After taking us into the ocean depths with the legendary soundtrack of Le Grand Bleu (The Big Blue), Éric Serra shifts horizons and now propels us toward the stars. The first two tracks from his upcoming album “SPACE PROJEKT U.M.O.”, scheduled for release on 16 January 2026, already reveal a soundscape firmly oriented toward space, blending exploration, mystery, and contemplation. For this ambitious project, Éric Serra delivers a truly cosmic musical creation. He thus brings to life the intentions mentioned in his recent interview: a composition conceived from the start for spatial audio, enhanced by a Dolby Atmos mix to offer total immersion, while also providing a stereo version available in digital format and on vinyl (available upon the album’s release).
For this review, you will find 2 versions tested:
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 2 tracks:
- Astronaut
- Soyooz Night
Summary, scoring and Samples
Ed 1: Tidal Dolby Atmos – 2025
Presentation
This is the Tidal Dolby Atmos presented in Dolby Digital Plus (768 kbits/s) or AC-4 (link).
Spatialization:
The spatialization of Tidal Dolby Atmos – 2025 version varies from track to track, with values between 6.5 and 7.1.
Spatialization : ●●●●●●●ooo (6.8)
Below the spatialization for all tracks. Click on the images to zoom in.
Below the video spatialization for “Astronaut” in 9.1.6:
Waveform and Spectrum: DR14
The waveform of the Tidal Dolby Atmos – 2025 shows a high range confirmed with DR14.
The spectrogram of the Tidal Dolby Atmos track in 7.1.4 is limited to 20kHz with no signal above . 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 spectrogram shows the 120Hz filtering of the bass channel (LFE).
The graph below represents the spectrum of the Tidal Dolby Atmos – 2025.
The spectrum of Dolby Atmos version decoded in 7.1 shows that all channels are used. 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
Dolby Atmos is the perfect format to experience this album: for space-inspired music, nothing beats immersive spatial audio. The music surrounds us completely, filling the soundscape with a precise spatial distribution of sounds. Soyooz Night is particularly illustrative of this effect, enhanced by deep bass that adds a physical dimension to the experience.
Rating:
- Dynamic: ●●●●o (4.5)
- Bandwidth: ●●●●o (4)
- Spatialization: ●●●●●●●ooo (6.8)
- Restitution: ●●●●o (4)
Sample : Astronaut 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.
Ed 2: Tidal Max – 2025
Presentation
This is the Tidal Max version presentetd in 24 bits 44.1 kHz (link).
Waveform and Spectrum: DR9
The waveform of the Tidal Max – 2025 version shows a low dynamic range confirmed with DR8.
The spectrogram shows that the signal rises to 22kHz with no signal above this frequency (white arrow) due to the 44.1kHz sampling frequency.
The graph below represents the spectrum of the Tidal Max – 2025.
The maximum frequency of the spectrum is 22 kHz, which results from the 44.1 kHz sampling rate used. Significant peaks can be seen in the low-frequency range, particularly around 30 Hz (green arrow).
Synthesis and listening
Even though the stereo version provides a wide soundstage, it cannot match the Dolby Atmos version in terms of spatialization and dynamics.
Rating:
- Dynamic: ●●ooo (2.5)
- Bandwidth: ●●●●o (4)
- Restitution: ●●●oo (3.5)
Sample : Astronaut 24 bits 44.1 kHz:
When listening, Éric Serra brilliantly takes off into space with these first two tracks, immersing us in a finely crafted 360-degree sound universe. Every detail and texture seems to float around the listener, creating a true sensation of weightlessness. To fully appreciate the depth and enjoy the immersive experience, I highly recommend listening on a Dolby Atmos system (7.1.4 or higher).
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 – 2025 | Tidal Max – 2025 | |
| Global | DR14 (-17,1) | DR9 (-13,5) |
| Min | DR14 (-15,6) | DR8 (-11,0) |
| Max | DR14 (-18,6) | DR9 (-15,9) |
| Astronaut | DR14 (-15,6) | DR08 (-11,1) |
| Soyooz Night | DR14 (-18,6) | DR09 (-15,8) |
DR (LUFS Integrated ajusted for True Peak at -1 dB)
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 :
- Significant dynamic compression, DR less than 7
- Compression of the present dynamics, DR between 7 and 9.
- Correct piece DR >=10
- No dynamic compression (DR >12), dynamic rendering
- No dynamic compression, high DR and very dynamic sound rendering
- Spectrum :
- Spectrum cut and less than 15 khz
- Spectrum cut at 15 khz
- Spectrum not conforming to the original and cut (not HD) or original but limited bandwidth (but less than 20 kHz)
- Spectrum conforming to the original (but not HD)
- Spectrum conforming to the original with HD resolution (higher than 24kHz)
- Surface noise (only for vinyl):
- Continuous audible noise
- Audible surface noise except on passages with a high level of noise
- Reduced surface noise, barely audible on low level crossings
- Low surface noise, very good quality
- 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 :
- Low quality of the restitution mixing dynamics, clarity, separation of voices and instruments.
- Average quality of the restitution mixing dynamics, clarity, separation of voices and instruments.
- Quality of the restitution mixing dynamics, clarity, separation of voices and instruments. Good record.
- High quality of the restitution mixing dynamics, clarity, separation of voices and instruments. Very high level disc.
- Maximum quality of the restitution mixing dynamics, clarity, separation of voices and instruments. Exceptional disc.