Green Day is back with “Saviors”, its 14th studio album. The punk rock band is known for its cult albums “Dookie”, released 30 years ago, and “American Idiot”, released 20 years ago. Saviors contains 15 songs on a wide range of themes, from criticism of the American dream to nostalgia for the 80s.

For this review, you will find 3 versions tested: vinyl record, Tidal MAX Flac 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 15 tracks:

1. The American Dream Is Killing Me
2. Look Ma, No Brains!
3. Bobby Sox
4. One Eyed Bastard
5. Dilemma
6. 1981
7. Goodnight Adeline
8. Coma City
9. Corvette Summer
10. Suzie Chapstick
11. Strange Days Are Here to Stay
12. Living in the ’20s
13. Father to a Son
14. Saviors
15. Fancy Sauce

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 Deluxe – 2023

Presentation

This is the vinyl record présented in 180g LP included a Limited Edition Embossed Gatefold and poster (24″ x 26″) (ref: 093624866091)

Ed 2: Tidal Max Flac – 2023

Presentation

This is the Tidal Max presented in FLAC 24 bits 96 kHz.

Ed 3: Tidal Dolby Atmos – 2023

Presentation

This is the Tidal Dolby Atmos presented in Dolby Digital Plus or 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 DR13 for vinyl record and for Tidal Atmos version downmixed in 2.0.
It’s difficult to define the dynamic range of the master used to cut the vinyl record (see the article on “Does analog media force a dynamic on music?“), but the waveform results are close in dynamic range between these two versions.

The waveforms of Tidal Max Flac clearly show the use of a dynamic limiter (yellow area), as confirmed by the Dynamic Range measurement with a DR5.

Below, the Zoom waveforms of the 3 versions corresponding to the samples.

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 Deluxe – 2023	Tidal Max Flac – 2023	Tidal Dolby Atmos – 2023
Global	DR13	DR5	DR13
Min	DR13	DR4	DR11
Max	DR15	DR5	DR16
The American Dream Is Killing Me	DR14	DR5	DR16
Look Ma, No Brains!	DR13	DR5	DR13
Bobby Sox	DR15	DR5	DR13
One Eyed Bastard	DR13	DR5	DR13
Dilemma	DR14	DR5	DR11
1981	DR13	DR5	DR13
Goodnight Adeline	DR14	DR4	DR13
Coma City	DR14	DR5	DR12
Corvette Summer	DR14	DR5	DR14
Suzie Chapstick	DR13	DR5	DR12
Strange Days Are Here to Stay	DR13	DR5	DR14
Living in the ’20s	DR13	DR5	DR13
Father to a Son	DR13	DR4	DR12
Saviors	DR13	DR5	DR13
Fancy Sauce	DR13	DR5	DR12

The streaming stereo version (Tidal MAX Flac) has a reduced DR5 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 vinyl record and Dolby Atmos decoded in 7.1.4 (or 2.0).

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- 2023 (white curve) with the spectrum of the Tidal Max Flac – 2023 (blue curve).The curves overlap almost perfectly from 60 Hz up to 15 kHz, and above this frequency (yellow zone), there’s an increase of a few dB for vinyl (+3 or 4 dB at 15 kHz), and above 24 kHz a higher noise floor.
The green zone shows an attenuation of 1 to 4 dB in the bass range for vinyl below 60 Hz.
The lacquer is nicely cut, with no 10 dB peaks and troughs around 15 kHz, as can be found on other vinyl records.

The graph below represents the spectrum of the Tidal Dolby Atmos – 2023.
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.
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 shows that the majority of the signal rises above 24 kHz (yellow arrow) and that there is some signal above this frequency (white arrow), which is due to the audio signal and mainly to the distortion linked to the vinyl record’s operating principle.

The spectrogram of the Tidal Max stereo version shows that the signal rises above 24 kHz (yellow arrow) and that there is signal above this frequency (white arrow), due to the 96kHz 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 Deluxe – 2023

The vinyl record is well pressed, with reduced surface noise, and sounds more dynamic and less heavy than the digital stereo version. This makes it more pleasing to the ear than the Tidal MAX version (as with other streaming platforms), as the extract below shows.

Rating:

• Dynamic: ●●●●o (4)
• Bandwidth: ●●●●● (5)
• Surface noise: ●●●●o (4)
• Restitution: ●●●●o (4)

Sample : ”The American Dream Is Killing Me” 16 bits 96 kHz:

Ed 2: Tidal Max Flac – 2023

As is often the case with this kind of music, the digital stereo version is limited in dynamics, with an average DR5 for this album despite its 24-bit 96 kHz 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 “analog” rendering.

Rating:

• Dynamic: ●oooo (1)
• Bandwidth: ●●●●● (5)
• Restitution: ●●ooo (2.5)

Sample : ”The American Dream Is Killing Me” 16 bits 96 kHz:

Ed 3: Tidal Dolby Atmos – 2023

The Dolby Atmos version focuses mainly on enlarging the sound space, with heavy use of the side speakers. Mixes vary greatly from track to track, with greater or lesser exploitation of spatialization.
On “Boddy sox”, the backing vocals are beautifully spatialized on the surround speakers.
On “1981”, the fronts form a half-surround sound bubble, using the alters and the high front speakers.
“Corvette Summer” mainly expands the music across all 7.1 channels.
“Living in the ’20s” starts out in stereo and gradually expands to all channels as the music becomes more energetic, as do the other tracks “Father to a Son” and “Fancy Sauce”.

Rating:

• Dynamic: ●●●●o (4)
• Bandwidth: ●●●●o (4)
• Spatialization: ●●●●●ooooo (5.6)
• Restitution: ●●●●o (4)

Sample : ”The American Dream Is Killing Me” Dolby Atmos 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.

Sample : ”The American Dream Is Killing Me” Dolby Atmos downmixed in 2.0:

The digital stereo version suffers from Loudness War, with compressed dynamics that make it less pleasant to listen to than the vinyl version, with a more open and natural soundstage.
The Dolby Atmos version offers a wider, more dynamic front soundstage, making full use of the side channels, as well as all channels depending on the track, bringing a more immersive and powerful rendering 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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