The Pet Shop Boys, the famous English synth-pop duo, have recently enriched their discography with the release of their fifteenth studio album, entitled “Nonetheless”. This opus, released on April 26, 2024, marks their longest interval between studio albums, succeeding 2020’s “Hotspot”. Produced by James Ford and recorded in his East London studio, “Nonetheless” was preceded by the single “Loneliness”, unveiled at the same time as the album announcement. The album is a celebration of the unique and diverse emotions that make us human, with tracks that reflect where Pet Shop Boys are today. Each track is accompanied by an orchestra, harmoniously blending electronic elements.

Will the blu-ray be the best edition of this album?

For this review, you will find versions 5 tested: Clear vinyl record, Tidal MAX, Tidal Dolby Atmos, blu-ray stereo 24/96 and blu-ray Dolby Atmos TrueHD

Below you will find the description of the different editions, as well as the measurements of each edition in the following chapters.

The album is composed of 10 tracks:

1. Loneliness
2. Feel
3. Why am I dancing?
4. New London boy
5. Dancing star
6. A new bohemia
7. The schlager hit parade
8. The secret of happiness
9. Bullet for Narcissus
10. Love is the law

Summary, scoring and Samples

Ed 1: Clear vinyl record – 2024

Presentation

The Clear vinyl record of this album is used for this review (ref: 5054197903571, Made in Germany)

Waveform and Spectrum: DR11

The waveform of the vinyl record shows good dynamics, as the graphs below confirm, with a dynamic range of at DR11.

The spectrum shows the signal rising above 22 kHz (yellow arrow), with signal above 22 kHz (white arrow) due to the distortion caused by the vinyl record s operating principle.

Synthesis and listening

This special clear vinyl edition of the album benefits from a correct pressing with very moderate surface noise. The rendering is warmer than the digital stereo version, with a more present lower end of the spectrum, giving a slightly rounder (or warmer) sound than the digital versions.

Rating:

• Dynamic: ●●●oo (3.5)
• Bandwidth: ●●●●o (4)
• Surface noise: ●●●●o (4)
• Restitution: ●●●oo (3)

Sample : Loneliness” 24 bits 96 kHz:

Ed 2: Tidal MAX – 2024

Presentation

This is the Tidal presented in FLAC 24 bits 44.1 kHz.

Waveform and Spectrum: DR5

The Tidal Max waveform shows a very low dynamic range due to the dynamic limiter used, as confirmed by the graphs below, with a dynamic range from to DR5.

The spectrogram of the stereo version of Tidal shows that the signal goes up to 22 kHz (yellow arrow) and that there is no signal above this frequency (white arrow), due to the 44.1 kHz sampling frequency used.

Synthesis and listening

We find a sound limited in terms of dynamics (DR5), which brings a lot of power, but lacks the dynamics of the Dolby Atmos version, especially for the blu-ray version which brings finesse and dynamics to the restituton.

Rating:

• Dynamic: ●oooo (1)
• Bandwidth: ●●●●o (4)
• Restitution: ●●ooo (2)

Sample : Loneliness” 24 bits 44.1 kHz:

Ed 3: Tidal Dolby Atmos – 2024

Presentation

This is the Tidal Dolby Atmos presented in Dolby Digital Plus or AC-4.

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

Waveform and Spectrum: DR14

The waveform of the Tidal Atmos version downmixed in 2.0 shows good dynamics, as the graphs below confirm, with a dynamic range of at DR14. On this album, the Dolby Digital Plus encoding introduces greater channel attenuation in height than the Blu-ray TrueHD encoding, leading to an increase in the DR value (DR14), which would be DR12 if we don’t take into account this encoding phenomenon, as is the case with Dolby Atmos TrueHD.

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.

Synthesis and listening

Nice use of the Dolby Atmos mix, which varies from one track to another, and even within the same track, making the most of spatialization according to the music.
“Loneliness”: beautiful spatialization that expands the front stage with choirs and music in the surround speakers.
“Feel”: starts out more frontal, widening across all channels for the chorus and refrain.
“Why am I dancing?”: starts on the surrounds, then increases in volume on the front channels.
“New London boy” and “Dancing Star”: music distributed over all channels and moving in space.
“The schlager hit parade”: music and backing vocals expand frontally and laterally.

Rating:

• Dynamic: ●●●●o (4.5)
• Bandwidth: ●●●●o (4)
• Spatialization: ●●●●oooooo (4.6)
• Restitution: ●●●oo (3.5)

Sample : Loneliness” 7.1 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 : Loneliness” Dolby Atmos (Downmixed 2.0) :

Ed 4: Blu-ray 96/24 stereo mix – 2024

Presentation

This is the Blu-ray Stereo presented in 24 bits 96 kHz (ref: 5054197903656). The blu-ray offers this album with the stereo (24 bits 96 kHz) and Dolby Atmos mixes.

Waveform and Spectrum: DR5

The blu-ray stereo waveform shows a very low dynamic range due to the dynamic limiter used, as confirmed by the graphs below, with a dynamic range from to DR5.

The spectrogram of the stereo version of Tidal shows that the signal goes up to 24 kHz (yellow arrow) and that there is little signal above this frequency (white arrow), whereas the sampling frequency is 96 kHz. This raises the question of the use of an upsample from 48 kHz to 96 kHz.

Synthesis and listening

We find the same rendering as the Tidal MAX version in 24/44.1 kHz. However, due to the different sampling frequencies (96 kHz for blu-ray), a difference may appear when listening, depending on the processing performed by the DAC (digital/analog converter).

Rating:

• Dynamic: ●oooo (1)
• Bandwidth: ●●●●o (4)
• Restitution: ●●ooo (2)

Sample : Loneliness” 24 bits 96 kHz:

Ed 5: Blu-ray Dolby Atmos – 2024

Presentation

This is the Blu-ray Dolby Atmos presented in Dolby Digital TrueHD (lossless format) (ref:5054197903656). The blu-ray offers this album with the stereo (24 bits 96 kHz) and Dolby Atmos mixes.

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

Waveform and Spectrum: DR12

The waveform of the blu-ray Atmos version downmixed in 2.0 shows good dynamics, as the graphs below confirm, with a dynamic range of at DR12.

The spectrogram of the Dolby Atmos track downmixed in stereo is limited to 24kHz (yellow arrow) with no signal above (white arrow). This limitation is due to the 48 kHz sampling frequency.

Synthesis and listening

As always, the blu-ray version retains the same properties as the Tidal Dolby Atmos version in terms of musical spatialization, but brings greater precision in spatial placement, accuracy and precision of all channels.
There’s also more finesse in restitution than in the Tidal Dolby Atmos version, which is encoded in Dolby Digital Plus, compared with the blu-ray, which uses Dolby TrueHD, a lossless format.
If you want to see for yourself the differences in quality due to the encoding used, you can listen to the extracts proposed in this test: Tears For Tears The Hurting Dolby Atmos comparison : Dolby Digital TrueHD vs Dolby Digital Plus.

Rating:

• Dynamic: ●●●oo (3.5)
• Bandwidth: ●●●●o (4)
• Spatialization: ●●●●●ooooo (4.8)
• Restitution: ●●●●o (4)

Sample : Loneliness” 7.1 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 : Loneliness” Dolby Atmos (Downmixed 2.0) :

For this new Pet Shop Boys album, it’s the blu-ray edition that stands out from the crowd, and in particular the Dolby Atmos TrueHD version, which offers a very successful spatial mix in lossless quality. The vinyl edition comes next, with a warmer sound than the digital versions.

Dynamic Range measurements and spectra are shown below.

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Measurements

Dynamic Range comparaisons

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 5 editions reviewed have obtained the following Dynamic Range (DR) :

	Clear vinyl record – 2024	Tidal MAX – 2024	Tidal Dolby Atmos – 2024	Blu-ray 96/24 stereo mix – 2024	Blu-ray Dolby Atmos – 2024
Global	DR11	DR5	DR14	DR5	DR12
Min	DR10	DR4	DR12	DR4	DR11
Max	DR11	DR6	DR16	DR6	DR15
Loneliness	DR11	DR5	DR14	DR5	DR13
Feel	DR11	DR5	DR13	DR5	DR12
Why am I dancing?	DR10	DR5	DR13	DR5	DR12
New London boy	DR11	DR5	DR16	DR5	DR13
Dancing star	DR11	DR6	DR16	DR6	DR15
A new bohemia	DR10	DR4	DR12	DR4	DR11
The schlager hit parade	DR11	DR5	DR13	DR5	DR12
The secret of happiness	DR10	DR5	DR12	DR5	DR12
Bullet for Narcissus	DR11	DR6	DR15	DR6	DR14
Love is the law	DR11	DR6	DR15	DR6	DR14

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.

Spectrum comparisons

The graph below compares the spectrum of the Clear vinyl record – 2024 (white curve) with the spectrum of the Tidal MAX – 2024 (blue curve).The two curves overlap over almost the entire spectrum, with a slight difference below 200 Hz (by 1 dB) and an increase in level above 7 kHz for the vinyl record (by up to 5 dB). The digital signal stops at 22 kHz, while the vinyl record signal continues (due to noise and distortion).

The graph below represents the spectrum of the Tidal Dolby Atmos – 2024.
The spectrum of Tidal Dolby Atmos version decoded in 7.1 shows that not all channels are 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.The bass channel is not used (green arrow).

The graph below compares the spectrum of the Blu-ray 96/24 stereo mix – 2024 (white curve) with the spectrum of the Tidal MAX – 2024 (blue curve).
The two curves overlap perfectly. The Tidal version is limited to 22 kHz (due to the 44.1 kHz sampling frequency used), while the blu-ray stereo is limited to 24 kHz despite the 96 kHz sampling frequency.

The graph below represents the spectrum of the Blu-ray Dolby Atmos – 2024.
The spectrum of the Dolby Atmos TrueHD version of the blu-ray decoded in 7.1 shows that not all channels are used.
The yellow arrow indicates the high-frequency limit at 24 kHz, due to the Dolby Digital TrueHD (lossless) sampling frequency of 48 kHz. The bass channel is not used (green arrow).

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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