Modern tools like AI may be controversial, but in the case of this album Rubber Soul, it’s a production tool that will simply make it possible to separate the instruments and vocals, it has the ability to perfectly separate the vocals and instruments to provide separate audio tracks, allowing the sound engineer to remix as if he had multitrack tapes with each vocal and instrument on a dedicated track. This is a technique that has already been used for other Beatles songs.
Based on these elements, two mixes were created: a stereo version and a Dolby Atmos version. Do these mixes live up to the album and its modernized version?
That’s what I invite you to discover in this review.

For this review, you will find 3 versions tested:

• Ed 1: Remastered – 2009
• Ed 2: Mix – 2026
• Ed 3: Dolby Atmos – 2026

Other reviews of The Beatles :

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 14 tracks:

1. Drive My Car
2. Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)
3. You Won’t See Me
4. Nowhere Man
5. Think For Yourself
6. The Word
7. Michelle
8. What Goes On
9. Girl
10. I’m Looking Through You
11. In My Life
12. Wait
13. If I Needed Someone
14. Run For Your Life

Summary, scoring and Samples

Ed 1: Remastered – 2009

Presentation

This is the Tidal remastered vesion in 2009 presented in lossless 16 bits 44.1 kHz format. This is also available on Amazon Music an Apple Music.

Waveform and Spectrum: DR11

The waveform of the Remastered – 2009 version shows a good dynamic range confirmed with DR11.

The spectrogram shows that the signal rises to 22 kHz with no signal above this frequency due to the 44.1 kHz sampling frequency.

The graph below compares the spectrum of the Mix – 2026 (white curve) with the spectrum of the Remastered – 2009 (blue curve).The curves of the two spectra are very similar from 300 Hz to 20 kHz. Between 150 Hz and 400 Hz (white area), the 2006 remastered version has a higher level (up to 5 dB). Below 100 Hz, the 2026 remixed version has a higher bass level, with a difference of up to 10 dB.
These changes below 400 Hz will alter the perception of the bass between the two versions, with the 2026 mix offering a more modern low frequency balance.

Synthesis and listening

This version is interesting because it is based on the original stereo mix and will serve as a reference for the other versions. In fact, for this version, it would be more accurate to refer to it as double mono rather than true stereo, since the instruments and vocals are positioned on the right or left, it is not a mix that creates a front-focused soundstage like those found in modern mixes.

Rating:

• Dynamic: ●●●oo (3.5)
• Bandwidth: ●●●●o (4)
• Restitution: ●●●oo (3)

Ed 2: Mix – 2026

Presentation

This is the Tidal remixed vesion in 2026 presented in lossless 24 bits 96 kHz format. This is also available on Amazon Music an Apple Music. The bonus tracks on the album are not analyzed.

Waveform and Spectrum: DR10

The waveform of the Mix – 2026 version shows a correct dynamic range confirmed with DR10.

The spectrogram shows that the signal rises to 48 kHz with no signal above this frequency due to the 96 kHz sampling frequency.

The graph below compares the spectrum of the Mix – 2026 (white curve) with the spectrum of the Remastered – 2009 (blue curve).The curves of the two spectra are very similar from 300 Hz to 20 kHz. Between 150 Hz and 400 Hz (white area), the 2006 remastered version has a higher level (up to 5 dB). Below 100 Hz, the 2026 remixed version has a higher bass level, with a difference of up to 10 dB.
These changes below 400 Hz will alter the perception of the bass between the two versions, with the 2026 mix offering a more modern low fraquency balance.

Synthesis and listening

Using AI that allows us to separate vocals and instruments. We use AI as a demixing tool, not to generate new sounds. It s possible to remix a track as if we had a multitrack recording with the vocals and instruments separated (a technique that wasn’t available when the album was made).
The new mix follows current mixing conventions for this type of music. Consequently, the vocals are centered rather than on the right, with the backing vocals behind the lead vocals and positioned on the left.
However, the placement of certain instruments has been retained to stay true to the spirit of the original mix.
It s a resounding success that allows listeners to rediscover the album with a cleaner, more detailed sound, a realistic soundstage that perfectly highlights the vocals, and a boosted bass level to provide better bass balance while preserving the Beatles signature sound.
It’s a true success and the best edition for anyone who wants to discover or rediscover this album in stereo.

Rating:

• Dynamic: ●●●oo (3)
• Bandwidth: ●●●●● (5)
• Restitution: ●●●●o (4)

Ed 3: Dolby Atmos – 2026

Presentation

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

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

Waveform and Spectrum: DR13

The waveform of the Dolby Atmos – 2026 shows a high range confirmed with DR13.

The spectrogram of the Tidal Dolby Atmos track in 9.1.6 is limited to 20 kHz , with no signal beyond that point .
This limitation comes from Dolby Digital Plus compression, which uses lossy encoding to reduce bandwidth and fit a 768 kbps bitrate.
The LFE channel is filtrered at 120 Hz with a low-pass filter.

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

Synthesis and listening

The first thing that struck me when listening to the Dolby Atmos version was the precision and detail of the vocals and instruments.
In fact, I listened to the original mix, then the new stereo mix, which offers an improvement in terms of the coherence of the soundstage.
And when I switched to Atmos, I wondered how it would sound. The Atmos mix expands the soundstage, but it wasn’t the spatialization that impressed me the most, because, although it s more pronounced than in stereo, it’s still relatively restrained for Atmos, it was above all the precision of the instruments and vocals, that ability to distinguish everything as if the instruments and singers were right in front of us. There are also occasional instruments placed in the surround channels or overhead, but fortunately, this is only sporadic, and I don’t think it was necessary on this album.
Following U2 (link)’s use of Dolby Atmos mixing to immerse us differently in a track depending on its sections, the mix on this album perfectly highlights all the instruments and vocals, resulting in a sound that’s even more precise and detailed than the new stereo mix.
These two albums clearly demonstrate the evolution of Dolby Atmos mixing, whether to enhance the musical experience or to bring out every detail of an album.

Rating:

• Dynamic: ●●●●o (4)
• Bandwidth: ●●●●o (4)
• Spatialization SP: ●●●ooooooo (3.6)
• Spatialization SK: ●●●●oooooo (4)
• Restitution: ●●●●o (4)

The new mixes of Rubber Soul, whether in stereo or Dolby Atmos, are a remarkable restoration success. We rediscover this album through a modern mix that only enhances the original music by bringing greater coherence, detail, and precision to the vocals and instruments. Both versions are highly recommended, and for the Atmos version, it’s best enjoyed on a 7.1.4 system.
The Blu-ray will bring even greater precision to the Dolby Atmos version thanks to the lossless Dolby Digital TrueHD encoding.

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

	Remastered – 2009	Mix – 2026	Dolby Atmos – 2026
Global	DR11	DR10	DR13
Min	DR10	DR9	DR11
Max	DR12	DR12	DR15
Drive My Car	DR10	DR10	DR12
Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)	DR11	DR11	DR12
You Won’t See Me	DR10	DR10	DR12
Nowhere Man	DR10	DR10	DR13
Think For Yourself	DR10	DR10	DR13
The Word	DR10	DR10	DR14
Michelle	DR11	DR10	DR11
What Goes On	DR11	DR10	DR11
Girl	DR12	DR12	DR15
I’m Looking Through You	DR11	DR10	DR14
In My Life	DR11	DR12	DR14
Wait	DR11	DR10	DR15
If I Needed Someone	DR10	DR09	DR12
Run For Your Life	DR10	DR10	DR13

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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