BlahBlahCafe - Jean-Michel Jarre forum

I've seen all the discography sites but no one really describes which release is the best one for a particular album. For example with Oxygene which one is the best CD recording (In terms of sound quality, were the track breaks are, warmth of sound etc.)???:


OXYGENE

Germany Polydor 800 015-2
France MCO1000 / 824746-2
France (gold Border) 824746-2
England Millenium Ed. MILLEN9 / 495221-2
England HMV C881-3 / 800015-2
USA Mobile Fidelity UDCD613
Japanese P28P20167



EQUINOXE

Germany Polydor 800025-2
France 824747-2
France (gold Border) 824747-2
Austria Dig. Remaster 487376-2
USA Mobile Fidelity UDCD647
Japanese P28P20168



ZOOLOOK

Germany Polydor 823763-2
France DCO2002 / 824750-2
France (gold Border) 824750-2
Austria Dig. Remaster 488140-2
Japanese P28P20170



Just for a start...

:~D

moviemaker wrote:I've seen all the discography sites but no one really describes which release is the best one for a particular album. For example with Oxygene which one is the best CD recording (In terms of sound quality, were the track breaks are, warmth of sound etc.)???:

IMHO, the MFSL releases - Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab (Oxygene and Equinoxe) altough Sony's remasters are sharper and more detailed, they sound colder and less poetic/impressionist, it's a master of taste.

Kind Regards,
AMR
http://www.alvaromrocha.com

Part 4 Chronologie on the Sony remastered album is pitched differently?????If it was recorded from Analog tape then fair enough discrepancies in tape speed could cause it, or it could be adjusted by the master/Tape operator at the Mastering source.....
but when its digitally mastered from original??????when the Jarre Original Chronologie part 4 on the album is correct pitch!!!!!!!

...I dont care for CD mastering quality differences,when i listen to a cd i expect to hear crystal clear detailing,not warmth if i want to hear warmth I'll dig out the Vinyl,when everything is digitised it loses what i regard the term or definition of "warmth"
CD reproduction audio and equipment are free from imperfections so it removes any such term...

You can pass a CD via an Analog Tube to give it warmth,but the end product you hear is still Digital audio...
You can even hear audio difference's between Vinyls too,I have at least 12 copies of Oxygene on Vinyl and can hear quality miniscule dispcrepancies between audio levels and detailing on certain copies and thats not down to useage over the years either..

theres also an Audioable clipping/Distortion on the Equinoxe CD(part 3) in the Laser years Box set which has been rectified on other CDs releases

Equin(00)xe wrote:Part 4 Chronologie on the Sony remastered album is pitched differently?????If it was recorded from Analog tape then fair enough discrepancies in tape speed could cause it, or it could be adjusted by the master/Tape operator at the Mastering source.....
but when its digitally mastered from original??????when the Jarre Original Chronologie part 4 on the album is correct pitch!!!!!!!

...I dont care for CD mastering quality differences,when i listen to a cd i expect to hear crystal clear detailing,not warmth if i want to hear warmth I'll dig out the Vinyl,when everything is digitised it loses what i regard the term or definition of "warmth"
CD reproduction audio and equipment are free from imperfections so it removes any such term...

You can pass a CD via an Analog Tube to give it warmth,but the end product you hear is still Digital audio...
You can even hear audio difference's between Vinyls too,I have at least 12 copies of Oxygene on Vinyl and can hear quality miniscule dispcrepancies between audio levels and detailing on certain copies and thats not down to useage over the years either..

theres also an Audioable clipping/Distortion on the Equinoxe CD(part 3) in the Laser years Box set which has been rectified on other CDs releases

Don't know if this an answer to my own post but,

I've said it several times and I say it again, I find the ORIGINAL Chronologie one of the best pearls of audio engineering I've ever heard and without doubt the best Jarre mastered album (and I repeat: the ORIGINAL).

As for "warmth", I believe it exists in MFSL because they used state of the art converters to convert the original master to digital, with no artifacts or digital trickery - so it's "digital" and it's warm.

Sony however did some re-EQuing and dithering, so things got better, but diferent - the remaster has detail from the 96khz bandwidth and 24 bits dinamics, dithered/resampled down to 44.1 khz (that may explain pitch problems? - sloppy work) and 16 bits. I believe, and given the year it was done, "warmth" was lost due to the digital resampling and dithering, that would not happen today, the algorythms of resampling and dithering are way more advanced and don't remove "warth", which happened in earlier days because the sofware induced phase shifts that enhanced high-frequencies - which is made worst when compressing it to mp3...

Jarre would do good in either releasing the 24/96 remasters in 24/96 resolution or, resample/redither'em with today's linear-phase and advanced resolution interpolated resampling software - keeps the original warmth, which is not added by vynil, it was removed by limited maths of older algorytmhs and resources.

Kind Regards,
AMR
http://www.alvaromrocha.com

Thanks for the excellent explanation.

So what is considered the "Original" CD release of CHRONOLOGIE?

England 519373-2
France FDM36152-2
Germany EPC 487379-2

or this one that I own:

JMP010




:~D

Just a short question. Geometry Of Love is a newer one, but I have heard people talk about original versions. What is this? I have only discovered one release on CLUBMIX's site.

moviemaker wrote:Thanks for the excellent explanation.

So what is considered the "Original" CD release of CHRONOLOGIE?

England 519373-2
France FDM36152-2
Germany EPC 487379-2

or this one that I own:

JMP010




:~D

I'd say the one that does not have "24bits 96khz remaster" on it...

Kind Regards,
AMR
http://www.alvaromrocha.com

As others said, it's partially a matter of taste. Personally I'd say the Polydors are the best, at least most accurate. Except when there's an MFSL available, these are the most accurate and detailed masters. The Sony remasters are known to have mastering errors such as reversed stereo (equinoxe!!), different pitches (chronologie!) etc. They also sound more detailed BUT colder to me. The French MCO and Japanese releases you are mentioning are the same as Polydor. The gold bordered CDs are the remasters done in 1991 by Dreyfus. There's only one word to describe them and that's CRAP. I've even found dropouts on them!!

So:
Oxygene: USA Mobile Fidelity UDCD613 or Germany Polydor 800 015-2
Equinoxe: USA Mobile Fidelity UDCD647 or Germany Polydor 800025-2
Zoolook: Germany Polydor 823763-2

NB: I'm not an expert on this one

moviemaker wrote:Thanks for the excellent explanation.

So what is considered the "Original" CD release of CHRONOLOGIE?

FDM 36152-2

or this one that I own:

JMP010


:~D

That's a very rare one!!

Synthesist wrote:Just a short question. Geometry Of Love is a newer one, but I have heard people talk about original versions. What is this? I have only discovered one release on CLUBMIX's site.

There's two releases. One promo in cardboard sleeve that was exclusively given away at the VIP room during and after the pre-launch party, and the regular release in digipack.

The best are the ones you buy on the day of release!

AnDrOiD wrote:The best are the ones you buy on the day of release!

I have to build myself a time machine.

I know one thing... MFSL rocks

radek tymecki wrote:I know one thing... MFSL rocks

Definately!! I think another MFSL remaster was in the planning but never made it...

moviemaker wrote:I've seen all the discography sites but no one really describes which release is the best one for a particular album. For example with Oxygene which one is the best CD recording (In terms of sound quality, were the track breaks are, warmth of sound etc.)???:


OXYGENE

Germany Polydor 800 015-2
France MCO1000 / 824746-2
France (gold Border) 824746-2
England Millenium Ed. MILLEN9 / 495221-2
England HMV C881-3 / 800015-2
USA Mobile Fidelity UDCD613
Japanese P28P20167



EQUINOXE

Germany Polydor 800025-2
France 824747-2
France (gold Border) 824747-2
Austria Dig. Remaster 487376-2
USA Mobile Fidelity UDCD647
Japanese P28P20168



ZOOLOOK

Germany Polydor 823763-2
France DCO2002 / 824750-2
France (gold Border) 824750-2
Austria Dig. Remaster 488140-2
Japanese P28P20170



Just for a start...

:~D

I've never heard the Japanese ones, but they should be good. All Japanese remasters usually features amazing sound quality

Those Japanese ones are the same as the Polydors. Just like I said in my first post.

I've always heard that the Japanese master CDs much better than anyone else so maybe they are even better than the polydor Euro release???

:~D