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

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all I have is 5.1, but: upping the rear volume actually results in pretty good Turnstiles experience!

Atmos mixes can have downmix metadata set to lower rears by 3db. I’m not sure if that’s always set in the Atmos encode but I believe it’s recommended by Dolby, so quite probable most Atmos mixes have downmixed rears at -3db when played back on 5.1 systems.
 
you know i sometimes wonder with some of these mixes where there's clearly been an effort to discretely separate elements out into the Surround soundfield and so we know the engineer is not averse to panning stuff back there but the Rears just sound too low on too many QQ'ers domestic setups at home, if there's maybe an issue whereby the Surround speaker setup the engineer is using has been calibrated with some professional equivalent form of Dynamic EQ adjustment and so the system they are mixing/monitoring on has their Rears set too loud because when i engage Audyssey MultEQ with Dynamic EQ 'On' these types of mixes suddenly come alive around/across the Rears.. 🤔

..and then i put on a discrete-o-matic old CBS Quad on a DV SACD or a Rhino Quadio BD, or a 5.1/Atmos mix by the likes of S. Wilson, E. Scheiner, S.W. Tayler, B. Soord, B. Clearmountain et al.. and the Rears are suddenly too loud until/unless i shut Dynamic EQ 'Off' again..! 😩🤯

as for these new BJ Atmos mixes, without coming across like i'm damning them with faint praise, i could quite happily live with "Turnstiles" and "52nd Street" if they were the only Surround mixes we have (fortunately they are not 😅 ) as they are quite enjoyable in their own right with some nice mix highlights but i guess something may have gone terribly awry with "The Stranger" because not only does it sound miserably lifeless and cludgey to me, like the balls have been ripped out of it but there's barely much panned around the Back when there's ample opportunity to do so, musically not just for fits and giggles. ugh. terrific album though, i'd forgotten just how good it is because i don't consume so much BJ as i did in my younger days 🤤🤭
“Turnstiles” is a bit of a head-scratcher for sure. Sounds nice overall but certainly lacking in the surround dept. although there are some nice bits. The aforementioned “Dance” sounds the best. It’s also a few db louder than the rest of the album on Tidal. “James” sounds nice with the backing vocals in the rear. Also seems like I’m hearing just certain notes from the electric piano in the rears? Might just be a room reflection.

Seems clearly a mix for the headphone crowd which I think is a mistake with older albums as it’s us older folks most likely to choose a room system over headphones.

Based on the reviews here I doubt I’ll even bother with the other two albums. I paid way too much for the 7” Japanese packages to waste time on inferior mixes. 🤣
 
New Pearl Jam album Dark Matter is available now in Asia. This is the Dolby Atmos version. Will listen now. Will need at least two spin to compare between stereo and Dolby Atmos version.

Listened to the stereo version and my verdict was just meh. Liked the previous one better. Will give it more spins, including Atmos, to see if something changes.
 
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