American rock musician Lenny Kravitz has enriched the music world with his twelfth studio album, “Blue Electric Light”. Released on May 24, 2024, this album represents a comeback after a six-year hiatus since his previous opus “Raise Vibration”. “Blue Electric Light” is the fruit of hard, passionate work, recorded in Kravitz’s personal studio in the Bahamas. “Blue Electric Light” is not only a demonstration of Kravitz’s musical mastery, but also an expression of his unique style, which continues to inspire millions of people around the world.

Are the Stereo and Dolby Atmos mixes up to the new album’s standards?

For this review, you will find 2 versions tested: Tidal MAX, 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 12 tracks:

1. It’s Just Another Fine Day (In This Universe of Love)
2. TK421
3. Honey
4. Paralyzed
5. Human
6. Let It Ride
7. Stuck in the Middle
8. Bundle of Joy
9. Love Is My Religion
10. Heaven
11. Spirit in My Heart
12. Blue Electric Light

Summary, scoring and Samples

Ed 1: Tidal MAX – 2024

Presentation

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

Waveform and Spectrum: DR7

The Tidal Max waveform shows a very very low dynamic range due to the dynamic limiter used, as confirmed by the graphs below, with a dynamic range from to DR7. Dynamic Range is between DR6 and DR9 depending on the song!

The spectrogram of the stereo version of Tidal shows that the signal goes down 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

With a Dynamic Range DR7, we’re in the war for loudness. The result is a sound limited in terms of dynamic range, with an accentuation of saturation effects. Dynamic compression could have been stronger, but fortunately there’s a track with DR9.

Rating:

• Dynamic: ●●ooo (2)
• Bandwidth: ●●●●o (4)
• Restitution: ●●ooo (2.5)

Sample : Blue Electric Light” 24 bits 44.1 kHz:

Ed 2: Amazon 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: DR15

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 DR13 (DR15 in 7.1.4).

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 offers better sound reproduction than the stereo version, thanks not only to the dynamic range (DR15) but also to a Dolby Atmos mix that offers a spatialization that brings each track to life. For all the tracks, we have a soundstage-enlarging mix (using the side channels) with punctual use of all the channels. “It’s Just Another Fine Day (In This Universe of Love)”: backing vocals and instruments spread out over the side speakers. “TK421”: a wider soundstage, with instruments and vocals distributed over the various channels, and musical effects also distributed in space. “Honey”: lateral and vertical soundstage expansion, initially on the main voice, then extended to other channels. “Human” / “Bundle of Joy”: full use of all channels, with sounds spread evenly over the rear channels. “Blue Electric Light”: starts with a surround and lateral ambience, then returns to a more frontal voice, with a widening on the more musical passages or with the backing vocals. Good bass presence. In 9.1.6 listening, use the wide channels to expand the soundstage.

Rating:

• Dynamic: ●●●●● (5)
• Bandwidth: ●●●●o (4)
• Spatialization: ●●●●●●oooo (5.9)
• Restitution: ●●●●o (4)

Sample : Blue Electric Light” 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 : Blue Electric Light” Dolby Atmos (Downmixed 2.0) :

No big surprise here: if you’re looking for dynamics, bass and spatialization, you’ll have to go for the Dolby Atmos version to get the most out of this album.

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).

A comparison of waveforms (track “Blue Electric Light”) adjusted to -15.6 LUFS integrated clearly shows the impact of limiting dynamics on the stereo version (DR6).

For our 2 editions reviewed have obtained the following Dynamic Range (DR) :

	Tidal MAX – 2024	Amazon Dolby Atmos – 2024
Global	DR7	DR15
Min	DR6	DR14
Max	DR9	DR18
It’s Just Another Fine Day (In This Universe of Love)	DR6	DR16
TK421	DR8	DR16
Honey	DR9	DR17
Paralyzed	DR6	DR15
Human	DR7	DR14
Let It Ride	DR8	DR18
Stuck in the Middle	DR8	DR15
Bundle of Joy	DR7	DR14
Love Is My Religion	DR8	DR14
Heaven	DR7	DR16
Spirit in My Heart	DR8	DR15
Blue Electric Light	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 represents the spectrum of the Tidal MAX – 2024.
The yellow arrow shows that the maximum frequency is 22 kHz (yellow arrow), consistent with the 44.1 kHz sampling frequency used.

The graph below represents the spectrum of the Amazon Dolby Atmos – 2024.
The spectrum of Tidal Dolby Atmos version decoded in 7.1 shows that 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 filtered at 120 Hz(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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