Kraftwerk - Autobahn 50th Atmos Blu-Ray (March 7th, 2025)

[himey]

pretty bonkers

Why yes, yes, it is bonkers!

 

[Farles]

My Amazon.ca pre-order arrived today, wahoo! Remains a bargain at $20.98 CDN. I won't have a chance to listen to it this evening as we are off to a show at the OLG Stage in Niagara Falls; a fantastic venue by the way. Will report back in a day or two.

 

[dobyblue]

Wow I just spotted the Amazon CA price last night, should arrive today.

 

[colsky]

I beg to differ! This mix is wild and will make everyone's top ten mixes of 2025.

Apologies, have just listened again, and loud, and I agree, it is wilder than I thought the first time (when I wasn't really paying attention, I was actually working at the time!).

 

[Neil Hannah]

Love this album, will be listening tonight. Hoping big things.

Nostalgia comes to mind, going back 50 years, hearing it on my brother's music center, wow. The tears are welling up in anticipation

 

[ngv99]

I was debating on getting this, then I saw them live Thursday night in Philly (absolutely incredible). I picked this up at the merch table on the way out. Can't wait to hear it this weekend!

 

[marpow]

Ripping Notes:
I had to go to the hard disc to figure things out a bit.
5 track album rips as Atmos TRU HD, 5.1 DTS HD MSTR, PCM Stereo. All 24/48.
The single edits got me a little confused. Autobahn* (2024 edit) (4.34) mainly transforms to a moving picture (like all of the previous 3D Catalogue version).
If you rip this single edit you could replace the MKV Track 1? I don't think I will.

The other single edit Kometenmelodie 2 (2024 edit) (4.12) is a single edit, mainly for the purist, sounds a bit different.

So in the end I have decided to keep all the root files, use the 5.1 album in the car and the Atmos in my JRiver player (home).
All others will just be held in my external safe hard drive.

 

[stereoptic]

Is the stereo mix the original or has it been remixed?

 

[marpow]

Is the stereo mix the original or has it been remixed?

• After re-visiting the original 16-track master tapes, Kraftwerk founder Ralf Hütter with engineer Fritz Hilpert have created a brand-new Dolby Atmos Mixwhich takes the listening experience of this seminal recording further and deeper than ever before. I heard the Atmos Mix at a playback event in London last December and can confirm that it’s a great mix!
  
  The blu-ray edition features the album in the following versions:
  
  • Dolby Atmos Mix
  • 5.1 Mix (48/24 – rendered from the Atmos)
• • Stereo Mix (48/24) [2009 remastered audio]

 

[SomethingAnything]

I've been thoroughly enjoying playing this on Tidal. Those last two more sedate tracks have become total highlights in Atmos.

 

[Neil Hannah]

Love this album, will be listening tonight. Hoping big things.

Nostalgia comes to mind, going back 50 years, hearing it on my brother's music center, wow. The tears are welling up in anticipation

Oh, was blown away, as expected. 10 out of 10

 

[Muppet69]

Just got my copy delivered from Amazon and had a quick test listen in 5.1 and it sounds great and very discreet. Looking forward to a proper listen this week.

 

[Owen Smith]

I give this 8 out of 10. It's an exciting mix with great audio quality, but it uses the centre channel too much. Same applies to the 5.1 and Atmos (rendered to 5.0) mixes.

 

[lotones]

Just had a listen to the 5.1 and I’m pretty impressed, but I expected to be. Only nidge is it’s only 48kHz res, but the album and mix is so stellar I don’t care.

I give this 8 out of 10. It's an exciting mix with great audio quality, but it uses the centre channel too much. Same applies to the 5.1 and Atmos (rendered to 5.0) mixes.

Mind if I ask… why the aversion to the center channel?

 

[Owen Smith]

Mind if I ask… why the aversion to the center channel?

It muddies the main left/right stereo image. It's also completely pointless for music. The purpose of the centre channel is so people watching video content hear dialogue from close to the screen, even if they are sat significantly off axis. For music there is no need for that.

 

[jaap74]

It muddies the main left/right stereo image. It's also completely pointless for music. The purpose of the centre channel is so people watching video content hear dialogue from close to the screen, even if they are sat significantly off axis. For music there is no need for that.

I'm sure many on here will disagree with your opinion on the centre channel

 

[lotones]

It muddies the main left/right stereo image. It's also completely pointless for music. The purpose of the centre channel is so people watching video content hear dialogue from close to the screen, even if they are sat significantly off axis. For music there is no need for that.

I see…thanks for your response. It seems like that would be system, content, mix, and/or taste dependent. In no way a criticism, btw.

Just as an aside though, have you tried either backing off the center channel volume a bit, or shortening the center channel distance by .5 ft (same effect)? A little minor tweaking like that really helped with imaging in my system.

 

[~dave~~wave~]

I have tix to see them on Friday night ! Can anyone confirm if they will have these discs at the merch desk ?

 

[Owen Smith]

Just as an aside though, have you tried either backing off the center channel volume a bit, or shortening the center channel distance by .5 ft (same effect)? A little minor tweaking like that really helped with imaging in my system.

In Dolby Surround Upmix watching TV broadcast with stereo sound, sounds across the front image are played from at least two speakers (centre and one of left/right) and sometimes all three. Unless I get up to check I cannot tell which speakers particular sounds are coming from. The front three speakers seem very well balanced to me.

 

[himey]

It muddies the main left/right stereo image. It's also completely pointless for music. The purpose of the centre channel is so people watching video content hear dialogue from close to the screen, even if they are sat significantly off axis. For music there is no need for that.

Simply turn off the center channel. The processor will mix the center into the front channels. Nothing wrong with a phantom center in most setups if you are in the sweet spot for music.