1989 (Taylor’s Version) is Taylor Swift’s fourth re-recorded album, following re-recordings in 2021: Fearless (Taylor’s Version) and Red (Taylor’s Version) and in 2023: Speak Now (Taylor’s Version). These new recordings follow a controversy over ownership of the rights to her first six studio albums. This album contains the famous tracks “Shake It Off”, “Bad Blood” and “Style”, 1989 was the fifth studio album released on 27 October 2014.

You can also find album reviews :

• Speak Now (Taylor’s Version)
• Red (Taylor’s Version)
• Midnights

For this review, you will find 3 versions tested: vinyl record (Crystal Skies Blue), Tidal MAX flac in 24 bits 48 kHz and Tidal Dolby Atmos.

Below you will find the description of the different editions, as well as the measurements of each edition in the following chapters.
The synthesis of the review and the samples are available here

The album is composed of 21 tracks:

1. Welcome To New York (Taylor’s Version)
2. Blank Space (Taylor’s Version)
3. Style (Taylor’s Version)
4. Out Of The Woods (Taylor’s Version)
5. All You Had To Do Was Stay (Taylor’s Version)
6. Shake It Off (Taylor’s Version)
7. I Wish You Would (Taylor’s Version)
8. Bad Blood (Taylor’s Version)
9. Wildest Dreams (Taylor’s Version)
10. How You Get The Girl (Taylor’s Version)
11. This Love (Taylor’s Version)
12. I Know Places (Taylor’s Version)
13. Clean (Taylor’s Version)
14. Wonderland (Taylor’s Version)
15. You Are In Love (Taylor’s Version)
16. New Romantics (Taylor’s Version)
17. -Slut!- (Taylor’s Version) (From The Vault)
18. Say Don’t Go (Taylor’s Version) (From The Vault)
19. Now That We Don’t Talk (Taylor’s Version) (From The Vault)
20. Suburban Legends (Taylor’s Version) (From The Vault)
21. Is It Over Now- (Taylor’s Version) (From The Vault)

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.

The streaming versions may evolve over time, those presented here correspond to the version tested at the date of publication, or update of the review.

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 : Spatialization

Part 6 : Summary, scoring and Sample

Part 1: presentation of the editions

Ed 1: Vinyl record – 2023

Presentation

A beautiful edition of 2 Crystal Skies Blue vinyl records in 33.33 rpm ( ref : 602455542144) with “Made In Germany” sticker.

Ed 2: Tidal MAX Flac – 2023

Presentation

The Tidal Max Flax is presented in Flac 24 bits 48 kHz.

Ed 3: Tidal Dolby Atmos – 2023

Presentation

The Tidal Dolby Atmos version is presented in Dolby Digital Plus (768 bits/s) or Dolby AC-4.

Part 2 : Waveform and dynamic comparaisons

Waveform

The waveform represents tracks of the album.

The waveform of the Tidal Atmos version downmixed in 2.0 and vinyl record show good dynamics, as the graphs below confirm, with a dynamic range of at least DR11 for vinyl record and DR11 for Tidal Atmos version downmixed in 2.0.

The waveform of the Tidal MAX clearly shows the use of a dynamic limiter, as confirmed by the Dynamic Range measurement with a DR6!

Dynamic

Dynamic represents the ability to reproduce a wide range of sounds from the softest to the loudest. The target is to compare the dynamics of the music and not of the media (CD, digital files or vinyl).

For our 3 editions reviewed have obtained the following Dynamic Range (DR) :

	Vinyl record – 2023	Tidal MAX Flac – 2023	Tidal Dolby Atmos – 2023
Global	DR11	DR6	DR13
Min	DR10	DR4	DR11
Max	DR12	DR8	DR15
Welcome To New York (Taylor’s Version)	DR11	DR5	DR13
Blank Space (Taylor’s Version)	DR12	DR7	DR14
Style (Taylor’s Version)	DR10	DR4	DR13
Out Of The Woods (Taylor’s Version)	DR10	DR5	DR11
All You Had To Do Was Stay (Taylor’s Version)	DR11	DR5	DR14
Shake It Off (Taylor’s Version)	DR11	DR5	DR12
I Wish You Would (Taylor’s Version)	DR11	DR5	DR15
Bad Blood (Taylor’s Version)	DR11	DR6	DR12
Wildest Dreams (Taylor’s Version)	DR11	DR6	DR14
How You Get The Girl (Taylor’s Version)	DR11	DR5	DR15
This Love (Taylor’s Version)	DR11	DR6	DR11
I Know Places (Taylor’s Version)	DR11	DR6	DR15
Clean (Taylor’s Version)	DR10	DR6	DR14
Wonderland (Taylor’s Version)	DR10	DR5	DR14
You Are In Love (Taylor’s Version)	DR11	DR7	DR13
New Romantics (Taylor’s Version)	DR11	DR6	DR13
-Slut!- (Taylor’s Version) (From The Vault)	DR11	DR8	DR15
Say Don’t Go (Taylor’s Version) (From The Vault)	DR10	DR6	DR14
Now That We Don’t Talk (Taylor’s Version) (From The Vault)	DR10	DR6	DR13
Suburban Legends (Taylor’s Version) (From The Vault)	DR11	DR7	DR12
Is It Over Now- (Taylor’s Version) (From The Vault)	DR11	DR6	DR12

The streaming stereo version (Tidal MAX Flacc) has a reduced DR6 dynamic range. You’ll need to listen to the vinyl record or Dolby Atmos version to get a higher DR, up to DR13 for the Dolby Atmos decoded in 7.1.4.

The dynamics of the vinyl cannot be used to deduce the dynamics of the master used to cut the vinyl record.

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 graph below compares the spectrum of the vinyl record (white curve) with the spectrum of the Tidal Max stereo streaming version (blue curve). The curves overlap perfectly up to 5 kHz, and beyond this frequency (yellow zone), there’s a drop of a few dB for vinyl (up to -10 dB at 18 kHz). The yellow arrow indicates the noise of vinyl compared with the digital version, which has no signal beyond 24 kHz. The green zone shows a very slight difference in bass (less than 1 dB).

The spectrum of the Tidal Dolby Atmos version decoded in 5.1 shows that all channels are well used.
The bass channel is filtered at 120 Hz, as indicated by the green arrow.
The yellow arrow indicates the high-frequency limit at 20 kHz due to Dolby Digital Plus encoding.
The white arrow indicates the 24 kHz high-frequency limit due to encoding at the 48 kHz sample rate used, confirming that it is the Dolby Digital Plus encoding algorithm that cuts frequencies at 20 kHz to reduce data size in order to maintain the 768 kbits/s bit rate.

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.

The spectrogram of the vinyl record below shows that the frequencies of the audio signal rise above 24 kHz (yellow arrow). The signal above 24 kHz (white arrow) is due to distortion caused by the vinyl playback principle. There is no signal in the digital master for these frequencies (above 24 kHz) due to the 48 kHz sampling frequency.

The spectrogram of the stereo version Tidal Max shows that the signal rises above 24 kHz (yellow arrow).No signal above this frequency (white arrow), due to the 48 kHz sampling frequency used.

The spectrogram of the Dolby Atmos track downmixed in stereo is limited to 20kHz (yellow arrow) with no signal above (white arrow). This limitation is due to Dolby Digital Plus encoding, which is a lossy encoder that limits bandwidth to optimize data size for a bit rate of 768 kbits/s.

Part 5 : Spatialization

Spatialization allows you to define the sound distribution of the music on all the channels. The spatialization indicator and the description of the graph are described here.

Spatialization is available for Tidal Dolby Atmos .

Below the spatialization for all tracks. Click on the images to zoom in.

Part 6 : Summary, scoring and Samples

Ed 1: Vinyl record – 2023

Tailors Swift continues to offer vinyl records in colors that vary from country to country. The blue color is a success, and the pressing is correct. Listening to this version, the sound is more open and detailed than the Tidal Max digital stereo version, with a slightly warmer, more pleasant sound and more natural vocals.

Rating:

• Dynamic: ●oooo (1)
• Bandwidth: ●●●●● (5)
• Restitution: ●●●●o (4)

Sample : ”Bad Blood (Taylor’s Version)” 16 bits 88.2 kHz:

Ed 2: Tidal MAX Flac – 2023

As always, the digital stereo version is limited in dynamics, with an average DR6 for this album despite its 24-bit presentation. In comparison, the dolby Atmos version brings more dynamics and detail. In stereo, the vinyl version is more pleasant to listen to, with a more open rendering.

Rating:

• Dynamic: ●●●oo (3.5)
• Bandwidth: ●●●●o (4)
• Restitution: ●●ooo (2)

Sample : ”Bad Blood (Taylor’s Version)” 16 bits 48 kHz:

Ed 3: Tidal Dolby Atmos – 2023

The Dolby Atmos version is very successful, making the most of the channels while respecting Taylors Swift’s musical style. There’s more dynamic range than in the stereo version, with a front soundstage that extends to the side channels, but also uses all the channels for greater immersion in the music. It’s a more spatial mix than previous albums.

Rating:

• Dynamic: ●●●●o (4)
• Bandwidth: ●●●●o (4)
• Spatialization: ●●●●●●●ooo (6.7)
• Restitution: ●●●●o (4)

Sample : ”Bad Blood (Taylor’s Version)” downmixed in 5.1:

The sample is in 5.1 wav format, if you can not play the sample in your navigator, you can save it, right button menu and “Save Audio As…” and play it with an external player.

As with the re-recordings of the other albums, this is the most pleasant vinyl record to listen to in stereo for those who want a stereo source. All you have to do is listen to the extracts to see how the vinyl and digital versions compare. It’s about time the loudness war in stereo was brought to an end for the sake of better quality. Otherwise, if you want a digital source that’s not dynamically compressed, you’ll have to turn to the very successful Dolby Atmos version, which in addition to the dynamics, brings a beautiful spatialization to this album.

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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)
• Spatialization :
  • Between 0 and 5 for 5.1 or 7.1 channels configuration
  • Between 0 and 10 for Atmos configuration (7.1.4)
  • For more information on spatialization, you can read the article describing this parameter here.
• 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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