bamamusicfan
Member
Wondering if anyone has compaired a Tidal Atmos streamed cut to a Blu-ray Atmos of the same? Do you lose any fidelity while streaming?
Streaming Atmos: Do you lose any fidelity with a Tidal Atmos stream compared to a Blu-ray Atmos?
- Thread starter bamamusicfan
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I'm not sure if anyone wants to go down that rabbit hole.
Streaming Atmos is currently lossy while BD-A Atmos is lossless. So the same principles that apply to stereo music MP3s vs CD/HD downloads apply to Atmos.
In many case the phrase "good enough" comes to mind.
Check out the samples in these articles:
https://immersiveaudioalbum.com/open-letter-the-case-for-hi-res-dolby-atmos-digital-downloads/
https://immersiveaudioalbum.com/now-available-in-dolby-atmos-bruce-soords-luminescence/
https://immersiveaudioalbum.com/now...-queens-of-the-stone-ages-in-times-new-roman/
I agree that the samples prove that disc based format sounds better at least in the provided releases. However, how many times have you bought a disc and listened to it a few times? In those circumstances the streaming is good enough. Classics like Machine Head and the Joni box set benefit from physical release because you are likely to play them many times yet in your life. The other question is at the age most of us are, how many more discs can you financially justify purchasing? I know many people in their 80's that have gone back to just stereo because they can't be bothered anymore. You never know what is going to happen. My wife has already stated that it's in the trash with my collection if something happens to me. Anyway.....got slightly off topic.....
@jimfisheye has been working on a 24bit live Atmos mix recently and compared the Source vs. the TrueHD encode vs. Dolby EAC3 encode (lossy streaming Atmos):
The Atmos mlp (TrueHD) sounds like the master when I A/B. The lossy streaming version of Atmos is audibly damaged vs the master.
I quoted Jim as I trust his pro engineer hearing vs. my 67 yo ears.
The TrueHD Atmos encode is around 5000kbps vs. EAC3 JOC streaming Atmos at 768kbps. TrueHD is multiplexed into 8 channels, EAC JOC into 6 channels.
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depeche76
Senior Member
at least on my rig, a blu ray audio vs streaming is like night and day.......the volume level and clarity are uncompared
I’ve nearly gotten to that point where I’ve bought enough, bought more than I’m likely to listen to. But rather than go back to stereo I’ll go back to earlier surround discs I haven’t listened to enough yet. When you reach saturation you stop and enjoy where you’ve been, I would not drop 5.1 and quad because I’m no longer spending my retirement on silver discs. In fact I’m likely to make it a point to play one disc per day that has not been played in two years or more.
The other thing is I sell on Discogs with two different accounts, and outgoing thrift store CDs and LPs finds funds my new fancy deluxe and quad reissue purchases, I wonder just how long I’ll spend my extra cash on music rather than a trip to an exotic locale?
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Isn't this what really matters though? If you can't hear a difference does it really matter that the other one is better?
omnipotent1
Well-known Member
Of course streaming is worse,it's lossy.
The average Atmos stream file size for a MCH song is about 25-30 mb
The compression is pretty good but lets be real compare that to say the typical 200 mb for a MCH flac song
But a lot depends on your expectations and what kind of a system you listen on.
Plus sadly a lot of the Atmos streaming only mixes are pretty throw away the physical releases tend to have a lot more care put into the mix in my experience
The average Atmos stream file size for a MCH song is about 25-30 mb
The compression is pretty good but lets be real compare that to say the typical 200 mb for a MCH flac song
But a lot depends on your expectations and what kind of a system you listen on.
Plus sadly a lot of the Atmos streaming only mixes are pretty throw away the physical releases tend to have a lot more care put into the mix in my experience
I actually believe it does matter, but for different reasons.
I think the suits are watching to see if the can lose physical optical disc and just go with streaming so they no longer have to invest in physical media. Just my theory though.
They will go with whatever makes the most revenue.
jimfisheye
2K Club - QQ Super Nova
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I'm sensitive to generation loss. Probably why I like to do mastering and restoration work! You can easily get a 320k mp3 past me if I'm not critically paying attention. Maybe even then sometimes too! That mp3 with only 20% of the data is supposed to sound bad, right? (Put an unmastered mix to it with some peaks and dynamics and little bit lower level and it crashes and burns pretty hard though! But I digress.)
The damage you can do to digital audio and generational destruction and still be none the wiser at the end. We've really come a long way!
Yet when I hear the lossy Atmos it makes me say "What the heck?!" out loud. Has a shrill quality as well. This is like low bitrate mp3 and reduces surround to novelty. About the only thing worse would be the thousands of volume war mastered stereo CD editions out in the wild. Makes the streaming Atmos sound darn right high falootin! So I don't know...
Also the data set. Have I only heard outliers? Could be!
I know I don't like the grifting with the decoder and strong arming hardware sales and then the reward is low bit mp3 sound. That makes me say "What the heck?!" out loud too! I'll say it again. Fidelity first! Then more channels. Hi-fi mono can be more immersive than novelty surround.
Exactly.
Owen Smith
1K Club - QQ Shooting Star
768kbps is too low for that number of channels. If they'd double the bit rate I think it would sound a lot better and probably be indistinguishable from the lossless to most people. What they're currently using is akin to 128kbps MP3.
bamamusicfan
Member
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bamamusicfan
Member
After listening to a good bit of Atmos on Tidal, I've come to the conclusion that if I really like the album and it's recorded well in Atmos, I'll usually buy the disk. If I'm a casual fan of the album, Atmos from Tidal is probably all I'll care about.
But if one can indeed hear a difference then it does matter. Let's face it, the first experience of hearing a familiar stereo recording re-birthed as well done multichannel release can be breathtaking, even in low resolution. Then the initial veneration settles and we begin to notice the warts, especially when compared to the high resolution version.
I can hear the difference at high volume. I just figured a pro engineer’s opinion may be valued more than mine.
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