It's a long time ago, but I remember a real world volume control even worse than these playful examples.
My friend had a Hifi set where turning the volume knob would digitally update the dB value on the display.
This in itself is a bad idea, as most people don't understand decibels and how it's a non-linear scale.
But it gets worse. The dB value did not indicate current output, it indicated "remaining" dB that the set could output.
So if the value is 0, it means volume is at full output. Of course, you'd normally notice that when music is playing, but you can have the scare of your life when thinking its down and then switching input sources. Or turning of music, dialing down, and then turning it on again.
That's pretty common on HiFi. It's not indicating "remaining" per se, the dB value is reduction from line level - -20dB is a 100-fold reduction in output power.
I actually find it pretty convenient since the dynamic range is actually useful (unlike most phones which have a step-change from 0 to 1).
I'm sure it's somewhat deliberate, "only plebs lack understanding of dBs and log scaling. I'm a refined audiophile! "
I've read like 3 explanations of why dB ratings are the way they are over the years and I still don't get it. Personally I think this is one instance where having a 0-100 linear scale is good UX for volume.
> So if the value is 0, it means volume is at full output.
That's called "dBFS" (= decibel full scale) and pretty standard in the professional digital audio. For example, that's how every VU meter in a DAW works.
But I would agree that it is not best idea for a consumer device :-)
My friend had a Hifi set where turning the volume knob would digitally update the dB value on the display.
This in itself is a bad idea, as most people don't understand decibels and how it's a non-linear scale.
But it gets worse. The dB value did not indicate current output, it indicated "remaining" dB that the set could output.
So if the value is 0, it means volume is at full output. Of course, you'd normally notice that when music is playing, but you can have the scare of your life when thinking its down and then switching input sources. Or turning of music, dialing down, and then turning it on again.