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

[Dan T]

Still yet to appear. Can be found on Amazon music however.

It’s a good mix. Anyone else finding the levels very low on Tidal (via Apple TV)?

 

[marpow]

For those that are interested listening via Spatial Audio Headphones with Apple music.

I stumbled last night using my iPhone, opened Sounds & Haptics, and there is a Personalized Spatial Audio selection, that uses a series of registering your own head and ear configuration for your Spatial Headphone use.

 

[dapaladi]

It’s a good mix. Anyone else finding the levels very low on Tidal (via Apple TV)?

i have used both apple music and tidal in the past month and in general tidal levels are lower than apple music ones, and sometimes there are huge differences in levels between one album and another, and i need to double the volume or cut it 50%. apple has his own propetary mastering process that submitters have to comply with, i guess that's what makes the difference.

 

[Blackwood]

Being a big Journey fan, I was aware that drummer Steve Smith had/has a full career in jazz/fusion. Last night I was reading a review of his new Vital Information album (very positive) and figured I’d listen this morning. Didn’t realize it was also an Atmos recording.

 

[AYanguas]

It’s a good mix. Anyone else finding the levels very low on Tidal (via Apple TV)?

Yes. Everybody else.

It is a well known 'feature' in TIDAL that the Atmos tracks are playing at a significantly lower volume level than the stereo tracks or other 'normal' sources.

Some of us have reported this to Tidal support but the answer has been always the same: "Trank you, we will inform the technical group about this..." or "We are addressing it, but It is a Dolby problem, not a Tidal problem..."

The culprit is a parameter called "DialNorm" (Dialog Normalization) that Dolby included with Dolby Digital when it was chosen as the codec for digital TV transmission in the US.
It was designed to "evaluate" the average dialog level of the Movie, or the TV show, with respect to the maximum level on the movie (explosions and the like). This way, when a commercial is broadcasted, the global volume should be reduced (the amount given by the parameter dialnorm), because the average dialog level in commercials is higher than in a normal movie.

The parameter may be calculated using a special process (average dialog level over the whole program) or may be set by the sound engineer crafting the final Atmos track.

What's the meaning of "average dialog level" for music? None at all.

Music tracks should not use DialNorm parameter (or set it to -31dB which means no reduction volume level). The volume level for a music track should be what is set by the mixing/mastering engineer, without modification. But many musical producers use the parameter DialNorm and set it with more or less "random" or incoherent values. Why? ...

All TIDAL Atmos tracks (DD+ with JOC) use to have different values of DialNorm, that result in none to -12dB or -15dB volume reduction for playing. The parameter value can be seen in the file with the MediaInfo tool, selecting Debug/Advanced Mode.

The effect of DialNorm cannot be "disabled" in players/decoders/AVRs. EDITED: It looks it would be possible on some AVRs. See Listening to in Dolby Atmos Streaming, via Tidal/Apple/Amazon

Apple Music, with its own flavor of encoder/decoder for Dolby Atmos, (and using Dolby MAT), may have different results and it seems the difference in volume level is less than with Tidal.

 

[J. PUPSTER]

Being a big Journey fan, I was aware that drummer Steve Smith had/has a full career in jazz/fusion. Last night I was reading a review of his new Vital Information album (very positive) and figured I’d listen this morning. Didn’t realize it was also an Atmos recording.

I'll need to check that one out, thanks Blackwood!

I've got several of their early albums on LP, from back in the day (1980's.)

Killer band back then:
https://www.discogs.com/master/366549-Steve-Smith-5-Vital-Information-Vital-Information
The album "Global Beat" was released as a Multichannel dts CD.
https://www.discogs.com/release/7988043-Vital-Information-Global-Beat

 

[beerking]

More searching found this one by Marvin Gaye
All 17 tracks in Atmos

 

[beerking]

Motorhead....yes Motorhead
Enter Sandman
Like this one.

 

[Blackwood]

I'll need to check that one out, thanks Blackwood!

I've got several of their early albums on LP, from back in the day (1980's.)

Killer band back then:
https://www.discogs.com/master/366549-Steve-Smith-5-Vital-Information-Vital-Information
The album "Global Beat" was released as a Multichannel dts CD.
https://www.discogs.com/release/7988043-Vital-Information-Global-Beat

I guess I shouldn’t be surprised but it looks like the multichannel came out in 1986? I think that was the year I bought my first CD player which felt like Jetsons-like tech compared to my cassettes. I can’t imagine what I would have felt if I had a surround system at that moment.

While the Atmos music of this new one is not like a demo disc you’d play for friends, I really enjoyed the music. It prompted me to throw in a bunch of VI albums into my playlist today for listening this upcoming week.

If this new title came out on disc in Atmos, or via IAA, it would be an easy purchase just based on the quality of the songs.

 

[fripppp]

New single from Sigur Rós in Atmos on Amazon
https://music.amazon.com/albums/B0C6D74HK6Don't see it on Apple or Tidal yet.
Full album on friday.

 

[Bretho72]

For those that are interested listening via Spatial Audio Headphones with Apple music.

I stumbled last night using my iPhone, opened Sounds & Haptics, and there is a Personalized Spatial Audio selection, that uses a series of registering your own head and ear configuration for your Spatial Headphone use.
View attachment 92601

Sounds worse with it on.

 

[Bretho72]

Argh why has the atmos disappeared

 

[IMachine]

Argh why has the atmos disappeared

To tease us and make us buy!

 

[beerking]

Nuclear Blast, anyone?

Having a morning search before I head off to the pub for my Monday beer and a pie.

Never expected to find Nightwish.
Who I like a lot

Not the best Atmos mix but still.
All 26 songs have been checked , Definitely Atmos, in their description.

 

[beerking]

Blimey, just found another Nightwish

Checking it out now
Yep all 17 tracks released in 'Atmos'
Again, not the best mix but ...

 

[perzon57]

Blimey, just found another Nightwish

Checking it out now
Yep all 17 tracks released in 'Atmos'
Again, not the best mix but ...

I think they been up for some time. I remember trying them out some time ago, but the mixes didn't do it for me even if I like the music.

 

[beerking]

I think they been up for some time. I remember trying them out some time ago, but the mixes didn't do it for me even if I like the music.

Ah that's why they haven't been highlighted lately, deff not in my library.
Yes, the mixes are tame at best...such a shame.

 

[Blackwood]

Nuclear Blast, anyone?

Having a morning search before I head off to the pub for my Monday beer and a pint.

Never expected to find Nightwish.
Who I like a lot

Not the best Atmos mix but still.
All 26 songs have been checked , Definitely Atmos, in their description.

Happy to see this and will definitely listen later. (Disappointed to read about the tepid mixes, though.)

I remember it costing a fortune to get the 5.1 of Once on disc some time back as I wasn’t a fan yet when it was first released.

Their music would certainly lend itself to a really good Atmos treatment.

 

[pat bateman]

The effect of DialNorm cannot be "disabled" in players/decoders/AVRs.

It can be defeated with certain (2019+ mostly) Denon & Marantz AVR's. Setup > Audio > Surround Parameter > Loudness Management > OFF. I can confirm this works with my Denon 3700H.
More info here - https://www.avsforum.com/threads/defeating-dialnorm.3253654/

 

[AYanguas]

It can be defeated with certain (2019+ mostly) Denon & Marantz AVR's. Setup > Audio > Surround Parameter > Loudness Management > OFF. I can confirm this works with my Denon 3700H.
More info here - https://www.avsforum.com/threads/defeating-dialnorm.3253654/

I knew about that, But when I tried, it didn't work on my Denon 8500.

I'm afraid mine does not support that