Db meter app- Who has experience with them?

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hi-vel

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May 16, 2015
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Greetings- I am wondering if anyone has any experience with some of the Db Meter apps that are available on the i-phone? I now have 3 different moderators and have wondered what the realistic numbers are- 'really'. While I do not expect laboratory quality, a relative reading is a good place to start. I will try and use a 22LR report (including ammo and firearm info) as a reference here for everyone- i.e. Federal 510, Champion 40gr LR,RN Factory 1240fps, Rifle: CZ 452HB, 20.5In barrel. That would seem descriptive enough to get everyone in the ballpark...

I see there is a positively rated app on the Apple app store: Decibel X: dB, dBA Noise Meter, but again I have zero experience with Db Meters...

What say you? Thank you in advance for your time and consideration in responding.

Good Luck and Good Shooting, Hi-vel
 
I've used a couple. In most circumstances they work well, but not so much for airguns (IMHO). Your phone will chop the spikes so you may not get a true reading. This handicap will remain for all DB apps. In my case, my Impact only registers 68db when the phone is right next to the gun. It's a .25 and I know it's louder than 68db, my Marauder reads higher and it's a much quieter gun. Go figure. I believe it's because as the quieter gun, the spike isn't as pronounced, so the Marauder gives a more accurate than the louder Impact.

For firearms, wouldn't trust them at all.
 
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other issues with your fone or tablet is the microfone is optimized for human speech, not short energetic pulses.



My personal iPad has an app that didnt get moved to the work on, so I dont remember what its called. I like that one cuz its fast to react and holds the highest db signal it gets till a bigger one replaces it.

With my fone/tablet I found I got best readings with the device 3 ft in front of and 3 feet left or right off the muzzle. 



these apps are really only good (for shooting sports) for comparsions between deveices and environemtns......
 
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I would just buy a DB meter they are cheap enough but there are variables when using them, like the meter can't hear your pellet strike

so I want to make some LDC's for myself but how would I know if I was doing a good job at sound canceling, I bought LDC's from makers and tested them against each other

so all you can really do is compare unmodulated vs modulated with the meter you have set up the same every time in a very quiet place with no pellet impact noise, hanging cloth seems to work

I guess I'm a little off base, what else is new
 
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but Dan this is a close enough sort of thing

I bought a under 20 meter and it told me the before was 115DB and the after was 86DB and that what I needed

we don't need Swiss watch tools but just a Timex will do

everyone is going to get different readings unless they were setup in the same spot, there are just too many variables

and in this case close enough, is close enough

just my opinion nothing more
 
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but Dan this is a close enough sort of thing



Agreed. Just want folks to understand what they ARENT getting with the apps on yer mobile device



The other thing folks dont mention much is how much these muzzle devices change the tone of the shot's report, and IMO thats as important as the db reduction. Ive got a Form 1 in .22 LR that will fit a couple guns. on my metering setup (described above) its a db or two LOUDER than a couple of AG devices I have but it SOUNDS quieter cuz the tonal diffrences....




 
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I tried a couple of phone apps, was not satisfied with them. Bought a cheap Db meter, and it works better. I'm not sure if the actual Db reading is accurate, but it serves as a baseline for comparison. Frankly, I don't see a lot of need for one. If I'm interested in an air rifle for yard use, I know when I hear it whether or not it's acceptable, regardless of what the meter indicates. As someone mentioned, different suppressors yield different sound characteristics, not just a lower volume. Most of my yard pesting is done with an FX Royale 400. I doubt if the factory moderator is as effective as the Donny on my Red Wolf, but the sound is not one that would be recognized as a shot. I mentioned shooting in the back yard to a neighbor, and he said he had heard me, thought I was digging or beating on something. What he heard wasn't the shot, but the pellet hitting the target box. 
 
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I did buy a sound meter app for my iPad 4. The one I bought is called SPLnFFT. It offers Slow and Fast, but not Impulse time weightings. I thought I got best results from the dB(A) Max(F) readings using low microphone gain. Here is the caveat, I was not able to make much sense out of the outdoor readings, they were all about the same. Indoors, however, I was able to get readings that seemed to correlate to my own impressions of relative loudness. After reading this thread, my theory is that indoors with all the reflected sound returning from different surfaces at different times, the sound peak is spread out sufficiently that the app was able to read this broader peak using the Fast time weighting. These are some readings made today in my basement range with the iPad microphone port about 1.5 feet off the right side of the muzzle. Again, all readings are dB(A) Max(F).

Streamline .22 Low 98.7

Streamline .22 Med 100.5

Streamline .22 High 101.7

TX200HC .177 104.3

FWB 300S .177 97.5

R9 .177 102.9

Daystate Harrier .20 with mod 102.5

Daystate Harrier .20 w/o mod 105.1

Without the ability to employ Impulse time weighting, the app is probably not suited for gunshot measurements. However the indoor work around might be suitable for informal A-B comparisons made during a single session using the same setup. Once again, you get what you pay for.

Chuck


 
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