Listening to in Dolby Atmos Streaming, via Tidal/Apple/Amazon

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Noticed that New Order’s 1983 album ‘Power, Corruption & Lies’ is promoted on the 80’s search box as being in Spatial Audio.

I am only getting stereo here in Australia, but others in geographical zones might be able to access?

Regardless a Atmos release appears imminent.
Couldn't find it on any service here, although I did find that the first two tracks off Low-Life are in Atmos on Amazon. I couldn't find those on Tidal or Apple.
 
Lots of surprises in this thread but this one really caught me off guard. I’ll give them a spin this weekend but I’m curious anyone’s takes in the meantime.

Bloviation alert. Consider yourselves warned.

I’m not much into soundtracks anymore but these were my gateway to audio back when buying a soundtrack and a book/comic adaptation was as close as you could get to home viewing. As a result, I care more about the music far more than the films themselves. So news about these these always .

I’m most curious about Empire. It’s pretty heavily discussed that the remaster a few years ago which corresponds with this album cover was fairly botched.

According to this this deep dive into the recording history of the original and prequel trilogies by someone named Chris Malone, the Imperial March (and Battle in the Snow) may be sourced from subsequent tapes. If so, these seem like upmix candidates. A real shame since that song is probably what everyone would be excited about. i seem to recall, the film is generally considered superior.

I do highly recommend the linked document. I haven’t read it in years (I think Vidiot or Hoffman got it to my attention). I’m attaching a sample page but here’s an excerpt of that page which may give a sense of why this could potentially be a unexpectedly cool release:

The studio was readied for recording in half a day during which approximately 23 microphones were carefully positioned at distances ranging from two to ten feet from instruments. Alan Snelling was Eric Tomlinson's assistant from 1975 to 1979 and recounted "Eric's order of the day" for miking Star Wars, which included many Neumann and Telefunken tube condenser microphones - [see side bar. 20]

It was this choice together with prudent placement and Tomlinson's wide stereo panning that gave Star Wars and the Anvil recordings from the 1970s their distinctive sound.

We all know these ATMOS mixes are a mixed bag and that vintage mixes present challenges. It does seem that at least some of these have very strong potential. On the other hand, screwing up Empire (maybe it was a phase issue?) is a reminder that these have a problematic history. Muddy mixes, tinny DSD (not my opinion, just in’nernet chatter), different released takes, track inclusions/exclusions, etc. that are as “controversial” as maklunkey and Han shot first.

Okay. That’s all. And just for the record, I’m neither a virgin nor do I live in my parents’ basement. I won’t say I’ve never had to tape my glasses together, though.

Edit: in hindsight, this may be more appropriate in the classical thread.
 
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Im so nervous to listen to this, better be good.
for me they didn't feel like knock you over the head Surround stunners (and some tracks seemed a bit bright sounding and maybe Bass-shy idk?..) but last night i played them for my partner, who is a mahoosive Madonna fan, no fanatic (!) and he was going "ooh" and "aah" at vocals and instruments popping up behind or around him and enthusiastically saying "play this one next!" or "play that one again!" which was rather a joy to behold actually! 🤭😍

i have to say, for me these are great times in our hobby. i remember the old days where we would all bemoan "where's those cancelled Madonna 5.1's?", "will we ever hear Michael Jackson's Thriller in Surround!?", "some Lady Gaga in Surround would be a hoot!" and now we have all that and much much more in Atmos.

ok, so maybe not everyone was clamouring for these artists in Surround but a lot of people were and now that we've got them, are they the most shining examples of Surround Music? for me, no but (but but!) it's so wonderful they even got mixed and released at all given how unlikely they were in leaner times!! 😅💘
 
for me they didn't feel like knock you over the head Surround stunners (and some tracks seemed a bit bright sounding and maybe Bass-shy idk?..) but last night i played them for my partner, who is a mahoosive Madonna fan, no fanatic (!) and he was going "ooh" and "aah" at vocals and instruments popping up behind or around him and enthusiastically saying "play this one next!" or "play that one again!" which was rather a joy to behold actually! 🤭😍

i have to say, for me these are great times in our hobby. i remember the old days where we would all bemoan "where's those cancelled Madonna 5.1's?", "will we ever hear Michael Jackson's Thriller in Surround!?", "some Lady Gaga in Surround would be a hoot!" and now we have all that and much much more in Atmos.

ok, so maybe not everyone was clamouring for these artists in Surround but a lot of people were and now that we've got them, are they the most shining examples of Surround Music? for me, no but (but but!) it's so wonderful they even got mixed and released at all given how unlikely they were in leaner times!! 😅💘
Ditto :D
On the sediments
 
i have to say, for me these are great times in our hobby. i remember the old days where we would all bemoan "where's those cancelled Madonna 5.1's?", "will we ever hear Michael Jackson's Thriller in Surround!?", "some Lady Gaga in Surround would be a hoot!" and now we have all that and much much more in Atmos.

This really can’t be overstated. Not just for these observations but just a few years ago discussions here were so thoroughly limited to the same artists over and over. We all lamented. Classic rock, some jazz, some classical, some new age, lots of rehash, mixes buried in mega boxes (and that *never* happens anymore. Ever. Not once.), but barely anything new. Barely any popular catalogue that hadn’t already been warmed over.

Much as I lament the lossy nature of streaming, the lackluster rush jobs, and the occasional mixes that disappear in the middle of the night or are replaced by subpar mixes (John Mayer), this has to be a bit of a golden age. Sure, earbuds, fake surround, etc. water it down but still. The embarrassment of riches. The occasional improved mix (*cough* Sgt. Pepper). Access to OOP like Kraftwerk’s 3-DI wouldn’t have dreamed it five years ago.

For every booklet, nice box, scarf and marble I can no longer add to dusty shelves, there are easy access, scrolling lyrics, some (underwhelming my) animated albums to offset it. I mean, sure, it costs me $11/month for stuff indifferent family can’t donate for millipennies the dollar worth of tax write off when I slip this mortal coil but there’s already too much of that.

Yeah, people who say “ATMOS sounds great on my earbuds/soundbar” aren’t getting the real effect, as long as they are enthusiastic it’ll move hardware and log streams. Finally a potential for a positive feedback loop instead of death spiral after death spiral (<cries in DVD-A vs. SACD, Pure Audio… and the formats before my time>). Even if this becomes niche again I have to think that at least it’s achieved enough mainstream awareness that surround has escaped the world of strictly audiophile nerds, so we audiophile (adjacent) nerds benefit.

That’s it. I’ll probably say it again sometime. I’m longwinded today. Too much Adderall in my cornflakes.
 
So sad, no TIDAL. Hopefully soon.

Even though I do all my work on a mac, I've held out with everything else because when the iphone came out I got really annoyed with the whole app store / walled garden ridiculous concept. Still annoys the hell out of me. I've used Tidal for almost a year and then when Harrison's catalogue came out I basically had no choice and did the free month (and bought an Apple TV device). The UX on this thing is millions of light years ahead of everything else. It was a reminder that, for some reason, only Apple actually cares about the details and user experience. But also, somehow, the sound quality is much better. Not sure if there's been any discussion about this here before, and I don't know why that would be, but there's no doubt. I was using Tidal on the Fire stick, and now I'm using the Apple TV device - that's probably where the difference in sound quality is.

In any case... It pains me, really does, but I recommend switching.
 
Even though I do all my work on a mac, I've held out with everything else because when the iphone came out I got really annoyed with the whole app store / walled garden ridiculous concept. Still annoys the hell out of me. I've used Tidal for almost a year and then when Harrison's catalogue came out I basically had no choice and did the free month (and bought an Apple TV device). The UX on this thing is millions of light years ahead of everything else. It was a reminder that, for some reason, only Apple actually cares about the details and user experience. But also, somehow, the sound quality is much better. Not sure if there's been any discussion about this here before, and I don't know why that would be, but there's no doubt. I was using Tidal on the Fire stick, and now I'm using the Apple TV device - that's probably where the difference in sound quality is.

In any case... It pains me, really does, but I recommend switching.
fwiw i've recently been trying out Amazon Music Unlimited on the 4K FireStick and yes it works in as much as i can get it to playback stuff in Atmos.. but wow i find it to be a markedly inferior user experience compared to Apple Music on the ATV 4K. everything on Amazon Music Unlimited on the FireStick looks and feels ugly, clunky and unwieldy - and as for actually trying to find anything.. forget it! 🤦‍♀️🤯

admittedly i'm a lifelong Mac guy (for better or worse) fully embroiled in their whole eco system for many years, currently running desktop Macs, iPhones, iPads, AirPods, HomePods (blah dee blah) so i'm used to the way they do things but i'm no starry-eyed fanboy, i'm the first to slag them off when they screw up and they certainly do.

however with the whole Atmos streaming shebang Apple are simply in a different league from Tidal (which i cancelled last year) and Amazon, who's Music Unlimited service i shall be cancelling when the trial period expires ✌️😋
 
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