The Atmos mix may sound fine with nothing else to compare it to. There's still hi-fi sound in a general sense in the slammed mastering. It clearly has the same damage as the dts ma and stereo streams though. If we didn't have the original raw mix delivered to us in the dd stream to compare to, there'd be no way to see this and call this with no uncertainty like we can here. It would just present as a front heavy so-so mix. Still hitting more or less "pro" fidelity marks.
The 7.1 core of the Atmos mis is distorted to high hell exactly like the other damaged streams. That 7.1 core comes right out of the file set on the disc. This is not a file that is derived and written to memory or hard drive on the fly - what would need to be the case for it to get damaged in some form of operator error. The height and object elements are what get folded down on Atmos setups with less than the full array of height and object channels. The 7.1 core remains static and is delivered on the disc.
The "mastered" (quotes denote opinion) mixes are a good 12db or so louder than the dd stream. Use and understanding of a volume control feature is required here.
I'm just repeating myself now. The evidence is right here in the disc. You can examine and listen to all this too. Volume control use is required. Probably a computer based media center too. There's little chance of working the audio streams intentionally with stand alone hardware and certainly no way to A/B two things with volumes matched.
Seeing some of the responses to this one (a recall candidate if there ever was one)...
Maybe I'll start mastering mixes to -7 LUFS and just call it a day. 8 bit should be fine too. Don't worry, I'll put the final master in LPCM or dts ma on a bluray so nobody notices.

It's frustrating to realize I could 100% get away with something like that and probably get good reviews!
This is messed up too because the actual mix that snuck out in the dd stream is aledigedly what everyone says they want! A nice warm full blooded mix with just an much oomph in the rears as the front. Nothing shrill or hyped sounding.