Dr.Meter MS10 decibel sound meter review

Dr.Meter is a digital decibel metre you can get on Amazon for the princely sum of £13.59. We were sent a sample to test, so let’s do just that!

Specifications & Features

  • 1/2″ electric condenser microphone
  • Electrical calibration with internal oscillator
  • 4 digit LCD display
  • Measurement range: 30 dBA – 130 dBA
  • Frequency range: 31.5Hz – 8kHz
  • Accuracy: +/- 1.5 dBA
  • Resolution: 0.1 dBA
  • Data hold, min/max
  • Uses 9V battery (included)
  • 170 x 58 x 35mm (6.7 x 2.3 x 1.4″)
  • 108 grams (3.8 oz)

Design

The Dr.Meter resembles a torso, with grips at the hips, a rectangular LCD display on the chest, buttons below this, and a covered microphone for the undersized head. On the back, you’ll find a tripod screw socket.

The colour is a little more orange than it appears in the press photos, giving it a professional look. The metre feels solid and well-built, despite its plastic construction.

Testing

We used the Dr.Meter to discover the ambient noise of XSR Towers, that of the heating system, and everything else we could find. Here are our results:

ambient (heat recovery off) 45.6 dBA
ambient (heat recovery on) 47.5 dBA
conversational speech, 1m 56.5 dBA
enthusiast singing, 1m 70.1 dBA
one hand clapping, 0.5m 65.8 dBA
two hands clapping, 0.5m 89.2 dBA

The decibel metre’s readings seem to conform to various scales we found online, although without a second decibel metre of equal precision it is hard to know for sure.

Regardless of the accuracy of the measurements, the sound metre was easy to use, with the hold function allowing values to be read and recorded at a leisurely pace. The min and max buttons were also useful for checking how loud a certain activity got.

The screen was fairly visible at close ranges, although we would have appreciated it if the metre had a flat bottom so it could stand up by itself and allow the display to be readable from a greater distance. A backlit display would also be helpful for use in low light conditions.

Wrapping up

This cheap digital sound metre seems to do its job admirably, although you’d likely need something with a little more accuracy to tackle professional challenges. Still, not bad for the money.

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