Make music louder on the fuze

Invest in your ears.  Hearing damage is not reversible.

Open ear buds have an advantage that’s also very hazardous: they allow surrounding sound to compete for your attention.  Most people solve this problem by cranking the sound level high enough to drown out the surroundings.  The resulting noise floor is hazardous to your hearing.

If you were to hop on the bus with a sound level meter, you’d be amazed at how loud it really is.  We tend to tune out this noise level, and think of it as quite a bit quieter than reality.

Your music needs to be louder than this noise floor.

The solution, quiet the noise, so you can enjoy the music without high volume.  You can do this in one of several ways: active supression phones like the Bose, which generate a “negative” cancelling signal via amplifying the ambient sound, or by choosing an “around the ear” headphone, or for portable use, an in-ear type of earphone.

In-ear monitor types are my favorite for a noisy environment, as they seal the ear canal, blocking ambient noise, and the speakers can play at a significantly lower sound level.  The drawback to this type is that some units completely block the outside world, so when walking about, keep that volume low, or switch to open ear buds when strolling the sidewalks, or crossing traffic.

I like the Maximo iM490s headphones, as they sport a wee vent port on the outside of the driver case, allowing a bit of outside sound to reach the ears (and this improves bass response too).  They work wonderfully as combination noise supressors and headphones.

You can find the JVC Air Cushion IEMs at pretty good prices too, or the Sennheiser CX300s… IEMs are worth a listen!

Bob  :smileyvery-happy:

Just bought my 4GB Fuze last night and am using it with my 2XL Wrecking Ball In-Ear Buds which I had gotten to use with my 4GB Clip.  They are very good in my opinion, providing great noise isolation and clear sound.  I paid $14.99 for mine at Best Buy, but they’re selling them now for $9.99.

 

Website:

2xl.com

 

All the best,

Brad

 

 

I’d buy/build a headphone amp. You’ll get better levels and they’ll be cleaner. Of course, get some good isolating headphones to go with it, like others have said.

This is a righteous little headphone amp for only $8.45 + FREE shipping. Comes in black & white. The only bad thing I’ve heard about it is that it doesn’t have an on/off switch. You have to remember to un-plug it. Rumor has it that the next model will have this feature, and maybe different colors, but for 8 bucks you can’t really go wrong! I don’t have one as yet, but I’ll be ordering one as soon as they are back in stock. Supposed to be a few days now. :smiley:

I strongly agree with the previous post reccomending the JVC Air Cushions.  Inexpensive, yet very good noise isolation and sound quality.  Nice assortment of different ear pieces as well (very important to get a good fit with in-ear phones).

Neutron Bob;

There appear to be at least two different models of JVC Air Cushions … are you referring to model HAFX66A?  Thanks.

@promisedplanet wrote:

Neutron Bob;

There appear to be at least two different models of JVC Air Cushions … are you referring to model HAFX66A?  Thanks.

They are all the same except for color:

HA-FX66B = black

HA-FX66R = red

HA-FX66A = blue

http://av.jvc.com/product.jsp?&pathId=110

Yep, the color is the difference.  Sansafix recommended them, and they sound pretty nice.

Bob  :stuck_out_tongue:

@skinjob wrote:


@promisedplanet wrote:

Neutron Bob;

There appear to be at least two different models of JVC Air Cushions … are you referring to model HAFX66A?  Thanks.


 

They are all the same except for color:

 

HA-FX66B = black

HA-FX66R = red

HA-FX66A = blue

 

http://av.jvc.com/product.jsp?&pathId=110

 

 

I had seen a model (I thought on Yahoo Shopping) that was called JVC Air Cushions but was structurally different than HA-FX66% hence my confusion … thanks …

I agree with the post about protecting your hearing, and I should practice it more myself, but regarding your question, the loudness of mp3 songs is also something that’s set during the encoding process. There is a free program called ‘mp3Gain’ that will analyze your mp3 files and allow you to boost the gain at which they were encoded. This can make a big difference and give a higher volume ‘ceiling’ to your player. You should still absolutely get sound isolating ‘in-ear’ not ‘ear buds’ type of headphones so that you’re not competing with outside sounds. With those two solutions you shouldn’t have any more volume problems, as long as your hearing isn’t already damaged.

Some of the in ear isolating earphones are quite inefficient though, and may not give the desired volume with the Fuze. Perhaps it might be partially due to having small drivers, although not all small drivers are inefficient. There are some models of earphones that isolate, but have the driver outside the ear canal so it can be larger in size, and probably be more efficient.

I’m not sure how the Air Cushions compare to other in-ears in terms of volume, but they are able to exceed my pain threshold on the Fuze.  I never really go past about 60% volume, maybe near 70% in very noisy situations.  Beyond about 75% would be very, probably dangerously, loud.

There is also a setting on the Fuze, loud or normal. Normal has a volume limiter, and setting it on loud will give higher maximum volume. Be careful though. Don’t play the music too loud, as it may damage your hearing.

I know this isn’t a Sansa Clip thread, but … anyone use the Air Cushions with the Clip?

@promisedplanet wrote:
I know this isn’t a Sansa Clip thread, but … anyone use the Air Cushions with the Clip?

Yep, I have both a Clip and a Fuze.  They work great with both.   In the sub $50 market segment, the Air Cushions are very tough to beat.

@skinjob wrote:


@promisedplanet wrote:
I know this isn’t a Sansa Clip thread, but … anyone use the Air Cushions with the Clip?


 

Yep, I have both a Clip and a Fuze.  They work great with both.   In the sub $50 market segment, the Air Cushions are very tough to beat.

Thanks.  Available at amazon.com for ~$21 including S&H … I’m in!

Boy, you guys are selling me on these.  The red ones would look really good with my red Fuze…:wink:

 

All the best,

Brad

@neutron_bob wrote:

Yep, the color is the difference.  Sansafix recommended them, and they sound pretty nice.

 

Bob  :stuck_out_tongue:

Listening to my Clip with my new JVC Air Cushions now … nice!  Thanks for the recommendation.

I like the little carrying case they come with, too.

they beat me 2 it

 I must have weird ears.  I can’t make the buds fit in my ears without them falling out or making my ears hurt or sweat.

Instead I’m using these headphones which I LOVE.  They fold up for ease in carrrying and it keeps the cord from getting tangled.   The piece that goes over your head is comfortable, very adjustable, and even fits nicely under a bicycle helmet…no, I don’t play music loudly when riding a bike…I have enough troulble with seeing and hearing cars that are about to run over me.

I also advise getting a volume control plug in for the headphones.  I can’t use headphones without it anymore.