependent upon the frequency and magnitude of the peaks; however that would pull the average higher.
I wonder if there is data on the thresholds we can tolerate vis a vis hearing loss regarding high dB peaks?
I did the exact same thing. After measuring Iām pretty sure what go me was combo of things mentioned here to avoid. I installed a new pair of 5998 power tubes and sat down with a a nice glass of whiskey to enjoy them. Volume nob was mostly at 10 with a occasional drift up to close to noon on the Euforia. Measuring that now 10 is around 80 - 90db and noon is closer to 100. it was that one listening session that did it for me as it was as few hours. Being newer to high end headphones the one thing Iām still getting used to is the complete lack of distortion at higher volumes. Itās much harder (for me anyway) to discern Iām listening too loudly without that. The Empyrean especially seems to be able to take a crazy amount of power without distorting.
I was also used to my A90 with three gain switches, the Euforia just has the nob and small turns there boost the volume very rapidly.
My ears are already getting better and Iām confident Iāve not done permeant damage. Again I appreciate having this thread as a great place to learn.
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Yes, the Empyrean can creep up on you. You can easily find yourself increasing here and there. Especially when Iām listening to Flac and itās a well recorded album. It just comes off so clean.
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Do the makers say anything about sticking your probe through cardboard? [Ugg, thatās a thing in other domains too. The photos above areā¦evocativeā¦] Without knowing otherwise, Iām concerned about reflections and falsely elevated dB readings. Skin and hair seem soft and dampening versus cardboard. Some frequencies may respond differently to cardboard.
In the past I just shoved my phone mic into headphone cups to estimate dBs. This involves centering the mic in the cup, and inserting it about 1/2" or 1 cm below the edge of the pad. This method results in consistent reading across about half a dozen different iPhone dB meter apps ā but the accuracy is unconfirmed.
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There is nothing in the manual for my meter about this. I also have Decibel X Pro on a Samsung phone. Without calibration its consistently 6-10db lower than my dedicated meter. Without the cardboard the meter is 5-8 db lower when just held up to the earcup.
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This is similar what I do as well. I just put the meter as close to the drivers/source as possible. Accuracy is unknow but it matches my pain levels when calibrated against 90dB pure white noise, for instance. Note I never listen to white noise myself. 
And why against 90dB? Thatās the magic number I found when listening to recent recordings from the loud wars. But that is w.r.t. my pain tolerance. And If I calibrate against 85dB, Iāll get fatigued pretty quickly.
In general, I think Iām a 70-85dB listener on average. I just have this issue with the HD800S which keeps pushing me to crank the volume knob up and I canāt help it. 
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I think having the cardboard and a seal is more accurate than just sticking the mic in the cup. When we wear headphones we typically have a seal. The cardboard may not be perfect and may increase the reading a tad due to reflections, but Iād rather be high than low on a estimate. I even mess with the wind screen/cover on and off just to get an idea. This isnāt going to be exact, itās to give us a ballpark idea.
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Me too
For rough spl level I use my measurement rigs but quick and dirty Iāll shove the spl meter in my cups and see what it says
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Iām doing some A/B listening with a new amp and found the above info very useful, so thanks!
FWIW I have the old school Radio Shack 33-2050 SPL meter - complete with pleather case and carrying strap! 
I used the cardboard trick and it works like a charm. Thereās definitely a difference between just placing the microphone within the earcup and sealing it. I do wonder though how much the accuracy is affected by the acoustic properties of the cardboard. Iām not sure how to measure it, but it seems like cardboard would reflect more energy than human skin, causing an elevated reading. Of course for A/B comparisons, as long as the measurement method is consistent the accuracy isnāt much of a factor.
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I also wondered about the cardboard. I suppose you could cover the cardboard with something a bit more like skin, if for example, you had an old pleather case for something hanging around.
I was thinking about the same thing but didnāt know how to say it without sounding creepy 
Maybe something like Neoprene - like an old squishy mouse pad. Iāll have to dig through my desk drawers and see if I can find something.
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Or perhaps you could just remove the cardboard and collect your readings very near to the sound source. In the electric instrument recording world there is whatās known as placing a microphone close to a speaker or āclose micā and placing a microphone to pick up room sounds or āroom mic.ā
These methods produce very different sounds from the same amplifiers and musical instruments. Even a few inches of movement and placement relative to a speaker (center vs. edge) is important for tone and sound quality. Recording is a really subtle and complex topic ā a mic is just a speaker in reverse.
So, if the dB meter mic is calibrated and sold without a cardboard barrier Iād fully research the topic before messing with it.
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