Spider-Man: Brand New Day is undoubtedly one of the hits of summer 2026 (along with The Odyssey). Let s take a closer look at the film’s score, composed by Michael Giacchino, who is also known for his highly melodic scores for films such as The Incredibles, Ratatouille, Up, Jurassic World, The Batman, and the three previous Spider-Man films starring Tom Holland.
The music was recorded with an 85 piece orchestra at Abbey Road Studios in London. The team included Kirsty Whalley, Peter Cobbin as recording engineer, and Warren Brown as mixing engineer.

Will the quality of the music album’s releases live up to the film’s success, or will it be affected by the loudness war like the stereo version of The Odyssey? That’s what I invite you to find out.

For this review, you will find 2 versions tested:

• Ed 1: Tidal MAX – 2026
• Ed 2: Apple Dolby Atmos – 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 26 tracks:

1. Web Letter Days
2. A Good Day to Dive
3. Possession is Nine-Tenths of the Brawl
4. What’s Your Damage Control
5. The Metzger Set
6. Ned Man Walking
7. Quick as a Flashback
8. Peter’s Walk of Shame
9. Settling Old Scorpions
10. Strong First Expressions
11. The Speed of Thought
12. Come Fly With Me
13. Kiss of the Spider-Man
14. Always Hulking About
15. Damage Control to Major Bomb
16. The Morning Aftermath
17. Mask Me No More Questions
18. Big Sister Energy
19. A Brave Neural World
20. To the V-Max
21. Fight the Hand That Bleeds You
22. I Spider With My Little Eye
23. Mi Cabeza, Su Cabeza
24. Say Hero to My Little Friend
25. Better Off Ned
26. Suite New Day

Summary, scoring and Samples

Ed 1: Tidal MAX – 2026

Presentation

This is the Tidal MAX presented in lossless 24 bits 96 kHz format. This is also available on Amazon Music and Apple Music.

Waveform and Spectrum: DR11

The waveform of the Tidal MAX – 2026 version shows a good dynamic range confirmed with DR11.

The spectrogram shows that the signal rises up to 48 kHz due to the 96 kHz sampling frequency.

The graph below represents the spectrum of the Tidal MAX – 2026.
Spectrum analysis shows that this is indeed a high-resolution album that utilizes a 96 kHz sampling rate, as evidenced by the signal extending beyond 24 kHz up to 48 kHz, which is the upper limit. Note also the high signal level at 30 Hz on the curve for this track.

Synthesis and listening

What stands out compared to the Dolby Atmos version is the subtlety of the sound reproduction and the precision of the bass, which are slightly less pronounced than in the Dolby Atmos version. This is because the stereo version is a lossless format with high resolution (96 kHz), unlike Dolby Digital Plus lossy encoding, which limits the amount of information that can be preserved. The soundstage is very wide and offers a beautiful distribution of the music across the front stage, but without the more immersive experience of the Atmos version. If you prefer the finesse of the sound reproduction, this is the version to choose.

Rating:

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

Ed 2: Apple Dolby Atmos – 2026

Presentation

This is the Apple Music presented in Dolby Digital Plus at 768 kbits/s. This is also available on Amazon Music and Tidal.

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

Waveform and Spectrum: DR13

The waveform of the Apple Dolby Atmos – 2026 shows a high range confirmed with DR13. Only 12 channels are using, the dolby atmos mix is in 7.1.4 as show in the waveform’s graph (in 9.1.6). The Dolby Atmos downmixed in 2.0 have a DR12 (between DR9 and DR19).

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 bass channel (LFE)is filtering at 120 Hz.

Below is the new 3D rendering of the immersive simulation. This version 2.0 is an update to the previous version (1.5) that uses the same calculation method but features a display that includes a luminous representation of all the particles shown. This provides a better sense of the sound space and how sound moves through it.

The graph below represents the spectrum of the Apple 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

From the very first track, you’re immersed in the heart of the music, as if in a sound bubble, with the sound distributed across the various channels. The front channels remain dominant because they carry the richest information, including the bass with all its power and certain instruments, all reinforced by the LFE channel, which adds a bit more energy at the lower end of the spectrum. Strings, for example, are more prominent on the side and rear channels. The mix is presented in 7.1.4; on the track Suite New Day, the mix begins by using channels 7.1 before expanding to the overhead channels, which are also used for the other tracks. The goal is to offer an immersive soundtrack without overly demonstrative effects or excessive movement (with a slight exception like on Settling Old Scorpions, as shown in the YouTube REEL video), simply immersing us reasonably in the music as shown in the graphs, with a front-biased sound and a 180-degree spread depending on the instruments.

Rating:

• Dynamic: ●●●●o (4)
• Bandwidth: ●●●●o (4)
• Spatialization SP: ●●●●●●●●oo (8.1)
• Spatialization SK: ●●●●●ooooo (5)
• Restitution: ●●●●o (4)

The music in this film differs from that in The Odyssey in that it offers a stereo version that is similar to the Atmos version in terms of dynamics. You can therefore enjoy either version depending on your listening preferences; the stereo version offers a true high-resolution audio experience (24-bit, 96 kHz) with a more refined and defined sound, while the Dolby Atmos version provides a more immersive listening experience. It s a shame that there isn’t a Dolby TrueHD version available for streaming or a 7.1.4 version of this album on the website pureaudiostreaming.com.

Dynamic Range measurements and spectra 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 – 2026	Apple Dolby Atmos – 2026
Global	DR11	DR13
Min	DR8	DR9
Max	DR17	DR20
Web Letter Days	DR11	DR11
A Good Day to Dive	DR09	DR13
Possession is Nine-Tenths of the Brawl	DR10	DR14
What’s Your Damage Control	DR09	DR09
The Metzger Set	DR09	DR11
Ned Man Walking	DR10	DR11
Quick as a Flashback	DR11	DR11
Peter’s Walk of Shame	DR12	DR09
Settling Old Scorpions	DR09	DR13
Strong First Expressions	DR15	DR13
The Speed of Thought	DR11	DR14
Come Fly With Me	DR09	DR09
Kiss of the Spider-Man	DR12	DR15
Always Hulking About	DR09	DR13
Damage Control to Major Bomb	DR10	DR15
The Morning Aftermath	DR11	DR12
Mask Me No More Questions	DR17	DR14
Big Sister Energy	DR10	DR14
A Brave Neural World	DR09	DR12
To the V-Max	DR10	DR13
Fight the Hand That Bleeds You	DR10	DR13
I Spider With My Little Eye	DR08	DR12
Mi Cabeza, Su Cabeza	DR16	DR20
Say Hero to My Little Friend	DR10	DR12
Better Off Ned	DR11	DR11
Suite New Day	DR11	DR14

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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