How loud is safe, and does hearing loss make high-end gear pointless?

Watts says that listening for long periods above about 80 dB SPL will damage your hearing, a figure he gives from January 2022 to September 2025 Head-Fi, Jan 2022Head-Fi, Mar 2022Head-Fi, Mar 2023Head-Fi, Jun 2023Head-Fi, Jan 2024The Source AV 12:24. His calculations put Chord's headphone outputs above that with many headphones, from about 92 dB SPL for DAVE with the Susvara to 144 dB SPL for TT2 balanced with the LCD-X Head-Fi, Jan 2022Head-Fi, Jan 2019.

What he tells people to do

• Measure it. In January 2022, in the DAVE thread, he told readers to put a sound level meter on a phone, check how loud they actually listen, and keep long listening below 80 dB Head-Fi, Jan 2022.
• On TT2, use the single-ended headphone output. In August 2018 he said it gives 121 dB SPL with the Abyss, "so unless you want to damage your hearing, the SE is way loud enough" Head-Fi, Aug 2018. He repeated this for the Abyss in 2020 and 2021 Head-Fi, Jul 2020Head-Fi, Jan 2021, the Susvara in March 2022, where 95 dB SPL is "easily more than enough volume for me" Head-Fi, Mar 2022, and the Stealth in March 2023 Head-Fi, Mar 2023.
• Think in peaks. For the Stealth he said he would never go above about 92 dB peak, since rock music peaks about 12 dB above its average, giving roughly 80 dB average (March 2023) Head-Fi, Mar 2023.
• Protect your ears at live music. In September 2022 he said he sits near the mixing desk because it is not quite so loud, and that you have to protect your ears The Source AV 13:07The Source AV 13:15. In 2023 he mentioned in passing wearing ear defenders at a live band The Source AV 30:58, and in September 2025 he said he always uses them The Source AV 12:31.

The numbers he gives

In August 2018 he said the threshold of pain is 120 dB, that hearing can be damaged at 100 dB after 15 minutes, and that 85 dB should not be exceeded for longer than 8 hours Head-Fi, Aug 2018. In January 2022 he gave 100 dB within 15 minutes and said even 80 dB can cause hearing loss after 2 hours Head-Fi, Jan 2022. In September 2025 he said 80 dB for more than two hours is where problems start, and gave about one minute above 96 dB The Source AV 12:24The Source AV 12:31; the second is a fragment.

By product (his calculations, dated)

• Hugo. With the HD800S, 116 dB SPL, a level he said causes long-term hearing loss (December 2016) Head-Fi, Dec 2016.
• Hugo 2. With the HE6, 110 dB SPL, "way above safe limits" (October 2019) Head-Fi, Oct 2019; with the Abyss 1266, 115 dB SPL on paper, which he called ear damaging (November 2020) Head-Fi, Nov 2020. For the Stealth, 98.3 dB at 0 dBFS, with his 92 dB peak ceiling at violet (March 2023) Head-Fi, Mar 2023.
• Mojo 2. 99.5 dB SPL with the HD800 and 98.3 dB with the Stealth, "seriously ear damaging levels" (February 2022) Head-Fi, Feb 2022. In 2022 he said he extended Mojo 2's volume range downward because posters found Mojo too loud with very sensitive IEMs, and that pressing + and - together gives a panic mute Head-Fi, Jan 2022MFG Audio Reviews 39:06. In an interview published March 2026 (recording date not stated) he said the updated 4.4 mm Mojo 2 remembers volume separately for each jack, a convenience for switching between desktop headphones and IEMs Audio Force 33:44.
• DAVE. With the HE1000, 121 dB SPL, "ear damaging" (December 2015) Head-Fi, Dec 2015. In January 2022 and June 2023 he said DAVE drives the Susvara only to 92 dB SPL, enough for him; in 2022 he said he normally runs headphones at 90 dB SPL at most Head-Fi, Jan 2022Head-Fi, Jun 2023. For the Stealth, 100.0 dB at 0 dBFS Head-Fi, Mar 2023.
• Hugo TT 2. With the HD800, 121 dB single-ended and 127 dB balanced (August 2018) Head-Fi, Aug 2018; with the LCD-X, 139 dB single-ended and 144 dB balanced (January 2019) Head-Fi, Jan 2019. With the Stealth, 103.4 dB single-ended and 109.1 dB balanced, so no more than -3H, or 0H with an M Scaler (March 2023) Head-Fi, Mar 2023.

Does hearing loss make a high-end DAC pointless?

His stated view is no. In August 2022 he wrote that "even with HF hearing loss, you still need perfect transient timing reconstruction to give the illusion of music sounding real," and that he has always thought the audibility of transient timing errors is independent of age Head-Fi, Aug 2022. In October 2022 he said high-frequency loss does not affect perception of depth, location or instruments sounding real, because those depend more on transient timing, which "does not age so much as high frequency hearing loss does" Head-Fi, Oct 2022. Neither post cites measurements of listeners with hearing loss.

What he has not said: He gives no SPL figure for any IEM, and he presents his SPL figures as calculations for named headphones Head-Fi, Mar 2023Head-Fi, Nov 2020.

Quotes

“If you expose yourself to more than 80dB for long periods you will suffer long term hearing loss.”2022-01-05 Head-Fi, Jan 2022

“I would never go higher than say 92dB peak (rock music peak to average is 12dB giving you 80dB on average)”2023-03-30 Head-Fi, Mar 2023

“Even with HF hearing loss, you still need perfect transient timing reconstruction to give the illusion of music sounding real.”2022-08-29 Head-Fi, Aug 2022

“You only have to listen at 80 dB, which is not much, for more than two hours, and then you're just going to start to have problems.”2025-09-14 The Source AV 12:24

Dated positions

Caveats and open points

• SPL figures are Watts's calculations for named headphones and outputs, not measurements.
• His 2018 post gives 85 dB for 8 hours; posts from 2022 onward give 80 dB for long periods. This is reported as stated, not as a change of view.
• His view that high-frequency hearing loss does not affect timing perception is stated without measurements of listeners with hearing loss.
• He describes the Mojo 2 volume-range and per-jack memory features as convenience features; he does not present them as hearing-safety features.

Topics: Hearing limits and hearing health, Driving headphones and IEMs