Yes, I can see that it does sound a bit odd. btw, I think the science comes down to our perception of loudness, ie. we are less sensitive to short peaks. Again from Wikipedia:

The perception of loudness is related to both the sound pressure level and duration of a sound. The human auditory system integrates (averages) the effects of sound pressure level (SPL) over a 600–1,000 ms window. For example, a sound of constant SPL will be perceived to increase in loudness as 20, 50, 100, 200 ms samples are played, up to a maximum of approximately 1 second at which point the perception of loudness will stabilize.