The mechanical response, deformation behaviour, progressive damage evolution and fracture mechanism of rock are directly related to microcracks’ initiation, propagation, interaction, and growth. Currently, the AE technique is a trending non-conventional testing and monitoring method to study the micromechanics of rocks. Under compressive stress conditions, the brittle rock’s mechanical response consists of five stages: crack closure, linear elastic deformation, stable microcrack growth, unstable microcrack growth, and post-peak phase. These five stages are associated with the four essential stress thresholds, i.e. crack closure (σcc), crack initiation (σci), crack damage (σcd), and peak stress threshold (σp). These stress thresholds are essential to describe rock’s damage and failure mechanism. Conventionally, the stress thresholds have been determined by using strain-based methods, i.e. Axial Strain Method (ASM), Lateral Strain Method (LSM), Volumetric Strain Method (VSM), and Crack Volumetric Strain Method (CVSM). In this paper, we have implemented the AE energy to determine the stress thresholds of the Devprayag sandstone subjected to compressive loading conditions and, finally, compared the obtained stress thresholds results based on the proposed Relative Cumulative AE Energy Method (RCAEEM) with the conventional Volumetric Strain Method (VSM) and validated the reliability of proposed AE energy-based stress threshold determination method. Based on the current results, it is observed that the AE signature has immense potential for insight into the understanding of rocks and could be the future of rock mechanics.