“Hit Me Hard And Soft” is the title of Billie Eilish’s third studio album, released on May 17, 2024. At 22, Billie Eilish presents a bold and diverse collection of songs that are both hard and soft, lyrically and sonically. Billie Eilish still works with her brother and collaborator Finneas. With over 32 billion streams and 71 million albums sold, Billie Eilish continues to make her mark on her generation with powerful tracks and an introspective approach to music.

For this album, vinyl records made from recycled materials are available. Are they up to standard in terms of sound quality?

For this review, you will find 4 versions tested: Vinyl record, Limited Eco-mix Yellow Vinyl record, Tidal MAX Flac, 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 album is composed of 10 tracks:

1. SKINNY
2. LUNCH
3. CHIHIRO
4. BIRDS OF A FEATHER
5. WILDFLOWER
6. THE GREATEST
7. L’AMOUR DE MA VIE
8. THE DINER
9. BITTERSUITE
10. BLUE

Summary, scoring and Samples

Ed 1: Tidal Max – 2024

Presentation

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

Waveform and Spectrum: DR6

The waveform of the Tidal Max shows low dynamics, as the graphs below confirm, with a dynamic range of at DR6.

The spectrogram of the Tidal MAX is limited to 22kHz (yellow arrow) . This limitation is due to the 44.1 kHz sampling frequency.

Synthesis and listening

The loudness war rages on, with an average DR6 for the album, some tracks being more or less impacted with a Dynamic Range between DR5 and DR8. The rendering is less dynamic and less clear than the Dolby Atmos version.

Rating:

• Dynamic: ●oooo (1)
• Bandwidth: ●●●●o (4)
• Restitution: ●●ooo (2.5)

Sample : “LUNCH” 24 bits 44.1 kHz:

Ed 2: Tidal Dolby Atmos – 2024

Presentation

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

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

Waveform and Spectrum: DR13

The waveform of the Atmos version downmixed in 2.0 shows good dynamics, as the graphs below confirm, with a dynamic range of at DR13.

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

The Dolby Atmos version focuses primarily on expanding the sound space, with intensive use of the side speakers. The result is a front and large spatialization that immerses us in the music, with some spatialization effects for instruments and voices. Compared with the stereo version, the result is a more immersive experience, with very powerful bass reproduction.

Rating:

• Dynamic: ●●●●o (4)
• Bandwidth: ●●●●o (4)
• Spatialization: ●●●●●ooooo (5.1)
• Restitution: ●●●●o (4)

Sample : “LUNCH” 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 : “LUNCH” Dolby Atmos (Downmixed 2.0) :

Ed 3: Vinyl Record- 2024

Presentation

The vinyl record consists of a 33.33 rpm LP using recycled materials and includes a mini poster. (ref: 602465223651, made in France )

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 graph of the spectrogram of the vinyl record show that the frequencies of the audio signal rise above 20 kHz (yellow arrow). The signal above 20 kHz (white arrow) is due to the signal present above 20 kHz and to the distortion caused by the vinyl playback principle.

Synthesis and listening

Vinyl is more natural than the digital stereo version, especially on vocals, as can be heard in the sample. But the recording level remains very low, due to the length of the first side (over 20 minutes). There is a fairly high level of background noise, audible on passages with a low sound level in the songs.

Rating:

• Dynamic: ●●●oo (3.5)
• Bandwidth: ●●●●● (5)
• Surface noise: ●●ooo (2.5)
• Restitution: ●●●oo (3)

Sample : LUNCH” 24 bits 96 kHz:

Ed 4: Yellow Vinyl Record- 2024

Presentation

The vinyl record consists of a 33.33 rpm LP vinyl record in limited eco-mix yellow including a poster. (ref: 602465364613, made in CZECH REPLUBLIC)

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 graph of the spectrogram of the vinyl recod show that the frequencies of the audio signal rise above 20 kHz (yellow arrow). The signal above 20 kHz (white arrow) is due to the signal present above 20 kHz and to the distortion caused by the vinyl playback principle.

Synthesis and listening

The yellow vinyl record looks similar to the version made from black recycled material, but with less surface noise (see comparison spectrum).

Rating:

• Dynamic: ●●●oo (3.5)
• Bandwidth: ●●●●● (5)
• Surface noise: ●●●oo (3.5)
• Restitution: ●●●oo (3.5)

Sample : LUNCH” 24 bits 96 kHz:

No surprises with the presence of the loudness war on the digital stereo version. Dolby Atmos multichannel listening brings more dynamics than the stereo versions, with a nice widening of the front sound stage. Vinyl attempts to render a more pleasant audio experience than the digital stereo version, but with a lower than average cutting level (6 dB) and also with the presence of surface noise.

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

	Tidal Max – 2024	Tidal Dolby Atmos – 2024	Vinyl Record- 2024	Yellow Vinyl Record- 2024
Global	DR6	DR13	DR11	DR11
Min	DR5	DR11	DR9	DR9
Max	DR8	DR15	DR12	DR12
SKINNY	DR8	DR11	DR11	DR12
LUNCH	DR7	DR14	DR12	DR12
CHIHIRO	DR5	DR13	DR9	DR9
BIRDS OF A FEATHER	DR5	DR13	DR11	DR10
WILDFLOWER	DR6	DR14	DR11	DR11
THE GREATEST	DR5	DR14	DR11	DR11
L’AMOUR DE MA VIE	DR5	DR15	DR10	DR10
THE DINER	DR5	DR14	DR10	DR10
BITTERSUITE	DR5	DR13	DR10	DR10
BLUE	DR5	DR13	DR10	DR10

Good dynamics for the Dolby Atmos version, with a DR13 compared to the streaming and vinyl versions.

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 Vinyl Record- 2024 (white curve) with the spectrum of the Tidal Max – 2024 (blue curve).The curves are very similar. There’s a bass boost between 60 and 200 Hz (green zone) for vinyl, and in the mid/high range (yellow zone) between 1.5 kHz and 6 kHz. There is an attenuation of the vinyl level above 10 kHz (yellow zone), up to 16 kHz. The yellow arrow shows the 22 kHz limit for Tidal Max, due to the 44.1 kHz sampling frequency.

The graph below represents the spectrum of the Tidal Dolby Atmos – 2024.
The spectrum of Amazon’s Dolby Atmos version decoded in 7.1 shows that not all channels are used at the same level. The yellow arrow indicates the high-frequency limit at 20 kHz due to the Dolby Digital Plus encoding. The white arrow indicates the 24 kHz high-frequency limit 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 768 kbits/s bit rate. The green arrow shows bass channel filtering at 120 Hz.

The graph below compares the spectrum of the Vinyl Record- 2024 (white curve) with the spectrum of the Yellow Vinyl Record- 2024 (blue curve).The spectra of the 2 vinyl records overlap almost perfectly.

Surface noise

There is a difference in quality between the two versions of the vinyl records, with less surface noise on the yellow disc. There is more than 10 dB difference at 300 Hz!

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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