A "toy" VU meter? Please elaborate. I find that interesting. In the good sense, I mean.
I want to use the 3916 in an audio project and that statement made me doubt.
The LM3916 has a different amount of signal powewr between its steps.
It has only 1dB between its 10th LED and its 9th. 1dB is a very small change in level that might not be noticeable.
It has another 1db between its 9th LED and its 8th, another 1dB from its 8th to its 7th and another 1db from its 7th to its 6th.
It has a little more change in level of only 2dB between its 6th and 5th LEDs.
It has another change in level of only 2dB between its 5th and 4th LEDs.
It has a change in level of only 2dB between its 4th and 3rd LEDs.
It has a noticeable change in level of 3db (half or double the power) between its 3rd and second LEDs.
It has a change in level of 10db (1/10th or 10 times the power) between its 2nd and 1st LEDs.
The difference in level between most of the LEDs is very small except for the lowest couple of steps.
The LM3915 has exactly 3dB between each step which is exactly half or double the power that sounds noticeably a little less or a little more loud. You can see how much output power at a glance. Its total 10 steps range is 30dB which is very noticeable.