Kim Wilde‘s latest album, Closer, was released on January 31, 2025. Presented as a sequel to her successful 1988 album Close, Closer captures the spirit and style of her earlier work while introducing a modern perspective, blending nostalgic elements with contemporary sounds.

The album features ten new tracks, including the lead single Trail of Destruction. Critics hailed the album for its successful fusion of pop, new wave and rock, staying true to Kim Wilde’s signature sound while adding a modern twist to appeal to long-time fans and new audiences alike.

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 album is composed of 10 tracks:

1. Sorrow Replaced (feat. Midge Ure)
2. Hourglass Human (feat. Scarlett Wilde)
3. Midnight Train
4. Scorpio
5. Trail Of Destruction
6. Lighthouse
7. Love Is Love
8. Rocket To The Moon
9. Stones And Bones
10. Savasana

Summary, scoring and Samples

Ed 1: Tidal MAX – 2025

Presentation

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

Waveform and Spectrum: DR8

Tidal Max Flac waveform has a reduced dynamic range, with the use of a dynamic limiter, as confirmed by the DR8.

The spectrogram of the Tidal Max shows that the signal goes up to 22 kHz, due to the 44.1 kHz sampling frequency used.

The graph below represents the spectrum of the Tidal MAX – 2025.
The spectrum shows that the signal rises to 22 kHz with no signal above this frequency due to the 44.1 kHz sampling frequency.

Synthesis and listening

No surprises for the stereo version produced in early 2025. We find a dynamically compressed version with an average DR8 (minimum DR7). Although this remains moderate compared to other productions, it has a noticeable impact on the sound rendering. The stereo version is less dynamic, losing precision. Subtle nuances and instrument details are attenuated, creating a listening experience that doesn’t exploit the full potential of today’s digital media.

Rating:

• Dynamic: ●●ooo (2)
• Bandwidth: ●●●●o (4)
• Restitution: ●●●oo (3)

Ed 2: Tidal Dolby Atmos – 2025

Presentation

This is the Tidal Dolby Atmos edition 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: DR12

The Tidal Dolby Atmos downmixed in 2.0 shows a good dynamic range confirmed with DR12.

The spectrogram of the Dolby Atmos track downmixed in stereo is limited to 20kHz. 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 graph below represents the spectrum of the Tidal Dolby Atmos – 2025.
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 white arrow indicates the high-frequency limit at 20 kHz due to Dolby Digital Plus encoding. The yellow arrow indicates the high-frequency limit at 24 kHz due to encoding at the 48 kHz sampling frequency used.

Synthesis and listening

The Dolby Atmos version offers superior sound reproduction to the stereo version, thanks not only to its dynamic range (DR12) but also to a Dolby Atmos mix that offers successful spatialization. Each track comes to life with greater depth and clarity, allowing every nuance and detail to be perceived. Instruments and accompaniments are immersively diffused, creating an enveloping listening experience.

Rating:

• Dynamic: ●●●oo (3.5)
• Bandwidth: ●●●●o (4)
• Spatialization: ●●●●●●●ooo (7.1)
• Restitution: ●●●●o (4)

Kim Wilde is back with her new album Closer, which fits in with current standards, with a dynamically compressed stereo version (moderately with a DR8) and a successful Dolby Atmos version that immerses us totally in the music.

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

	Tidal MAX – 2025	Tidal Dolby Atmos – 2025
Global	DR8	DR12
Min	DR7	DR11
Max	DR9	DR13
Sorrow Replaced (feat. Midge Ure)	DR8	DR12
Hourglass Human (feat. Scarlett Wilde)	DR8	DR12
Midnight Train	DR8	DR13
Scorpio	DR8	DR12
Trail Of Destruction	DR7	DR11
Lighthouse	DR9	DR11
Love Is Love	DR7	DR11
Rocket To The Moon	DR8	DR11
Stones And Bones	DR8	DR11
Savasana	DR8	DR12

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.

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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