The new single of Mylène Farmer, À tout jamais, was released on Friday 26 August 2022. It was released on September 30th on CD and vinyl with 4 additionnal remixed versions and the instrumental version.
The 6 versions are available on all platforms in stereo and also in 360 Reality Audio on Tidal, Deezer, Amazon and in Dolby Atmos on Apple Music.
This album was recorded (for the voice) and mixed by Jérôme Devoise. The mixes in Dolby Atmos and 360RA t were done in the DES studio by Jérôme and Poussin.

If you want to understand how the Dolby Atmos mixes are done, you can find all the informations in this report from Studio DES. The DES studio is now also equipped to mix in Sony 360 Reality Audio in addition to Dolby Atmos. The Sony 360 Reality Audio is also an Object format which allows to position the sounds in space like Dolby Atmos, the final result is encoded in MPEG-H for streaming.

We will review the Stereo Qobuz, CD, Vinyl, Tidal and 360RA Tidal versions.

Below you will find the description of the different editions, as well as the measurements of each edition in the following chapters.
The synthesis of the review and the samples are available here

This maxi single includes 6 tracks reviewed:

À tout jamais
À tout jamais (NPD’s Remix by Philip Larsen)
À tout jamais (D Remix – Distortion Remix by Vitalic)
À tout jamais (MM Remix – Master Manipulation Remix by Motherweshare)
Mylène Farmer – À tout jamais (CONTROL Remix by Fragrance)
À tout jamais (Instrumental Version)*

*only on digital release

Another review also available :

You can find the review of the album Histoires de on CD, vinyl and streaming here.

First we will analyze each edition in detail (technical and qualitative analysis), then we will compare the successive editions with their dynamics and assign a final score, and you will be able to listen some samples.

The streaming versions may evolve over time, those presented here correspond to the version tested at the date of publication, or update of the review.

Review of the editions:

Part 1: Presentation of the editions

Part 2 : Waveform and dynamique comparaison

Parts 3 : Spectrum comparisons

Part 4 : Spectrogram comparaisons

Part 5 : Spatialization

Part 5 : Summary, scoring and Sample

Part 1: presentation of the editions

Ed1: Qobuz Hi-Res – 2022

Presentation

This is the stereo version of the 6 tracks À tout jamais, the mastering was done in accordance with the studio’s request to provide a mix with a high sound level to match the other current production. For this purpose a dynamic range compression was applied and explains the measured value of the Dynamic Range.

Label	‎Sony
Reference	Qobuz Hi-Res
Format (speed)	Streaming
Type	Lossless 24 bits 48 kHz
Master	Digital
Mastering/Pressing	Vocals recorded and Mixed by Jérôme Devoise Mastering by Mike Marsh
Original recording	Digital
State	France
Year original	2022
Year production	2022

Ed2: Tidal 360 Reality Audio Binaural – 2022

Presentation

This is the 360 RA version of the 6 tracks À tout jamais. The mix was made from the multitracks used to mix the stereo version (without dynamics compression).

Label	‎Sony
Reference	Tidal 360 Reality Audio
Format (speed)	Streaming
Type	Streaming 360 RA (MPEG-H) with binaural listening on phones
Master	Digital
Mastering/Pressing	Mixed in 360 RA on Studio DES by Jérôme Devoise and Poussin
Original recording	Digital
State	France
Year original	2022
Year production	2022

Ed3: Vinyl ref : 196587400019 – 2022

Presentation

This is the stereo version of the 5 tracks À tout jamais (without the instrumental version), the mastering was done specificaly for the vinyl.

Label	‎Stuffed Monkey
Reference	196587400019
Format (speed)	Single 12 inch 33 1/3 RPM
Type	Single 12 inch
Master	Digital
Mastering/Pressing	Vocals recorded and Mixed by Jérôme Devoise Mastering by Mike Marsh
Original recording	Digital
State	France
Year original	2022
Year production	2022

Ed4: CD ref: 196587399924 – 2022

Presentation

Label	‎Stuffed Monkey
Reference	196587399924
Format (speed)	CD
Type	PCM 16 bits 44.1 kHz
Master	Digital
Mastering/Pressing	Vocals recorded and Mixed by Jérôme Devoise Mastering by Mike Marsh
Original recording	Digital
State	France
Year original	2022
Year production	2022

Ed5: Tidal Master – 2022

Presentation

Label	‎Sony
Reference	Tidal Master
Format (speed)	Streaming
Type	MQA 24 bits 48 kHz decoded by Audirvana in 24 bits 96 kHz
Master	Digital
Mastering/Pressing	Vocals recorded and Mixed by Jérôme Devoise Mastering by Mike Marsh
Original recording	Digital
State	France
Year original	2022
Year production	2022

Part 2 : Waveform and dynamic comparaisons

Waveform

The waveform represents the track.

The graphs below represents the waveforms of the 360RA binaural versions (Ed2).
This version is dynamic without the use of dynamic limiters as on the stereo digital editions.

The Qobuz Hi-Res (Ed1), CD (Ed4) and Tidal Master (Ed5) are strongly compressed in dynamic (yellow zone) as confirmed by its DR6.

The graph below represents the comparison between the CD, the vinyl and the binaural 360RA of the song “À tout jamais (NPD’s Remix by Philip Larsen)” adjusted to the same sound level. We can see the effect of the dynamic range compression which limits the sound levels, thus suppressing part of the signal. The dynamic range hierarchy highlights the 360RA version (DR14) then the vinyl (DR11) and the digital stereo versions (DR6).

Dynamic

Dynamic represents the ability to reproduce a wide range of sounds from the softest to the loudest. The target is to compare the dynamics of the music and not of the media (CD, digital files or vinyl).

For our 5 editions reviewed have obtained the following Dynamic Range (DR) :

	Ed1: Qobuz	Ed2: Tidal 360 Binaural	Ed3: Vinyl	Ed4: CD	Ed5: Tidal Master
GLOBAL	DR5	DR14	DR11	DR6	DR6
*Min*	*DR5*	*DR13*	*DR10*	*DR5*	*DR5*
*Max*	*DR7*	*DR16*	*DR12*	*DR7*	*DR7*
À tout jamais	DR6	DR14	DR11	DR6	DR6
À tout jamais (NPD’s Remix by Philip Larsen)	DR5	DR14	DR10	DR5	DR5
À tout jamais (D Remix – Distortion Remix by Vitalic)	DR5	DR16	DR11	DR6	DR6
À tout jamais (MM Remix – Master Manipulation Remix by Motherweshare)	DR6	DR14	DR12	DR6	DR6
Mylène Farmer – À tout jamais (CONTROL Remix by Fragrance)	DR5	DR13	DR10	DR5	DR5
À tout jamais (Instrumental Version)	DR7	DR13		DR7	DR7

We find the new hierarchy of modern recordings with the 360RA version which is the most dynamic (DR14) followed by the vinyl (DR11) and the digital stereo versions DR6).

As a reminder, the scale goes from 0 to more 20, but the dynamics are considered good from 12, quite good between 10 and 11, and deteriorate below 10.

Part 3 : spectrum comparisons

Spectrum

The Spectrum allows to check the tonal balance of the music (balance between treble, medium and bass sounds) and to detect process that may have been carried out during the recording, the mixing, mastering or manufacturing phases. It is also possible to detect frequency interference issues.

The curve represents the average frequency distribution over the sample of the track À tout jamais (NPD’s Remix by Philip Larsen).

The graph below shows the difference between the spectrum of the CD (Ed4) and the 360RA binaural version (Ed2). The two spectrums are very different, this is due to the difference in mixing and restitution between the stereo version and the 360RA Binaural version. The yellow arrow shows the 18.8 kHz limit for the 360RA binaural version, this is due to the MPEG-H encoding which reduces the high frequencies to allow for the smallest possible file size.

Spectrum Ed2 360 RA Binaural (White) vs Ed4 CD (Blue)

The graph below shows the difference between the spectrum of the CD (Ed4) and the vinyl (Ed3).
The two curves practically overlap over the whole spectrum, with a little less bass for the vinyl below 100 Hz (green zone) and a small attenuation above 15 kHz (yellow zone).
The yellow arrow shows the identical cutoff at 22 kHz representing the use of a digital master that is not in high resolution.

Spectrum Ed3 Vinyl (White) vs Ed4 CD (Blue)

The graph below shows the difference between the spectrum of the CD (Ed4) and Qobuz (Ed1).
The two curves are completely superimposed. The yellow arrow shows that the limit is 22 kHz for the CD and 24 kHz for the Qobuz version which has a 48 kHz sampling rate. We can see that this track has been reworked in 44.1 kHz.

Spectrum Ed1 Qobuz (White) vs Ed4 CD (Blue)

The graph below shows the difference between the spectrum of the Tidal Master (Ed5) and Qobuz (Ed1).
The curves of Ed1 Qobuz and Ed5 Tidal are perfectly identical up to 24 kHz.
Beyond 24 kHz, we find a signal for the Tidal version (red zone). Indeed, the decoding of the MQA is done at least in 96 kHz, even for a signal in 48 kHz as here.
The result is a signal above 24 kHz which remains very small. This is an aliasing phenomenon that occurs during decoding. It would have been simpler and more faithful to use a FLAC format without MQA for a resolution of 24 bits 48 kHz. You will find all the details here.

Spectrum Ed5 Tidal Master (White) vs Ed1 Qobuz (Blue)

Part 4 : Spectrogram comparaisons

Spectrogram

Spectrogram is another representation of frequency versus time of a track. For each channel (right and left), horizontal axis represents time, and the vertical axis represents frequency. The amplitude is represented by the intensity (brightness) of the color of each point in the image.

The spectrograms of Qobuz Hi-Res (Ed1) and CD (Ed2) show a limit at 24kHz (22 khz for CD) (yellow arrow) due to the 48 kHz (44.1kHz for CD) sampling frequency and the absence of signal above 24 kHz (22 kHz for CD) (white arrow).

The vinyl spectrogram rises above 22 kHz (yellow arrow), but as the white arrow shows, there is a signal above 24 kHz, as the digital master does not rise above 24 kHz, this signal (white arrow) is due to the vinyl playback principle and therefore represents distortion.

The spectrogram of the Tidal Master stereo version shows a limit at 24 kHz (yellow arrow), and a signal due to MQA decoding (red arrow). There is no signal above 48 kHz (white arrow).

The spectrograms of Tidal 360Ra binaural (Ed2) shows a limit at 18.8kHz (yellow arrow) due to the MPEG-H encoding used for 360RA and the absence of signal above 18.8 kHz (white arrow).

Part 5 : Spatialization

Spatialization allows you to define the sound distribution of the music on all the channels. The spatialization indicator and the description of the graph are described here.

The mix here plays on the opening of the sound space, the rendering allows Mylène Farmer’s voice to be highlighted and the music to accompany it, creating a subtle sound bubble. The difference between the stereo and the 360 version is important, especially on the binaural version.

Track : À tout jamais.

Spatialization : ●●●●●ooooo(4.7)

Track : À tout jamais (NPD’s Remix by Philip Larsen).

Spatialization : ●●●●●ooooo(4.4)

Track : À tout jamais (D Remix – Distortion Remix by Vitalic).

Spatialization : ●●●●●●oooo(5.6)

Track : À tout jamais (MM Remix – Master Manipulation Remix by Motherweshare).

Spatialization : ●●●●●ooooo(4.8)

Track : À tout jamais (CONTROL Remix by Fragrance).

Spatialization : ●●●●●ooooo(5)

Track : À tout jamais (Instrumental Version).

Spatialization : ●●●●●ooooo(4.6)