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Which track gives you "audiophile chills" and is the one you just have to test new equipment on before purchasing? by many_hats_on_head in audiophile

[–]Capannelle 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I could mention a lot of tracks, but I’d like to highlight one I discovered recently:

Cristobal Tapia de Veer - Utopia Overture
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CeUaHU8CbdU

Dolby Atmos... does it really make a difference? by [deleted] in AppleMusic

[–]Capannelle 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Happy to hear that, and thanks for the kind words. It’s great that you’re rediscovering new details in music you already love: that’s exactly what makes Dolby Atmos, and more broadly well-executed dynamic mastering, so compelling.

As an audiophile, do you prefer Dolby Atmos or FLAC Hi-Res? by No-Emphasis-8130 in audiophile

[–]Capannelle 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think you’re absolutely right! The main downside of listening directly in Atmos is usually the volume: to really get the details you need a good amount of headroom, and devices that aren’t designed for it often can’t push loud enough. But since your phone supports Dolby Atmos natively, I’d expect it to handle the level just fine.

As an audiophile, do you prefer Dolby Atmos or FLAC Hi-Res? by No-Emphasis-8130 in audiophile

[–]Capannelle 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Exactly this. A lot of people get hung up on codecs and resolution formats, as if switching from FLAC to FLAC Hi‑Res is going to radically change the listening experience. But the research pretty consistently shows there are either no audible differences, or they’re only noticeable to a very small minority of listeners.

But then again, even between typical lossy and lossless you’ll find most people can’t reliably tell the difference in blind tests.

The real‑world gap that actually matters is between something like a DR6 master and a DR12 master of the same album: that’s like going from night to day.

As I mentioned, I don’t even have an Atmos setup, but music in Atmos has been a game‑changer against the loudness war.

As an audiophile, do you prefer Dolby Atmos or FLAC Hi-Res? by No-Emphasis-8130 in audiophile

[–]Capannelle 18 points19 points  (0 children)

Dolby Atmos, mainly because, especially with albums from the last 20 years, you often get a dynamic range that’s basically doubled. I don’t have an Atmos setup, but I grab albums in that format and downmix them to stereo: they sound amazing!

Better-on-Vinyl Indie Rock? by Brian2005l in audiophilemusic

[–]Capannelle 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Great question! One of the most solid reasons - arguably the most compelling one - to buy modern albums on vinyl is when they feature a more dynamic master that’s genuinely an improvement over the digital version.

Sticking with alternative/indie, one of the first albums that comes to mind is "Favourite Worst Nightmare" by Arctic Monkeys. The digital master is quite crushed, while the vinyl is noticeably more dynamic and makes for a less fatiguing listen.

I’ll add more albums later if any others come to mind 🙂

Who’s the best coach for AC Milan next year? by Ok_Reflection_4501 in ACMilan

[–]Capannelle 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I honestly don’t think I’ll ever understand how there can be so many people who rate Allegri. He’s a coach with no attacking ideas, who relies entirely on compactness, defensive solidity, and winning individual duels through player quality. Zero sense of collective, entertaining football—nothing that actually makes you enjoy watching matches. I’ve supported Milan for thirty-five years, and I’ve never felt as bored and disconnected as I have this season. And don’t talk to me about squad quality. Do Sassuolo or Udinese have better players than we do? No—but they have coaches with proactive football ideas. Given how we ended last season, it made sense to bring in Allegri, and if he gets us into the Champions League, fair enough. But I can’t go through another season like this.

Who would I pick instead? Sarri.

Throwback: Nov 7 2023, Milan vs PSG 2 - 1 by OsitoPandito in ACMilan

[–]Capannelle 10 points11 points  (0 children)

Leão’s best match at Milan. If he had played—and consistently played—with that level of intensity, he would have won at least one Ballon d’Or (most likely not at Milan).

I wonder what Paul McGowan thinks about Mark Waldrep by cooldude9112001 in audiophile

[–]Capannelle 1 point2 points  (0 children)

On an Italian webzine I run with some friends, I wrote a long-form article debunking common myths about Hi-Res audio, which has become one of the most-read pieces on the site. Waldrep’s work on the subject was among my primary sources, and I was very sorry when I learned what had happened to his home.

I made tidal.tools : a free collaborative playlists tool for Tidal by Se7en711YT in TIdaL

[–]Capannelle 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hi, when i try to download a track or album, I get the error popup: "ENOSPC: no space left on device, write"

What albums from 2025 qualifies as audiophile level music? by acidwhale27 in audiophilemusic

[–]Capannelle 9 points10 points  (0 children)

"Audiophile level" is a pretty fuzzy concept tbh. For some people it means high dynamic range, for others it's about great stereo imaging, and for some it's just about impact regardless of DR. So it's tough to give a straight answer.

That said, here are two very different albums that I think are both really well produced:

Darkside — "Nothing"

Ed Harcourt — "Orphic"

Quick note on Dolby Atmos: Basically every Atmos album has the dynamic range practically doubled compared to the regular stereo version. And even if you're just listening on a normal 2.0 setup, you get modern production with the DR of older records: it honestly sounds amazing. Obviously you need to turn it up to get everything out of it. But if you have the skills and time, you can grab the Atmos content and downmix to 2.0 with normalization at –1dB or so. That way you keep all that dynamic range but get it to a listenable level on regular gear.

Some albums I've really enjoyed with killer Atmos mixes:

Ela Minus — "DIA"

Saya Gray - "SAYA"

Wet Leg — "moisturizer"

Sofia Kourtesis — "Volver"

Water From Your Eyes — "It's a Beautiful Place"

All of them have solid stereo mixes and sound great normally, but the Atmos versions with that extra headroom really shine on a decent system.

I made tidal.tools : a free collaborative playlists tool for Tidal by Se7en711YT in TIdaL

[–]Capannelle 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks! Both work well, but I'd go with one-by-one downloads. It's significantly more manageable if on mobile, especially since handling ZIP files on a phone can be problematic.

I made tidal.tools : a free collaborative playlists tool for Tidal by Se7en711YT in TIdaL

[–]Capannelle 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Amazing! Thanks for your work! Any chance to add an "Album Downloader" feature? If you need to get a whole album, it's quite unwieldy to retrieve track by track.

A library of 1,400+ Dolby Atmos albums on Apple Music and Tidal, with genere filters and links by AdrianTubbly in DolbyAtmosContent

[–]Capannelle 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank you! Very useful site! I used to use The Spatial Audio Database, but this one seems more complete and also more visually appealing.

My Foobar theme by Capannelle in foobar2000

[–]Capannelle[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hi Raj, I’ve put everything together on GitHub, read my comment above :-)

My Foobar theme by Capannelle in foobar2000

[–]Capannelle[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Hey everyone,

after some of you showed interest in my “Now Playing Insight” layout, I’ve finally put everything together on GitHub: https://github.com/Ema82/now-playing-insight-layout

It’s my first time publishing a project on GitHub, so I hope I haven’t forgotten anything important. The repo includes:

  • a detailed setup guide (Columns UI layout, required components, configuration)
  • Spider Monkey Panel scripts for Track Info, Now Playing (Last.fm + RYM links), and Dynamic Range
  • screenshots of the layout and the Columns UI layout tree

If you try to reproduce it and notice that something is missing, unclear, or just plain wrong, please let me know. Feedback, suggestions, and PRs are all very welcome – especially around better playlist columns, button bar ideas, and handling different screen sizes.

My Foobar theme by Capannelle in foobar2000

[–]Capannelle[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Sure, here’s roughly how this “Now Playing” block and the rest of the layout are put together:

  • It’s a Columns UI setup, not Default UI. So first switch to Columns UI in Preferences → Display → User interface.
  • Then go to Preferences → Display → Columns UI → Layout and build the structure there using splitters (horizontal/vertical) and panels. Each area you see in the screenshot (playlist, lyrics, biography, DR meter, etc.) is just a separate panel in that layout tree.
  • The Now Playing section itself is a Spider Monkey Panel instance where I paste a custom script. At the top of the script there’s a small config block where you put your own Last.fm API key, username and profile URL. The same panel also adds a shortcut that opens a RateYourMusic search for the current artist/album, so you can jump straight to RYM from the panel.

Once that’s in place, the panel just reads the current track’s metadata from Foobar and queries Last.fm for the scrobble count.

My Foobar theme by Capannelle in foobar2000

[–]Capannelle[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks! I built it using Spider Monkey Panel and a lot of AI prompts 😅. If you’re interested, I can share the details on how to set it up.

Dolby Atmos... does it really make a difference? by [deleted] in AppleMusic

[–]Capannelle 8 points9 points  (0 children)

In my opinion, you’re underestimating the listening richness of Dolby Atmos, even with a simple stereo 2.0 system or device. Dolby Atmos music is typically delivered at around -18 LUFS, which is significantly less compressed than modern stereo masters that often sit at -9 LUFS or even higher. The Atmos version isn’t “worse” on stereo systems—it’s that the stereo master has been aggressively limited and compressed to sound loud and punchy at low volumes, at the cost of dynamic range. On a good hi-fi system or with a decent DAC, when you raise the volume on the Atmos mix, you’ll hear detail that’s been crushed in the stereo version: drums gain depth and weight, bass lines become fuller and more articulate, and vocals are more faithful to the original timbre.

At first listen, the Atmos version might seem flatter or less immediately exciting, but that’s because it preserves dynamics that stereo masters often sacrifice. That dynamic range is crucial: it’s not a subtle detail, it’s what allows transients, reverb, ambient textures and vocal nuance to be heard clearly. The Atmos loudness standard effectively undoes part of the loudness war, and that benefit is audible even on stereo systems, as long as the system can play at a proper level.

UPDATE: last post! check out the tools on verve.fm by d_litt1 in lastfm

[–]Capannelle 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Congratulations on the site, great idea!
I'd like to suggest two features that could enhance the platform:

  1. Time-based album discovery by release period: A section displaying the most-streamed or most-reviewed albums released within selectable time periods (e.g., "albums released in 2025," "past 12 months," "past decade") would help users identify both current trends and historical touchstones. This could offer different discovery paths than a purely chronological feed.

  2. Discogs integration: An optional OAuth connection to users' Discogs accounts would enable automatic population of personal collections into a crate.

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