Tidal Atmos audio differences

[DJ Killmore]

Hi all, new to the forum and first post, but long time surround sound listener.

I've recently got excited about music in Atmos with the release of DSotM and found it quite enjoyable, so much so I picked up Rumors and Best of the Doors. I haven't listened to The Doors yet, but Rumors sounds great! I especially enjoyed the front sound stage with Go Your Own Way.

All that being said, I signed up for a TIDAL 3month trial to check out some more Atmos content, supposedly uncompressed, but the problem I'm running into, and unlike the BluRay's is the audio from track to track is horrible, (despite having audio normalization on). Certain tracks just don't seemed to be mixed well and I have to turn the volume way up or down from track to track. Bon Jovi's New Jersey is one that comes to mind initially. The opening track Lay your Hands on me is VERY heavy in LFE's and vocals are almost mute and coming from nowhere in particular.

I guess I'm wondering if these streaming services are geared more towards headphone listeners, (which I haven't tried since I don't have spacial audio bluetooth ear pods/headphones anyway). I'm also wondering if any of you have noticed this too and perhaps have a reason or better understanding than I do.

But if this is how it is, (for now) with streaming Atmos, I will probably hold of on committing to it.

It's also worth mentioning, it's NOT ALL the streaming Atoms titles, The Police Synchronicity plays great and I think INXS Kick sounded great too, but can't recall as I didn't listen to the whole album.

Anyway, thanks in advance for all responses.

 

[ProgRules]

I also did a 3 month for $2.99 trial of Tidal and was not impressed. Atmos playback was often problematic. I also noticed there were big volume differences between tracks on the same album. And some albums needed to be cranked all the way up on my AVR to get good volume (admittedly high volume, but at the level I often listen at)- which I've never even come close to on any other source. Then there were some albums which didn't play back gaplessly, meaning there were dropouts of several seconds at the beginning of each song- Zappa's Apostrophe for instance.

But don't judge all Atmos streaming by Tidal. Apple Music has been much better (though not perfect). It is cumbersome finding which titles have Atmos, but playback is usually very good.

 

[DrKlahn]

I've been OK with Tidal Atmos. As noted, there is generally a big volume difference you need to account for and be ready to pause at the end of an Atmos album so the next title that plays doesn't damage anything. The difference in track volume within an Atmos album hasn't been much of an issue for me. A couple ticks up or down is all that amounts to in the majority of cases.

The mastering is whatever the Engineer decides to do. Most of the stuff I have played has sounded very good on my 7.2.4 setup. U2 - Achtung Baby is about the only one that I would call bad.

The volume variance is something I hope Tidal addresses. It's really my only big complaint.

 

[DJ Killmore]

OK, well at least it's not just me then.. Not that I'm a big Bon Jovi fan to begin with, but sort of like any 'early adopter', we're always hungry for content, so I checked it out. Again, it's not just a volume thing on that mix, the entire mix seems 'clunky' and not geared towards a home setup. Those LFE's are ridiculous in comparison to the vocals. That's what made me think some of these mixes are just geared towards headphones, AKA a smaller soundstage?

I'll keep having a go at it, but I think I'm already of the opinion if these ever get released to physical media, I would (certainly be selective), but purchase a physical disc.

The record stands now 2 for 2 with physical media and 2 for 5 with streaming. Strictly relating to mix quality.

 

[DJ Killmore]

But don't judge all Atmos streaming by Tidal. Apple Music has been much better (though not perfect). It is cumbersome finding which titles have Atmos, but playback is usually very good.

Trouble with that is, I'm trying to leave 'The Darkside' that is Apple. Albeit, none of that is really going to matter anyway. Everything is pretty much cross-platform, but we can still have our principles. lol

 

[DrKlahn]

Trouble with that is, I'm trying to leave 'The Darkside' that is Apple. Albeit, none of that is really going to matter anyway. Everything is pretty much cross-platform, but we can still have our principles. lol

I hear that. Atmos mixes I've tried on Tidal that sounded great (if I know the engineer I will list it):

Yes (Steven Wilson)
The Who - Who's Next (Steven Wilson)
Duran Duran - Danse Macbre Deluxe (Bob Clearmountain)
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers - Greatest Hits
The Beatles - Revolver (Giles Martin)
Elton John - Diamonds
Madonna - Immaculate Collection

The last 2 artists I'm not a huge fan of, so I might be being generous.

The only album I've listened to lately lately that was a bit underwhelming was Teddy Swims - Lose Control. It mostly felt like the Atmos was more of a reverb/stereo expansion. Not horrible, but I didn't feel like it gained much.

 

[ProgRules]

Trouble with that is, I'm trying to leave 'The Darkside' that is Apple. Albeit, none of that is really going to matter anyway. Everything is pretty much cross-platform, but we can still have our principles. lol

I'm not a fan of Apple either; I'd decided to stop using them- why I tried Tidal. But they offered me 3 months for $10.99 so I signed on again. After that, I'll probably stop streaming, except sporadically, to listen to the mixes I like that don't have physical release (or are crazy expensive, like Apostrophe). I'd like to try Napster- who apparently have Atmos- but don't have an app I can find to stream to my AVR.