Roger Waters, co-founder of Pink Floyd, releases This Is Not A Drill – Live From Prague, recorded live in concert on May 25, 2023, at the O2 Arena. The show is part of his farewell tour, which began in 2022. The setlist includes Pink Floyd classics (Comfortably Numb, Us and Them, Wish You Were Here) alongside solo material such as The Bar. The production features a strong visual and political dimension. The film was captured in 8K and benefits from a remastered audio mix. The total running time is approximately 2 hours and 38 minutes. Released on August 1, 2025, in CD, vinyl, Blu-ray, DVD, and digital formats, the high-resolution 24-bit/96 kHz digital and Dolby Atmos versions are reviewed.

For this review, you will find 2 versions tested:

• Ed 1: Tidal Dolby Atmos
• Ed 2: Tidal MAX

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 23 tracks:

1. Introduction (Live From Prague May 2023)
2. Comfortably Numb (Live From Prague May 2023)
3. The Happiest Days of Our Lives (Live From Prague May 2023)
4. Another Brick in the Wall, Pt. 2 (Live From Prague May 2023)
5. Another Brick in the Wall, Pt. 3 (Live From Prague May 2023)
6. The Powers That Be (Live From Prague May 2023)
7. The Bravery of Being Out of Range (Live From Prague May 2023)
8. The Bar Part 1 (Live From Prague May 2023)
9. Have a Cigar (Live From Prague May 2023)
10. Wish You Were Here (Live From Prague May 2023)
11. Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Live From Prague May 2023)
12. Sheep (Live From Prague May 2023)
13. In the Flesh (Live From Prague May 2023)
14. Run Like Hell (Live From Prague May 2023)
15. Is This the Life We Really Want (Live From Prague May 2023)
16. Money (Live From Prague May 2023)
17. Us and Them (Live From Prague May 2023)
18. Any Colour You Like (Live From Prague May 2023)
19. Brain Damage (Live From Prague May 2023)
20. Eclipse (Live From Prague May 2023)
21. Two Suns in the Sunset (Live From Prague May 2023)
22. The Bar Part 2 (Live From Prague May 2023)
23. Outside the Wall (Live From Prague May 2023)

Summary, scoring and Samples

Ed 1: Tidal Dolby Atmos

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.

Below videos the spatialization for tracks : Introduction and The Bar Part 2.

Waveform and Spectrum: DR15

The waveform of the Tidal Dolby Atmos shows a very high range confirmed with DR15. The new waveform display allows for visualization of the 12 channels of the Dolby Atmos mix, decoded in 7.1.4 format. In addition to the spatialization graphs and the dedicated spatialization video, it provides a clear view of the level variations across all channels. This makes it possible to accurately analyze how the height and surround channels are used throughout the mix.

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 green arrow shows the 120Hz filtering of the bass channel (LFE).

The graph below represents the spectrum of the Tidal Dolby Atmos (downmixed in 7.1).
The spectrum of the Dolby Atmos version of Tidal decoded in 7.1 shows that all channels are used, but with a strong presence of the front channels. The LFE channel is used with a cutoff frequency of 120 Hz and a peak at 40 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 the 48 kHz sampling frequency used for encoding.

Synthesis and listening

The Dolby Atmos version offers a particularly diverse range of soundscapes depending on the tracks, alternating between deeply immersive mixes—especially on songs like Introduction, Comfortably Numb, or Outside the Wall, where the spatialization fully envelops the listener—and more frontal, centered mixes, as heard on The Bar Part 2. This variation in mixing approach creates a sometimes contrast that affects the overall cohesion of the listening experience. A more consistent approach would have allowed for continuous immersion throughout the show. Nonetheless, this version remains the most dynamic and energetic among the editions tested. The Atmos version downmixed to stereo provides more atmosphere than the Tidal Max stereo mix.

Rating:

• Dynamic: ●●●●● (5)
• Bandwidth: ●●●●o (4)
• Spatialization: ●●●●oooooo (4.1)
• Restitution: ●●●●o (4)

Ed 2: Tidal MAX

Presentation

This is the Tidal Max version presented in 24 bits 96 kHz (link).

Waveform and Spectrum: DR11

The waveform of the Tidal MAX version shows a good dynamic range confirmed with DR11.

The spectrogram shows that the signal rises above 20 kHz (yellow arrow) with signal up over 24 kHz (white arrow) due to the 96 kHz sampling frequency.

The graph below represents the spectrum of the Tidal MAX.
The spectrum shows that the maximum frequency is less than 30 kHz with a sampling frequency of 96 kHz.

Synthesis and listening

The Tidal Max version offers this concert in high-resolution 24-bit / 96 kHz audio, with solid dynamic range, although the Dolby Atmos version delivers even greater dynamics. While the high resolution isn’t fully utilized, it provides a more detailed and precise rendering than the Atmos version, which uses lossy Dolby Digital Plus compression but focuses more on immersive spatialization.

Rating:

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

This performance recorded in the prestigious Czech capital offers you a tailored listening experience, adapted to your audiophile demands. Two options are available to you: on one hand, a high-resolution stereo version that prioritizes fidelity and precision in sound reproduction with its lossless format; on the other hand, an immersive Dolby Atmos version that recreates the concert hall atmosphere. For those seeking a complete experience, the Blu-ray edition, although we haven’t yet had the opportunity to evaluate it, promises to combine the best of both worlds: captured images of the performance accompanied by a Dolby Atmos audio track encoded in Dolby TrueHD without any compression, thus guaranteeing dynamic, precise and spatial sound reproduction.

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 Dolby Atmos	Tidal MAX
Global	DR15	DR11
Min	DR12	DR9
Max	DR17	DR14
1. Introduction (Live From Prague May 2023)	DR14	DR14
2. Comfortably Numb (Live From Prague May 2023)	DR14	DR11
3. The Happiest Days of Our Lives (Live From Prague May 2023)	DR14	DR10
4. Another Brick in the Wall, Pt. 2 (Live From Prague May 2023)	DR13	DR11
5. Another Brick in the Wall, Pt. 3 (Live From Prague May 2023)	DR12	DR10
6. The Powers That Be (Live From Prague May 2023)	DR16	DR10
7. The Bravery of Being Out of Range (Live From Prague May 2023)	DR16	DR11
8. The Bar Part 1 (Live From Prague May 2023)	DR15	DR12
9. Have a Cigar (Live From Prague May 2023)	DR15	DR10
10. Wish You Were Here (Live From Prague May 2023)	DR13	DR12
11. Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Live From Prague May 2023)	DR15	DR10
12. Sheep (Live From Prague May 2023)	DR15	DR10
13. In the Flesh (Live From Prague May 2023)	DR15	DR9
14. Run Like Hell (Live From Prague May 2023)	DR15	DR10
16. Is This the Life We Really Want (Live From Prague May 2023)	DR16	DR11
17. Money (Live From Prague May 2023)	DR17	DR10
18. Us and Them (Live From Prague May 2023)	DR15	DR9
19. Any Colour You Like (Live From Prague May 2023)	DR12	DR9
20. Brain Damage (Live From Prague May 2023)	DR13	DR10
21. Eclipse (Live From Prague May 2023)	DR14	DR10
22. Two Suns in the Sunset (Live From Prague May 2023)	DR16	DR10
23. The Bar Part 2 (Live From Prague May 2023)	DR12	DR10
24. Outside the Wall (Live From Prague May 2023)	DR14	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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