As someone that has actuallyowned a boss equipped rifle in 7mmremmag and fired it for one shot without hearing protection,I can assure you that it is much louder than my 300ultramags without a brake.After that one shot my ears rang for an hour or so.They have never rang before or since from shooting any gun.Luckily for me there was no permanent detectable hearing loss.A friend of mine was not so lucky as one shot from his 300win mag with a brake caused permanent damage to his hearing as verified by before and after hearing tests.We are tested every two years at work and before this incident his hearing had been normal for over 20 years.For the past few years following that single shot his hearing is no longer normal.