After her Christmas album “I Dream of Christmas”, released in 2021, Norah Jones is back with a new album, “Visions”, due for release on March 8. It will feature 12 tracks, including “Running”, which is already available for streaming. We can’t forget her debut album “Come Away With Me“, but will this new album have the same quality of production as “Come Away With Me”? That’s what we’re going to find out with the first single “Running”.

For this review, you will find 2 versions tested: Tidal MAX Flac and Amazon Dolby Atmos.

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.

Waveform and dynamic

The waveform represents tracks of the single “Running”.

The waveform of Tidal Max Flac clearly shows the use of a dynamic limiter, as confirmed by the Dynamic Range measurement with a DR5.

The waveform of the Amazon Atmos version downmixed in 2.0 shows good dynamics, as the graphs below confirm, with a dynamic range of at DR14.

Spectrum comparisons

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 represents the spectrum of the Tidal Max Flac – 2024.
The spectrum is spread over all frequencies, but stops at 24 kHz (yellow arrow), whereas it could be higher with a 96 kHz sampling frequency.

The graph below represents the spectrum of the Amazon Dolby Atmos – 2024.
The spectrum of Amazon’s Dolby Atmos version decoded in 7.1 shows that not all channels are used. The bass and rear surround channels are not used. The yellow arrow indicates the high-frequency limit at 20 kHz due to Dolby Digital Plus encoding. The white arrow indicates the high-frequency limit at 24 kHz due to encoding at the 48 kHz sampling frequency 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 bit rate of 768 kbits/s.

Spectrogram comparaisons

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 stereo version of Tidal Max shows that the signal goes up to 24 kHz (yellow arrow) and that there is no signal above this frequency (white arrow), even though the sampling frequency used is 96 kHz. Is this specific to this track or to the whole album? We’ll have to wait for the album to have more information.

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.

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 of the dolby atmos deceoded in 9.1.6

Summary, scoring and Samples

Ed 1: Tidal Max Flac – 2024

It’s a shame Norah Jones also has to comply with the Loudness War. So we find the first track impacted by dynamic compression with a DR5. This is surprising from Blue Note, which is renowned for the quality of its recordings, but it’s not a first, as this problem was also found on Joshua Redman’s “Where Are We” album. Despite the use of the limiter, the soundstage is very wide, with a nice central rendering of Norah Jones’ voice, but without the dynamics of the Dolby Atmos version.

Rating:

• Dynamic: ●oooo (1)
• Bandwidth: ●●●●o (4.5)
• Restitution: ●●●oo (3)

Sample : ”Running” 16 bits 96 kHz:

Ed 2: Amazon Dolby Atmos – 2024

The Dolby Atmos version concentrates mainly on expanding the sound space, with heavy use of the wide (in 9.1.6) and side speakers. The result is a semi-spherical spatialization that immerses us in the music from the front to the side speakers, with music and backing vocals distributed evenly. Compared with the stereo version, the result is a more immersive experience, with the impression of being close to the singer, the music and the backing vocals.

Rating:

• Dynamic: ●●●●o (4)
• Bandwidth: ●●●●o (4)
• Spatialization: ●●●●●●oooo (6.4)
• Restitution: ●●●●o (4)

Sample : ”Running” Dolby Atmos downmixed in 7.1:

The sample is in 7.1 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 : ”Running” Dolby Atmos downmixed in 2.0:

From a technical point of view, this first track is a surprise, but not a pleasant one. I wasn’t expecting to discover a dynamically compressed stereo track, with a bandwidth cutting off at 24 kHz and a sampling frequency that can go up to 48 kHz. This is a far cry from the quality of “Come away With Me”. The Dolby Atmos version brings back dynamics and a mix favoring front space (see spatialization analysis). We’ll have to wait for the album’s release to find out whether all the tracks are treated in the same way!

Subscribe to MagicVinylDigital

Get new content delivered directly to your inbox.

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.

---

From a technical point of view, this first track is a surprise, but not a pleasant one. I wasn’t expecting to discover a dynamically compressed stereo track, with a bandwidth cutting off at 24 kHz and a sampling frequency that can go up to 48 kHz. This is a far cry from the quality of “Come away With Me”. The Dolby Atmos version brings back dynamics and a mix favoring front space (see spatialization analysis). We’ll have to wait for the album’s release to find out whether all the tracks are treated in the same way!

Subscribe to MagicVinylDigital

Get new content delivered directly to your inbox.

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.

---