30 years after his last visit to Japan, John Williams returned for an exceptional concert. Captured live, the Tokyo concert is a musical celebration of friendship: alongside 16 pieces conducted by John Williams, among his most famous film scores, is the bonus “Tributes! (for Seiji)”, composed by John Williams for Seiji Ozawa, conducted by Stéphane Denève. Available for streaming in stereo and Dolby Atmos (12 tracks), this concert is already available in Japan in a deluxe box set featuring the entire concert on video blu-ray and also on SACD (17 tracks), as well as a vinyl disc edition (12 tracks).

The album on CD and bluray will be available worldwide on July 12, 2024.

Which of the blu-ray, SACD or vinyl record will bring the best rendition of this exceptional concert?

For this review, you will find 8 versions tested: Japanese Vinyl, Japanese Deluxe box with Blu-ray Stereo, 5.1, Dolby Atmos, SACD, CD and 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 album is composed of 17 tracks:

1. Sound the Bells!*
2. Tributes! (for Seiji)
3. Suite from Far & Away*
4. Suite from E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial Three Million Light Years from Home*
5. Stargazers*
6. Flying Theme*
7. Superman March
8. Three Selections from Harry Potter
9. Fawkes the Phoenix
10. Harry’s Wondrous World
11. Theme from Schindler’s List
12. Three Selections from Star Wars – The Rebellion is Reborn
13. Princess Leia’s Theme
14. Throne Room & Finale
15. Yoda’s Theme from The Empire Strikes Back
16. The Raiders March from Raiders of the Lost Ark
17. The Imperial March from The Empire Strikes Back

* only on deluxe edition

Summary, scoring and Samples

Ed 1: Blu-ray stereo – 2024

Presentation

The blu-ray video is part of a deluxe Box Edition including 2 SACDs and a blu-ray. The PCM stereo track is used in this version. The video Blu-ray mix differs from the mixes of music media (CD, SACD, vinyl, streaming), by integrating the ambiences found in association with video.

Waveform and Spectrum: DR13

The blu-ray stereo waveform shows a high dynamic range confirmed with DR13.

The spectrogram of the stereo version of blu-ray shows that the signal goes up to 22 kHz (yellow arrow) and that there is signal above this frequency (white arrow), due to the 96 kHz sampling frequency used.

Synthesis and listening

The stereo version of the blu-ray video corresponds to a different mix from the pure music media, with all the ambience of the audience. The result is perfectly in phase with the video, but less precise and with slightly less extreme bass than the SACD or Tidal versions.

Rating:

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

Sample : ”The Imperial March from The Empire Strikes Back” 24 bits 96 kHz:

Ed 2: Blu-ray DTSHD-MA 5.1 24/48 – 2024

Presentation

The blu-ray video is part of a deluxe Box Edition including 2 SACDs and a blu-ray. The 5.1 track encoded in DTS-HD Master Audio 24 bit 48 kHz is used in this edition. The video Blu-ray mix differs from the mixes of music media (CD, SACD, vinyl, streaming), by integrating the ambiences found in association with video.

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

Waveform and Spectrum: DR13

The blu-ray 5.1 waveform shows a high dynamic range confirmed with DR13.

The spectrogram of the 5.1 version of blu-ray shows that the signal goes up to 24 kHz (yellow arrow) and that there is no signal above this frequency (white arrow), due to the 48 kHz sampling frequency used.

Synthesis and listening

The 5.1 version on the video blu-ray corresponds to a different mix from the pure music media, with a full 5.1 immersion in the music and the audience. The result is perfectly in phase with the video, but less precise than pure music media. It’s a shame a pure audio blu-ray isn’t included in the box set, or a 5.1 version on the SACD.

Rating:

• Dynamic: ●●●●o (4)
• Bandwidth: ●●●●o (4)
• Spatialization: ●●●●o (3.8)
• Restitution: ●●●●o (4)

Sample : ”The Imperial March from The Empire Strikes Back” 5.1 24 bits 48 kHz:

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.

Ed 3: Blu-ray Atmos TrueHD – 2024

Presentation

The blu-ray video is part of a deluxe Box Edition including 2 SACDs and a blu-ray. The Dolby Atmos track encoded in Dolby Digital TrueHD (lossless) 24 bit 48 kHz is used in this edition. The video Blu-ray mix differs from the mixes of music media (CD, SACD, vinyl, streaming), by integrating the ambiences found in association with video.

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

Waveform and Spectrum: DR14

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 DR14.

The spectrogram of the Atmos downmixed in 2.0 version of blu-ray shows that the signal goes down to 24 kHz (yellow arrow) and that there is no signal above this frequency (white arrow), due to the 48 kHz sampling frequency used.

Synthesis and listening

The Dolby Atmos version of the bluray immerses us in the atmosphere of the concert, in keeping with the video, making for a highly successful immersive listening experience.

Rating:

• Dynamic: ●●●●o (4.5)
• Bandwidth: ●●●●o (4)
• Spatialization: ●●●●●●●●●o (8.8)
• Restitution: ●●●●o (4)

Sample : ”The Imperial March from The Empire Strikes Back” 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 : ”The Imperial March from The Empire Strikes Back” Dolby Atmos (Downmixed 2.0) :

Ed 4: CD layer – 2024

Presentation

The CD is part of a deluxe Box Edition including 2 SACDs and a blu-ray. This is the CD layer of the SACD Hybrid.

Waveform and Spectrum: DR13

The CD layer (from SACD) waveform shows a high dynamic range confirmed with DR13.

The spectrogram of the stereo cd layer 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

CD rendering is close to that of SACD, which is excellent. There is a difference in finesse at the top end of the spectrum in favor of SACD in terms of naturalness. However, this depends on the processing carried out by your DAC between these two formats (PCM 16/44.1 and DSD64), which can change the sound rendering.

Rating:

• Dynamic: ●●●●o (4)
• Bandwidth: ●●●●o (4)
• Restitution: ●●●●o (4.5)

Sample : ”The Imperial March from The Empire Strikes Back” 16 bits 44.1 kHz:

Ed 5: SACD – 2024

Presentation

The SACD is part of a deluxe Box Edition including 2 SACDs and a blu-ray. This is the SACD presented in DSD64.

Waveform and Spectrum: DR13

The SACD waveform shows a high dynamic range confirmed with DR13.

The spectrogram below represents the SACD. The yellow arrow shows that the signal rises well above 20 kHz. We also find the characteristic noise of DSD64 beyond 30 kHz (white arrow).

Synthesis and listening

The music mix is different from that on the video blu-ray, with more precise sound rendering and more bass, giving the orchestra greater scope. All concert tracks are available on the 2 SACDs in the set. It’s a great idea to have included SACDs in this box.

Rating:

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

Sample : ”The Imperial March from The Empire Strikes Back” 24 bits 88.2 kHz:

Ed 6: Tidal MAX Flac – 2024

Presentation

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

Waveform and Spectrum: DR12

The Tidal Max shows a high dynamic range confirmed with DR12.

The spectrogram of the stereo version of Tidal Max (2024) shows that the signal goes up to 22 kHz (yellow arrow) and that there is signal above this frequency (white arrow), due to the 96 kHz sampling frequency used.

Synthesis and listening

The high-definition version is similar to the SACD version, but with only 12 of the deluxe version’s 17 tracks. As far as sound rendering is concerned, it depends very much on the DAC you’re using, and on the processing carried out in that DAC between a PCM signal and a signal in DSD64 format.

Rating:

• Dynamic: ●●●oo (3.5)
• Bandwidth: ●●●●● (5)
• Restitution: ●●●●o (4.5)

Sample : ”The Imperial March from The Empire Strikes Back” 24 bits 96 kHz:

Ed 7: 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: 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.

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

This Dolby atmos version reproduces the musical version of the album, but in a lossy format that makes it less precise than other versions, but with beautiful spatialization.

Rating:

• Dynamic: ●●●●o (4.5)
• Bandwidth: ●●●●o (4)
• Spatialization: ●●●●●●●●●o (8.6)
• Restitution: ●●●oo (3.5)

Sample : ”The Imperial March from The Empire Strikes Back” 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 : ”The Imperial March from The Empire Strikes Back” Dolby Atmos (Downmixed 2.0) :

Ed 8: Japanese vinyl record – 2024

Presentation

The vinyl record is composed of 2 LP vinyl records in 33.33 rpm, the vinyl record containing 12 tracks (ref:4988031630853).

Waveform and Spectrum: DR13

The waveform of the vinyl record shows a high dynamic range confirmed with DR13.

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 vinyl records are beautifully pressed and very quiet. The sound is very pleasant, with a nice soundstage, a slightly softer sound than on the SACD, and with less extreme bass. The vinyl album contains 12 tracks from the concert.

Rating:

• Dynamic: ●●●●o (4)
• Bandwidth: ●●●●● (5)
• Surface noise: ●●●●● (5)
• Restitution: ●●●●o (4.5)

Sample : ”The Imperial March from The Empire Strikes Back” 24 bits 96 kHz:

A very fine concert in a fine Japanese deluxe edition with video blu-ray and SACD. From a purely musical point of view, it’s the SACD (2 discs) that offers the best rendering, with all 17 tracks. The blu-ray brings the image, and a very nice sound immersion in Dolby Atmos TrueHD. The 2 vinyl records are also beautifully pressed.

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

	Blu-ray stereo – 2024	Blu-ray DTSHD-MA 5.1 24/48 – 2024	Blu-ray Atmos TrueHD – 2024	CD layer – 2024	SACD – 2024	Tidal MAX Flac – 2024	Tidal Dolby Atmos – 2024	Japanese vinyl record – 2024
Global	DR13	DR13	DR14	DR13	DR13	DR12	DR14	DR13
Min	DR11	DR10	DR12	DR11	DR11	DR11	DR12	DR11
Max	DR17	DR16	DR17	DR17	DR16	DR14	DR17	DR15
Sound the Bells!*	DR13	DR14	DR14	DR13	DR13
Tributes! (for Seiji)	DR17	DR16	DR17	DR17	DR16
Suite from Far & Away*	DR13	DR14	DR15	DR12	DR12	DR14	DR17	DR15
Suite from E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial Three Million Light Years from Home*	DR13	DR14	DR14	DR13	DR13
Stargazers*	DR13	DR13	DR13	DR13	DR13
Flying Theme*	DR12	DR13	DR13	DR11	DR11
Superman March	DR12	DR12	DR13	DR12	DR12	DR12	DR13	DR12
Three Selections from Harry Potter	DR13	DR14	DR15	DR13	DR13	DR13	DR15	DR13
Fawkes the Phoenix	DR12	DR12	DR12	DR12	DR12	DR12	DR12	DR12
Harry’s Wondrous World	DR12	DR14	DR15	DR12	DR12	DR12	DR14	DR13
Theme from Schindler’s List	DR15	DR14	DR15	DR12	DR12	DR12	DR13	DR13
Three Selections from Star Wars – The Rebellion is Reborn	DR13	DR14	DR14	DR12	DR13	DR12	DR15	DR13
Princess Leia’s Theme	DR13	DR15	DR16	DR14	DR14	DR14	DR16	DR14
Throne Room & Finale	DR12	DR13	DR13	DR12	DR12	DR12	DR13	DR12
Yoda’s Theme from The Empire Strikes Back	DR12	DR13	DR13	DR11	DR11	DR11	DR12	DR11
The Raiders March from Raiders of the Lost Ark	DR12	DR14	DR14	DR12	DR12	DR12	DR13	DR12
The Imperial March from The Empire Strikes Back	DR13	DR14	DR15	DR13	DR13	DR13	DR14	DR13

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 SACD – 2024 (white curve) with the spectrum of the Blu-ray stereo – 2024 (blue curve).Despite a different mix, the 2 curves are similar, with a slightly lower bass level (5 dB at 40 Hz) on the blu-ray version (green zone) and differences above 10 kHz (yellow zone).

The graph below represents the spectrum of the Blu-ray DTSHD-MA 5.1 24/48 – 2024.
The spectrogram of the 5.1 version of blu-ray shows that the signal goes up to 24 kHz (yellow arrow) due to the 48 kHz sampling frequency used, and that there is no LFE channel (green arrow),

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

The graph below compares the spectrum of the SACD – 2024 (white curve) with the spectrum of the CD layer – 2024 (blue curve).The two versions overlap perfectly, with a maximum frequency of 22 kHz (yellow arrow) due to the 44.1 kHz sampling frequency used for the CD. Beyond that, noise rises above 30 kHz, due to the use of the SACD’s DSD64.

The graph below compares the spectrum of the Tidal MAX Flac – 2024 (white curve) with the spectrum of the SACD – 2024 (blue curve).The two versions overlap perfectly up to 25 kHz. Noise rises above 30 kHz on the SACD (red arrow), due to the use of the SACD’s DSD64.

The graph below compares the spectrum of the Japanese vinyl record – 2024 (white curve) with the spectrum of the SACD – 2024 (blue curve).The two versions are similar, with a difference at the lower end of the spectrum (green zone) where the vinyl record is 5 dB lower in level at 40 Hz, and differences of a few dB above 6 kHz (yellow zone). Beyond 30 kHz, the SACD shows an increase in noise compared to the vinyl record.

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. 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.

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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