There was post in a thread on this forum recently (can’t find it) where somebody (can’t remember who) said that the Atmos mix on this album found on the Blu Ray disc that came with the deluxe CD edition was a lot less hot and loud than the 24/96 version put out on streaming sites as well as the standard CD version and a much easier listen as a result. Well, whoever it was, thank you, you were indeed correct, it is a much nicer listen. I got the deluxe CD version yesterday and today I ripped the Atmos mix to 2 channel stereo 24/48 flac and it sounds great and much less hot than the 24/96 version.
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Interesting….might have to try that.
Out of interest, what are you using to rip BD and Atmos mixes with…?
Such a shame there’s not more decent audiophile centric BD players out there these days – I’d play a lot more of these Atmos mixes if so…I missed out on a Oppo, was always ‘going to get one’ then bang, they were discontinued…! And now they’re stupid money on the auction site….
It’s interesting more and more albums are released with Atmos mixes now, but I often wonder how they’re played in the majority of end user situations…Steven Wilson and the like may well pour their talent into these Atmos mixes, but I wonder how much is being ‘heard’ on $200 BD players and relatively low level surround systems that are primarily used for film watching……
Incidentally, I’m still waiting delivery of my Miles Showell Half Speed Master Vinyl edition of SOTLW, one would presume this may have ideal SQ…a lot of the vinyl versions seems to have been delayed in Oz….One further slight fly in the ointment is that I don’t have a f’ing turntable to play it on…! 
SC
I used MakeMKV to decrypt the blu ray and then DVD Audio Extractor to get the audio and that was fairly simple to do. It optionally converts the 7.1 channels to 2 channel stereo flac while it extracts the audio. This is on a Windows laptop, no idea what to do if you have a Mac. I also extracted the 24/96 flac from the blu ray so I’ll have a listen to that to see if it is any different to the version on streaming services. I’ve also got the 2xLP half speed master version and I do have a turntable to play it on 
That mix is quite hot and loud but it does sound good. The Atmos mix however is very quiet when extracted and converted, I needed to have the volume dial at 12 o’clock on the SN3 to make the most of it!
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Well I’ve had a good listen to the 24/96 flac BD rip vs Qobuz and I have to say I think the BD rip does sound better, it isn’t quite as hot as the Qobuz version and the vocals are a bit clearer. I also asked the good lady to do a blind listening test and she also preferred the BD rip.
It isn’t a night and day difference, it is quite subtle but definitely noticeable.
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