There is certainly some limiting and brickwalling at play here, but compared to the absolutely awful 24/192 stereo mastering it's a revelation. The surround mix is really good, the "some limiting" I'm referring to takes this to a DR10 from what would probably have been a DR12-DR14 without it so the reality is this is more dynamic than any Coldplay studio album to date including their debut, 1999's Parachutes.
Here's the DR log for the dts core:
foobar2000 1.3.2 / Dynamic Range Meter 1.1.1
log date: 2016-10-06 22:19:11
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Analyzed: Coldplay / A Head Full of Dreams Surround
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DR Peak RMS Duration Track
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DR9 -0.57 dB -13.27 dB 3:43 01-A Head Full Of Dreams
DR9 -0.65 dB -12.67 dB 3:49 02-Birds
DR9 -0.57 dB -13.27 dB 4:19 03-Hymn For The Weekend
DR10 -0.70 dB -12.75 dB 4:43 04-Everglow
DR10 -0.68 dB -11.55 dB 4:23 05-Adventure Of A Lifetime
DR10 -0.63 dB -13.76 dB 4:28 06-Fun
DR11 -3.53 dB -21.24 dB 1:51 07-Kaleidoscope
DR9 -0.55 dB -12.12 dB 6:17 08-Army Of One
DR8 -1.18 dB -11.30 dB 4:31 09-Amazing Day
DR9 -2.99 dB -22.52 dB 1:00 10-Colour Spectrum
DR10 -1.11 dB -15.34 dB 6:45 11-Up & Up
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Number of tracks: 11
Official DR value: DR10
Samplerate: 48000 Hz
Channels: 6
Bits per sample: 24
Bitrate: 6912 kbps
Codec: PCM
Here's a look at the front left and rights of track 1 compared to the stereo version, clipping turned off (it's VERY red throughout with it on)
View attachment 27430
OMG... :yikes
that is incredible..
just look how clipped that Stereo mastering is.. jeepers..!! (it must be super loud by comparison to the surround.. I didn't try the stereo tonight, why would I..? hehe.. )
...reminiscent of some of the SACDs of around 10 years ago where the Stereo was similarly smashed to oblivion while the 5.1 was lovely and dynamic..
reminded of the phrase;