Tidal Adds Dolby Atmos Music

[AYanguas]

I've been browsing the rest of 2L catalogue in Tidal and so far Magnificat is the only one available in Atmos.
If I were them, I would have a newsletter or something similar to announce every week the new releases. All this lack of promotion worries me, as the same silent mode can be applied to remove the Atmos track if they don't reach a certain number of clicks, just guessing

I just opened a support request asking for that. Specifying that I did subscribe TIDAL ONLY because of Dolby Atmos music making emphasis in full albums.

 

[humprof]

I just opened a support request asking for that. Specifying that I did subscribe TIDAL ONLY because of Dolby Atmos music making emphasis in full albums.

Inspired by your example, I submitted a request, too. (They almost go out of their way to discourage you from doing so.) If anyone wants to adapt these talking points, feel free:

I signed up for TIDAL _solely_ because you began offering music in Dolby Atmos. But in the past two months:​

​

1) You've barely added any new Atmos tracks, let alone albums. (Supposedly UMG alone has mixed 10,000. Where are they? Small classical labels like 2L have many albums in their catalog with Atmos mixes, but of all the 2L albums on TIDAL, only one of them is in Atmos.)​

2) You make both existing and new Atmos content extremely difficult--indeed, virtually impossible--to find. How about setting up a weekly feature or a newsletter alerting subscribers to newly added Atmos content? At the very least, improve your search engine so that it's possible to search by content type.​

3) You're streaming your Atmos tracks at a low, lossy bitrate (768kbps) which compromises their sound quality. I thought that what distinguished TIDAL from other services was its emphasis on sound quality?​

4) I know that many subscribers have complained about this, but you _still_ haven't addressed the fact that Atmos tracks play back at a volume that is 10dB-20dB lower than non-Atmos tracks on the service.​

​

PLEASE address these issues! I suspect that subscribers who truly care about Atmos are older listeners--audiophiles and surround music enthusiasts who listen on multi-channel home systems--perhaps not your typical TIDAL subscriber. You're not really giving us any reason to stick around....​

 

[popshop]

Me too. Here is the link to send Tidal a request: Submit a request – TIDAL
Seems pretty clear no one there knows or cares about this but hopefully some messages help. Can't hurt.

 

[edisonbaggins]

I too submitted a similar request this morning. I'm focusing on the -20db issue right now, as that can blow speakers.

 

[EricKalet]

Submitted yet another request...I think going on #4 ?????

 

[Goona]

Submitted yet another request...I think going on #4 ?????

sent in my 3rd

 

[olgitnorm]

I cancelled and gave reason for cancellation their inability to correct the low sound output on the Dolby Atmos tracks/albums.

 

[humprof]

And here's my bot-generated response:

Hello,​

​

Thank you for reaching out to TIDAL Support! My name is Alanna and I'm happy to assist you with your detailed feedback.​

​

We truly appreciate hearing users feedback. Our team takes feedback we receive into consideration when further developing updates to TIDAL in order to fit the wants and needs of our TIDAL members. Let me know if there is any further assistance I can provide.​

​

FAQs and general information can be found at support.TIDAL.com.​

​

Best Regards,​

To paraphrase Arthur Dent: that is obviously some strange use of the word "assist" that I wasn't previously aware of. If anyone else gets a response that looks like it was written by a human and/or that specifically alludes to the issues you wrote about, please let us know!

 

[edisonbaggins]

And here's my bot-generated response:

Hello,​

​

Thank you for reaching out to TIDAL Support! My name is Alanna and I'm happy to assist you with your detailed feedback.​

​

We truly appreciate hearing users feedback. Our team takes feedback we receive into consideration when further developing updates to TIDAL in order to fit the wants and needs of our TIDAL members. Let me know if there is any further assistance I can provide.​

​

FAQs and general information can be found at support.TIDAL.com.​

​

Best Regards,​

To paraphrase Arthur Dent: that is obviously some strange use of the word "assist" that I wasn't previously aware of. If anyone else gets a response that looks like it was written by a human and/or that specifically alludes to the issues you wrote about, please let us know!

Same response. Only the name is different.

 

[J. PUPSTER]

And here's my bot-generated response:

Hello,​

​

Thank you for reaching out to TIDAL Support! My name is Alanna and I'm happy to assist you with your detailed feedback.​

​

We truly appreciate hearing users feedback. Our team takes feedback we receive into consideration when further developing updates to TIDAL in order to fit the wants and needs of our TIDAL members. Let me know if there is any further assistance I can provide.​

​

FAQs and general information can be found at support.TIDAL.com.​

​

Best Regards,​

To paraphrase Arthur Dent: that is obviously some strange use of the word "assist" that I wasn't previously aware of. If anyone else gets a response that looks like it was written by a human and/or that specifically alludes to the issues you wrote about, please let us know!

They probably have answers you're not gonna like, so they don't even render a response they can obfuscate...
hmm, render, reminds me of what we had to have done to a downed old horse one time.

 

[EricKalet]

Response I got:

Hello,

Thanks for reaching out to here at TIDAL support! My name is Fihal and I will be happy to assist you.

We truly appreciated hearing feedback from our users. Our team takes this feedback into consideration when updating TIDAL to fit the wants and needs of our TIDAL members. Let me know if there is any further assistance I can provide.

For your number 3 {bitrate} and 4 questions {-10 to -20 db volume issue}, our team is working with the Dolby Atmos team to resolve these issues.

You can keep up with any changes to the available devices on the support page here:

Dolby Atmos Music

If you have any other questions please feel free to let us know- I'd be happy to help!

Happy listening and have a wonderful day!

Best Regards,
Fihal
TIDAL Member Support

 

[salsdali]

usually when I pay money to someone it's so they can do the work.

seems silly that I would also have to do the work by telling them what they need to do and what their job is.

just

sayin

 

[dabl]

Response I got:

Hello,

Thanks for reaching out to here at TIDAL support! My name is Fihal and I will be happy to assist you.

We truly appreciated hearing feedback from our users. Our team takes this feedback into consideration when updating TIDAL to fit the wants and needs of our TIDAL members. Let me know if there is any further assistance I can provide.

For your number 3 {bitrate} and 4 questions {-10 to -20 db volume issue}, our team is working with the Dolby Atmos team to resolve these issues.

You can keep up with any changes to the available devices on the support page here:

Dolby Atmos Music

If you have any other questions please feel free to let us know- I'd be happy to help!

Happy listening and have a wonderful day!

Best Regards,
Fihal
TIDAL Member Support

Glad to see they responded to the specific questions.

Re: bitrate I suspect the current spec was defined by Tidal (not Dolby) to be in line with the other higher end tracks Tidal currently offers.

For example, the 96 kHz MQA stereo tracks also have an average bitrate of around 700 kbps.

This works out to individual track file sizes averaging in the neighborhood of 20 MB which match the current Tidal Atmos track offerings.

I would argue that Dolby has no dog in the race here. What do they care what bitrate an end user (provider) chooses as long as the infrastructure can support it?

Given that Netflix provides 8000-16000 kbps streams for 4k users and 4300-5800 kbps streams for 1080p users plus lower for people on phones and given Netflix's pricing structure (topping out at $16/mo) it seems to me that Tidal can/should be roughly matching that.

I believe Amazon's numbers are in the same ballpark, topping out at 10,000 kpbs for $13/mo or a little cheaper if by the year.

I will fully admit math is not my forte so please point out anything I may have missed here.

I'd like to get my argument straight before sending it to Tidal

 

[MrSmithers]

Yeah the specs from Dolby don't mention bitrate on streaming. So I guess Tidal are going that way for their own reasons?

They do mention something about the loudness, whether that's down to the content uploader or Tidal not implementing it properly, who knows?

 

[bracelis]

Glad to see they responded to the specific questions.

Given that Netflix provides 8000-16000 kbps streams for 4k users and 4300-5800 kbps streams for 1080p users plus lower for people on phones and given Netflix's pricing structure (topping out at $16/mo) it seems to me that Tidal can/should be roughly matching that.
I'd like to get my argument straight before sending it to Tidal

Don't bring up Netflix as an example - their Atmos audio also tops out at 768kbs.
https://www.whathifi.com/us/news/netflix-brings-high-quality-audio-to-51-and-atmos-content"... Atmos content (available to subscribers of Netflix’s Premium tier) is now up to 768 kbps from 448 kbps.
...Based on internal listening tests and Dolby test results, Netflix claims that while its audio isn’t lossless (i.e. a studio master), its compressed audio is indistinguishable from the original source; what it calls ‘perceptually transparent’."


As mentioned in a previous post, the streaming devices do not support lossless Atmos (TrueHD).
They all use Dolby Digital plus for Atmos, where the "typical / recommended" max bitrate is 768kbs:
https://developer.dolby.com/technology/dolby-audio/dolby-digital-plus/"Dolby Atmos audio in Dolby Digital Plus is typically encoded at bitrates between 384 and 768 kbps."

https://developer.apple.com/documen...hls_authoring_specification_for_apple_devicesTable 4 Bit rate recommendations

Audio channels	Format	Total (kbit/s)

Nominally 16

Dolby Digital Plus with Dolby Atmos

384 to 768

 

[ssully]

Perhaps instead of loading chatter/reviews about various works that now have Atmos mixes into this thread, a new Atmos subforum can be created for threads about individual releases? And this thread (possibly renamed) could be solely about getting Atmos to work/technical info about Atmos?

 

[MrSmithers]

Perhaps instead of loading chatter/reviews about various works that now have Atmos mixes into this thread, a new Atmos subforum can be created for threads about individual releases? And this thread (possibly renamed) could be solely about getting Atmos to work/technical info about Atmos?

Listening to Now (In Dolby Atmos)

 

[ssully]

Right but even that is a catch-all thread. I'm suggesting just what is done for disc releases, i.e., each title gets its own thread.

 

[MrSmithers]

Ok, cool - that would mean there’s a few more releases to make it worthwhile... So yeah I’m all for it!

 

[TheAbsentMind]

SVS is hosting a man named Roey Hershkovitz who works at Capitol in the video below. He’s talking quite a bit about ATMOS broadly and, of course, mentions TIDAL and Amazon. He’s also hinted at other avenues. Well worth a watching my opinion so far. He shares some intriguing stuff... and also some that may not go over well (for instance, that Miles Davis in ATMOS is done similarly to Giles Martin’s Hard Day’s Night). He’s level-headed but definitely an enthusiast with his own 9.2.4 system (which he gives a tour of) as well as Amazon’s Studio speaker, so he also experiences these mixes as a consumer.

​

Mods et al, I posted this here because it’s the active ATMOS thread I know. Anyone who knows a better pace, please do move my post or — if you think the video is/was worth it — repost the link where it might be more appropriate.