The album Side-Eye III+ marks a new step in the collaborative project of guitarist Pat Metheny. True to the spirit of the Side-Eye series, the record brings together a new generation of musicians around the guitarist to explore original compositions blending contemporary jazz, improvisation, and modern textures. The album alternates between intimate passages and more dynamic moments, carried by Metheny s characteristic melodic signature. This new release once again illustrates his desire to expand his musical universe while encouraging intergenerational collaborations.

For this review, you will find 2 versions tested:

• Ed 1: Tidal Dolby Atmos – 2026
• Ed 2: Tidal MAX – 2026

Below you will find the description of the different editions, as well as the measurements of each edition in the following chapters.

The synthesis of the review are available here

The album is composed of 8 tracks:

1. In On It
2. Don’t Look Down
3. Make a New World
4. Urban and Western
5. SE-O
6. Our Old Street
7. Risk and Reward
8. So Far, So Good

Summary, scoring and Samples

Ed 1: Tidal Dolby Atmos – 2026

Presentation

This is the Tidal Dolby Atmos presented in Dolby Digital Plus (768 kbits/s) or AC-4 (link).

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

Waveform and Spectrum: DR15

The waveform of the Tidal Dolby Atmos – 2026 shows a very high range confirmed with DR15.

The spectrogram of the Tidal Dolby Atmos track in 9.1.6 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 graph shows the 120Hz filtering of the bass channel (LFE).

The graph below represents the spectrum of the Tidal Dolby Atmos – 2026.
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

In this Dolby Atmos mix, the sound distribution is mainly focused on the front and side soundstage, which widens the image compared with the stereo version. The dynamics are fully preserved, although there is a slight loss of finesse due to the lossy Dolby Digital Plus encoding compared with the lossless stereo version. When listening in a 9.1.4 setup, it can also be observed that the guitar is primarily placed in the wide channels.

Rating:

• Dynamic: ●●●●● (5)
• Bandwidth: ●●●●o (4)
• Spatialization: ●●●●●●oooo (6)
• Restitution: ●●●oo (3.5)

Sample : Don’t You Want Me 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 : Don’t You Want Me Dolby Atmos (Downmixed 2.0) :

Ed 2: Tidal MAX – 2026

Presentation

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

Waveform and Spectrum: DR9

The waveform of the Tidal MAX – 2026 version shows a low dynamic range confirmed with DR9.

The spectrogram shows that the signal rises above 20 kHz with signal up to 30 kHz due to the 96 kHz sampling frequency.

The graph below represents the spectrum of the Tidal MAX – 2026.
The spectrogram shows that the signal up to 30 kHz (yellow arrow) with music signal due to the 96 kHz sampling frequency.

Synthesis and listening

The stereo edition delivers all the finesse of high resolution in the quietest passages, which are not affected by the use of the limiter that is heavily present throughout the album. As is often the case, however, one must turn to the Dolby Atmos version to experience the album s full dynamic range.

Rating:

• Dynamic: ●●ooo (2.5)
• Bandwidth: ●●●●● (5)
• Restitution: ●●●oo (3)

Sample : Don’t You Want Me 24 bits 96 kHz:

This new album unfortunately does not escape the loudness war. Although the compression is not as extreme as on many pop productions, it is regrettable that this genre is also affected by reduced dynamic range, especially when a 24-bit / 96 kHz version is available. To experience the full dynamics, one must once again turn to the Dolby Atmos version which, in addition to improved dynamics, offers a wider soundstage that enhances immersion among the musicians. It is also unfortunate that a lossless Atmos version encoded in Dolby TrueHD is not available, as it would have preserved all the finesse of the stereo PCM tracks.

Dynamic Range measurements and spectra are shown below.

Subscribe to MagicVinylDigital

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

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 – 2026	Tidal MAX – 2026
Global	DR15	DR9
Min	DR13	DR7
Max	DR16	DR12
In On It	DR16	DR08
Don’t Look Down	DR16	DR08
Make a New World	DR14	DR07
Urban and Western	DR15	DR09
SE-O	DR14	DR08
Our Old Street	DR15	DR12
Risk and Reward	DR15	DR09
So Far, So Good	DR13	DR10

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.

---