The Cure, the first single “Alone” is available before the new album entitled “Songs of A Lost World”

Iconic band The Cure have announced the release of their new album entitled “Songs of A Lost World”, scheduled for November 1, 2024.
This long-awaited album marks their return after a 16-year hiatus without new music.
Fans can already pre-order the album, which will be available in several formats, including a high-quality vinyl edition (Abbey Road half-speed master on double thick black organic vinyl 180 g) and exclusive color vinyl versions.
In addition, a deluxe edition featuring an extra instrumental CD and Blu-ray with high-resolution stereo and Dolby Atmos mixes is also on offer.

The first single, “Alone”, is available online and gives a foretaste of what this 14th studio album will be like. The test below of this first track gives a first impression of the sound quality of this album.

The full review of the album is now available here.

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

Ed 1: Tidal MAX – 2024

Presentation

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

Waveform and Spectrum: DR6

The waveform of TIDAL max 24 bits 96 kHz shows a low dynamic range confirmed with DR6.

The spectrogram shows that the signal rises above 20 kHz (yellow arrow) with some signal above 30 kHz (white arrow) .

The graph below represents the spectrum of the Tidal MAX – 2024.
The spectrum shows that the signal rises to 40 kHz, making full use of the 96 kHz sampling frequency of the Tidal MAX version.

Synthesis and listening

The Tidal Max version presented in 24-bit 96 kHz makes good use of the full spectrum offered by high definition, but unfortunately there’s a limited dynamic range (loudness war DR6) due to dynamic compression, which limits the energy of the music at high listening levels, and brings less finesse to the rendering of vocals and instruments.

Rating:

• Dynamic: ●oooo (1)
• Bandwidth: ●●●●● (5)
• Restitution: ●●ooo (2.5)

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: DR15

The waveform of Tidal Dolby Atmos shows a good dynamic range confirmed with DR15.

The spectrogram of the Tidal Dolby Atmos track downmixed in 7.1 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. The LFE channel is used with 120 Hz cut-off frequency (green arrow)

The graph below represents the spectrum of the Tidal Dolby Atmos – 2024.
The spectrum of Tidal’s Dolby Atmos version decoded in 7.1 shows that all channels are used except the center channel (purple arrow). The LFE channel is used with a cutoff frequency of 120 Hz (green arrow). 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.

Synthesis and listening

Dolby Atmos spatialization expands the front soundstage, creating a sound bubble at 180 degrees for the most part, with more dynamic sound rendering and better-defined vocals than in stereo.

Rating:

• Dynamic: ●●●●● (5)
• Bandwidth: ●●●●o (4)
• Spatialization: ●●●●●●●●oo (8)
• Restitution: ●●●●o (4)

The Dolby Atmos version stands out for its greater dynamic range, which renders voices less saturated than the DR6 stereo version, which is very limited in dynamic range. We’ll have to wait for the vinyl versions and also the bluray edition with a Dolby Atmos TrueHD (Lossless) version for an even more qualitative rendering.

Subscribe to MagicVinylDigital

If you like this review, please subscribe. You’ll receive information on new articles directly in 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.

---