Checking Fan Noise and Other Sound Levels with Benetech GM1352 Sound Level Meter

I wrote about UNI-T UT353 Sound Level Meter a few months ago as I thought it could be a neat way to measure fan noise on some TV boxes and mini PCs in an objective way. I finally ended up buying Benetech GM1352 model instead for $13.9 on DX (now available for $12.83 on Aliexpress or around $18 on Amazon), but I did not really use it so far, since I did not get a new device with a fan. I’ve now had the chance to try it since the Voyo VMac Mini mini PC comes with a fan.

Let’s just go through some of GM1352’s key features first:

Noise Levels & Accuracy – 30 to 130 dB with +/- 1.5 dB accuracy (94dB @ 1 KHz)
Frequency Range – 31.5 to 8 KHz
Measurement features – MAX/MIN & Data hold
Display – 1.7″ LCD display with backlight
Buttons – Power/Backlight, MAX/MIN/Normal selection, HOLD
Power Supply – 3x AAA batteries (included)
Dimensions – 15.7 cm x 5 cm x 2.8 cm
Weight – 81 grams

Now that we got that out of the way, I’ve done some measurements inside a quiet room, with fans, an airplane flying over my house, etc… When possible, I placed the microphone two to three centimeters from the noise source.

Here are the results of my little experiment.

	Noise Level (dBA)
“Silence”	38
Voyo Vmac Mini	52.3
Tower PC idle	58
Tower PC high load	67.5
Plane over the house	68
Whispering	71
Running Tap Water	86

My main PC is really noisy, so if you have numbers in the 58 dBA range with the mic at 2 to 3 cm from the fan, it’s already pretty loud. Voyo VMac Mini fan is much quieter, but at 50.2 dBA, it will still annoy some people, although it does not run all the time. It’s a little noisier than the fan on Beelink BT7 mini PC, which I found to be pretty quiet, but some people found it really loud.

Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft)

Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as a software engineering manager, and starting to write daily news, and reviews full time later in 2011.