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Low volume (loudness) listening

I do a lot of my listening early in the morning and/or late at night when my wife is sleeping.  I listen to CDs I have ripped to my MacBook Air and to Tidal, both via Roon, and a few internet radio stations.  The loudest I listen would be 60dB.  I understand and it has been my experience that at lower volumes I am missing a lot; especially bass and vocals.  Suggestions on what I can do?

My system:  Sonus Faber Olympica Nova 3 speakers, Pair of REL T/7x subwoofers, Moon 390 preamp, Moon 330A amp, Emotiva CD player (used occasionally), Roon Nucleus One (Roon core) and LAIV Harmony DAC.  

The Room:  16 ft X 22 ft living room.  8 ft ceiling.  Oak floors.  Reasonably damped with furniture, rugs and wall absorption.  TV mounted on wall between speakers and behind furniture with equipment -- common setup.

Thanks for the help.

Evan

evanpress
easystreamer
119 posts
 

What about higher sensitivity speakers for those quiet night sessions?

Yeah, I know it is not convenient to swap out cables, and having four speakers takes up more space. BUT it would work perfect, especially a single driver full range one. It is very cool to have two different speaker setups for different situations. Banana plugs makes the cable swaps very easy.

But then again the headphones would also accomplish this easier.

Good luck with the Loki and another box and cable set into the signal chain.

jj911c2
1 posts
 

I have the same challenge of listening at low volume but wanting to really be immersed in the music. What I have found works best is a Denon 3700 with Audessy Dynamic EQ turned on and then set to pure direct mode (which still keeps dynamic EQ on). I have the Denon feeding ATI523NC amp into B&W 805D4 speakers/subs. 

I have tried other setups using DIRAC and can't replicate the DyamicEQ/PureDIrect low volume but full sound. 

tomcarr
1,816 posts
 

Another +1 for 'phones

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