The Bridge is the 15th studio album as a solo artist de Sting. The album has 10 songs, but has 3 extra songs in the Deluxe version. With an exception for the Japanese version which has 14 songs!

Updated on January 8, 2022 with the Japanese cd and the Tidal streaming release.

You can find the measurements of each edition in the different parts and listen to the samples of these albums here.

This album includes 13* tracks : 

1. Rushing Water
2. If It’s Love
3. The Book Of Numbers
4. Loving You
5. Harmony Road
6. For Her Love
7. The Hills On The Border
8. Captain Bateman
9. The Bells Of St. Thomas
10. The Bridge
11. Waters Of Tyne
12. Captain Bateman’s Basement
13. (Sittin’ On) The Dock Of The Bay
14. I Guess the Lord Must Be in New York City*

*The 14th track “I Guess the Lord Must Be in New York City” is a Japanese Exclusive Bonus Track.

We will review 5 editions (Vinyl, japanese CD, Streaming Qobuz, Amazon Atmos Binaural and Tidal) of this album.

First we will analyze each edition in detail (technical and qualitative analysis) then we will compare the successive editions with their dynamics and assign a final score and you will be able to listen some samples.

Review of the editions:

Part 1: Presentation of the editions

Part 2 : Waveform and dynamique comparaison

Parts 3 : Spectrum comparisons

Part 4 : Spectrogram comparaisons

Part 5 : Summary, scoring and Sample

Part 1: presentation of the editions

Ed1 : Vinyl ref 00602438586547 – 2021

Presentation

It is a very nice vinyl Deluxe proposed here in its double black LP version.

Label	A&M Records
Reference	00602438586547
Format (speed)	Double LP Deluxe at 33.3 RPM
Type	Double LP
Master	Digital
Mastering/Pressing	Mastered By – Gene Grimaldi
Original recording	Digital 24-44.1kHz
State	EU
Year original	2021
Year production	2021

Ed2 : Streaming Qobuz Hi-Res – 2021

Presentation

This is the Streaming Qobuz proposed in Hi-Res(24 bits 48kHz).

Label	A&M Records
Reference	Streaming Qobuz Hi-Res
Format (speed)	Streaming Digital
Type	24 bits 48 kHz
Master	Digital
Mastering/Pressing	Mastered By – Gene Grimaldi
Original recording	Digital 24-48kHz
State	EU
Year original	2021
Year production	2021

Ed3 : Streaming Amazon Dolby Atmos binaural – 2021

Presentation

This is the Streaming Amazon Dolby Atmos proposed in Binaural for headphone listening.

Label	A&M Records
Reference	Streaming Amazon Dolby Atmos
Format (speed)	Streaming Dolby Atmos Binaural
Type	Stereo binaural
Master	Digital
Mastering/Pressing	Mastered By – Gene Grimaldi
Original recording	Digital
State	EU
Year original	2021
Year production	2021

Ed4 : Japanese CD ref UICY-79755 – 2021

Presentation

It is a very nice Japanese Bridge Deluxe Limited Edition proposed here with CD and DVD.

The CD includes a bonus track “I Guess the Lord Must Be in New York City”. The DVD includes generic and track by track interview, and Music Videos (If its Love, Rushing Water).

The box includes also 2 posters and a little books.

Label	A&M Records
Reference	UICY-79755
Format (speed)	CD SHM-CD + DVD
Type	CD 16 bits 44.1kHz
Master	Digital
Mastering/Pressing	Mastered By – Gene Grimaldi
Original recording	Digital 24-44.1kHz
State	Japan
Year original	2021
Year production	2021

Ed5 : Streaming Tidal Master – 2021

Presentation

This is the Streaming TIDAL proposed in Master MQA (24 bits 48kHz).

Label	A&M Records
Reference	Streaming Master MQA
Format (speed)	Streaming Digital MQA encoded
Type	24 bits 48 kHz decoded in PCM 24 bits 96 kHz by Audirvana
Master	Digital
Mastering/Pressing	Mastered By – Gene Grimaldi
Original recording	Digital 24-48kHz
State	US
Year original	2021
Year production	2021

Part 2 : Waveform and dynamic comparaisons

Waveform

The waveform represents all the tracks of the album.

The Ed1 vinyl differs from the digital version stereo (Ed2) by a much more dynamic signal without compression of the maximum levels.

The wafeforms of Ed2 Qobuz is compressed like Tidal (Ed5) and other streaming services not presented here. Flat areas present the maximum sound levels with compression (yellow zone).

The Ed3 Dolby Atmos Binaural version is the most dynamic of the four digital versions reviewed.

Dynamic

Dynamic represents the ability to reproduce a wide range of sounds from the softest to the loudest.

For our 5 editions we have obtained the following Dynamic Range (DR):

	Ed1: Vinyl	Ed2: Qobuz	Ed3: Amazon Atmos Binaural	Ed4: CD Japan	Ed5: Tidal
GLOBAL	DR10	DR6	DR11	DR6	DR6
Min	DR9	DR5	DR9	DR5	DR5
Max	DR12	DR9	DR12	DR9	DR9
Rushing Water	DR10	DR5	DR11	DR5	DR5
If It’s Love	DR10	DR5	DR12	DR5	DR5
The Book Of Love	DR9	DR5	DR9	DR5	DR5
Loving You	DR11	DR7	DR9	DR7	DR7
Harmony Road	DR10	DR6	DR11	DR6	DR6
For Her Love	DR9	DR6	DR9	DR6	DR6
The Hills On The Border	DR11	DR6	DR11	DR6	DR6
Captain Bateman	DR10	DR5	DR10	DR5	DR5
The Bells Of St. Thomas	DR12	DR9	DR11	DR8	DR8
The Bridge	DR10	DR8	DR11	DR9	DR9
Waters Of Tyne	DR9	DR8	DR11	DR8	DR8
Captain Bateman’s Basement	DR10	DR6	DR12	DR6	DR6
(Sittin’ On) The Dock Of The Bay	DR10	DR6	DR11	DR6	DR6
I Guess the Lord Must Be in New York City				DR5

This is a new hierarchy in the ranking of the most dynamic versions, the Ed3 Dolby Atmos is the most dynamic (DR11), followed by the vinyl (DR10) and in last position, the digital stereo version (Streaming and CD) with a much lower score (DR6).

As a reminder, the scale goes from 0 to more 20, but the dynamics are considered good from 12, quite good between 10 and 11, and deteriorate below 10.

Part 3 : spectrum comparisons

Spectrum

The Spectrum allows to check the tonal balance of the music (balance between treble, medium and bass sounds) and to detect process that may have been carried out during the recording, the mixing, mastering or manufacturing phases. It is also possible to detect frequency interference issues.

The curve represents the average frequency distribution over the sample “The Book Of Numbers”.

The curve of the Ed1 vinyl is similar to that of Qobuz Ed2. There is a small decrease above 5 kHz of 1 or 2 dB (yellow arrow) and almost the same level around 50 Hz.

In the graph below, the curves of the Ed2 Streaming Stereo and Ed4 Japanese CD are strictly identical, with only a difference in the cutoff frequency at 22 kHz for the CD and 24 kHz for the Streaming. This is due to the difference in sampling frequencies of 48 kHz for streaming and 44.1 kHz for CD.

The Ed5 Tidal is identical to the Ed2 Qobuz except above 48 kHz where the MQA decoding generates spectrum aliasing (Red area) due to the decoding of MQA by Audirvana in 96 kHz (imposed by the MQA format) and not 48 kHz. It is the same phenomenon that we found and described in detail for the album 30 of Adele.

The Ed3 Atmos Binaural version is similar on almost all the spectrum with however a 2 or 3 dB higher level in the low register (white arrow) compared to the Ed2 Qobuz stereo version. The yellow arrow shows the 20 KHz cutoff of the Ed3 Dolby Atmos Binaural version versus 24 KHz of the Ed2 Qobuz stereo version.

Part 4 : Spectrogram comparaisons

Spectrogram

Spectrogram is another representation of frequency versus time of a track. For each channel (right and left), horizontal axis represents time, and the vertical axis represents frequency. The amplitude is represented by the intensity (brightness) of the color of each point in the image.

For the spectrogram of the Ed1 vinyl, the yellow arrow shows the limit is below 20 kHz (the sampling frequency of the master). The white arrow shows the harmonics created by the vinyl playback method.

The streaming Qobuz show the frequency limit at 24 kHz (yellow arrow) . The black area (white arrow) shows that there is no signal above 24 kHz, which is normal for a 48 kHz sampling rate.

Unlike the Ed2 Qobuz, for the Ed4 Tidal, the white arrow shows interfering frequencies due to decoding MQA (in 96 kHz and not 48 kHz) and not a black area indicating an absence of signal that should be normal above 24 kHz (yellow arrow) because of a 48 kHz sampling rate for the original master.

The CD show the frequency limit at 22 kHz (yellow arrow) . The black area (white arrow) shows that there is no signal above 22 kHz, which is normal for a 44.1 kHz sampling rate.

The streaming Amazon Dolby Atmos Binaural show the frequency limit at 20 kHz (yellow arrow) . The black area (white arrow) shows that there is no signal above 20 kHz, which is normal for a 48 kHz sampling rate of the Dolby Atmos.

Part 5 : Summary, scoring and Samples

Ed1 : Vinyl ref 00602438586547 – 2021

The vinyl pressing is good with reduced surface noise.
The vinyl version is much more open and detailed than the digital stereo version. The voices are more natural and there is more dynamics. This is particularly evident in the second half of the sample, where there are more dynamics and better attacks.

• Rating:
  • Dynamic: ●●●oo (3/5)
  • Bandwidth: ●●●●o (4/5)
  • Surface Noise: ●●●●o (4/5)
  • Restitution: ●●●●o (4/5)

• Sample : “The Book Of Numbers” vinyl 24 bits 88.2 kHz :

Ed2 : Streaming Qobuz Hi-Res – 2021

The Streaming version is really very compressed. It is as obvious on listening as on measurements. This version lacks finesse and openness.

• Rating:
  • Dynamic: ●oooo (1/5)
  • Bandwidth: ●●●●o (4/5)
  • Restitution: ●●●oo (3/5)

• Sample : “The Book Of Numbers” Streaming Qobuz 24 bits 48 kHz :

Ed3 : Streaming Amazon Dolby Atmos binaural – 2021

Here is the version in Dolby Atmos Binaural. This version marks immediately by its dynamics, its opening and the separation of the instruments. This binaural version is made for a listening to the headphones, and brings a more pleasant rendering than the stereo versions. But, it is necessary to get accustomed to these new Atmos mixes.

• Rating:
  • Dynamic: ●●●oo (3.5/5)
  • Bandwidth: ●●●●o (4/5)
  • Restitution: ●●●●o (4/5)

• Sample : “The Book Of Numbers” Streaming Amazon Dolby Atmos Binaural :

Ed4 : CD Japan ref UICY-79755 – 2021

The CD version like the streaming is really very compressed. We find a similar sound to the streaming.
The packaging is superb for this CD edition which would have deserved a level of audio quality equal to the quality of the presentation.

• Rating:
  • Dynamic: ●oooo (1/5)
  • Bandwidth: ●●●●o (4/5)
  • Restitution: ●●●oo (3/5)

• Sample : “The Book Of Numbers” Streaming CD 16 bits 44.1kHz :

Ed5 : Streaming Tidal Master – 2021

Like Qobuz Streaming (Ed2), the Tidal Streaming MQA version is also highly compressed. We are in full loudness war with this ultra compressed master.

• Rating:
  • Dynamic: ●oooo (1/5)
  • Bandwidth: ●●●●o (4/5)
  • Restitution: ●●●oo (3/5)

• Sample : “The Book Of Numbers” Streaming Tidal 24 bits 96 kHz :

Very beautiful album, which for a listening in stereo gives the best result with vinyl with a more alive and natural rendering. It is the version to be privileged compared to the digital stereo compressed version (Streaming Qobuz ,Tidal and CD). For headphone listening, the Dolby Atmos Binaural version which brings more openness and precision, is the version to be preferred with its mix slightly different from the stereo version.

Detail of the ratings :

• Dynamic :
  1. Significant dynamic compression, DR less than 7
  2. Compression of the present dynamics, DR between 7 and 9.
  3. Correct piece DR >=10
  4. No dynamic compression (DR >12), dynamic rendering
  5. No dynamic compression, high DR and very dynamic sound rendering
• Spectrum :
  1. Spectrum cut and less than 15 khz
  2. Spectrum cut at 15 khz
  3. Spectrum not conforming to the original and cut (not HD) or original but limited bandwidth (but less than 20 kHz)
  4. Spectrum conforming to the original (but not HD)
  5. Spectrum conforming to the original with HD resolution (higher than 24kHz)
• Surface noise (only for vinyl):
  1. Continuous audible noise
  2. Audible surface noise except on passages with a high level of noise
  3. Reduced surface noise, barely audible on low level crossings
  4. Low surface noise, very good quality
  5. Very low surface noise, no defects, almost inaudible on the quiet passages (exceptional disc)
• Restitution :
  1. Low quality of the restitution mixing dynamics, clarity, separation of voices and instruments.
  2. Average quality of the restitution mixing dynamics, clarity, separation of voices and instruments.
  3. Quality of the restitution mixing dynamics, clarity, separation of voices and instruments. Good record.
  4. High quality of the restitution mixing dynamics, clarity, separation of voices and instruments. Very high level disc.
  5. Maximum quality of the restitution mixing dynamics, clarity, separation of voices and instruments. Exceptional disc.

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