Sensaphonics dB Check Pro In-Ear Sound Level Analyzer — A Mix Real-World Review

There isn’t an audio pro or musician alive who doesn’t worry about damaging their hearing. Whether performing on stage wearing in-ear monitors or using headphones to mix tracks for hours on end, we can easily give our ears a beating if we’re not careful. While NIOSH and OSHA have great guidelines on how long you can safely stand different SPLs, how can you follow them when you don’t know how loud your IEMs or headphones are running?

That’s where the Sensaphonics dB Check Pro In-Ear Sound Level Analyzer comes in. Simply put, it’s an ear-monitor speedometer that tells how loud you’re listening, both in real-time and averaged over time.

Designed as an in-line device that plugs in between IEMs or headphones and a sound source, the dB Check Pro estimates the sound levels you’re listening to and provides the results on its screen. The unit also has an on-board microphone that can measure ambient sound levels, turning it into a basic SPL meter.

OUT OF THE BOX

Housed in a Pelican Micro Case, the dB Check Pro comes with a charging cable, an audio jumper cable, and a quick-start guide / dB exposure chart mounted inside the case’s lid.

The dB Check Pro itself is similar in size to a wireless pack (85.5m x 49.3mm x 24.4mm) and sports a belt clip on the back. The front features a bright, color, pressure-sensitive screen—not a capacitive touchscreen like your phone—making accidental changes less likely to happen because you have to physically press the screen instead of merely tap it.

The unit’s left side features an on/off switch and a USB-C port for charging an internal lithium-ion battery that provides up to 11 hours of use; two small LEDs show charging status. On top of the unit are two 1/8” audio jacks; either one can be used for audio input or output.

SIMPLE SETUP

The Select Model screen allows you to choose what IEM or headphone you’re using. At press time, the dB Check Pro works with more than 140 models from a dozen manufacturers—JH Audio, Sennheiser, 64 Audio, Ultimate Ears, Audio-Technica, Beyerdynamic, Westone, Sony, Etymotic Research, Shure, ASI Audio and, of course, Sensaphonics. A list of compatible models is available on the company’s website, and more will be added via future firmware updates. Elsewhere, the Set Timer screen lets users pick how long they want to average sound levels.

Finally, you can choose which Home screen you prefer, as there’s three variations—an IEM Only view, with just info regarding your IEMs; a Room Only view, which is the same except regarding ambient sound; and the IEM & Room Mic view, which combines the previous screens into one.

Sennheiser HD 490 Pro Plus Headphones – A Mix Real-World Review

The IEM Only view tells you the current average dBA, how much exposure time you have left according to NIOSH and OSHA, and the real-time dBA. The Room Only view is identical except it’s based on the onboard mic.

Since the IEM & Room Mic view combines the other two views, it’s easily the most useful; in fact, it’s the factory default. However, fitting all that info requires some tiny text, which is fine if you’re staying relatively still at a console, but a musician onstage in the heat of battle will want to stick with the larger type and simpler layout of the IEM Only or Room Only views.

DB CHECK PRO IN USE

The dB Check Pro is dead simple to use and doesn’t affect the sound running through it; in fact, the unit passes audio even when it’s off. Setting it up only took a minute or two, and I tested it with Ultimate Ears UE 11 IEMs and Beyerdynamic DT 880 Pro headphones, feeding them music from an audio interface. In both cases, I turned up the volume to a comfortable level before reading the screen; usually I was in 75-85 dBA range, which even under the more conservative NIOSH standards meant I was good for more than 8 hours of exposure.

Removing the headphones, I cranked things up to 91 dBA; it reported I had 2 hours of exposure left under NIOSH and just under 7 hours according to OSHA (Sensaphonics strongly recommends following the NIOSH guidelines).

FINAL THOUGHTS

For performers or engineers who worry they’re running their IEMs too loud, this unit will be worth its diminutive weight in gold. The dB Check Pro is not cheap, running $500, but it can give you instant peace of mind that you’re not destroying your ears, and that’s priceless.