Jean-Michel Jarre, the iconic pioneer of electronic music, gave a stunning performance at the closing ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. In front of more than 80,000 spectators at the Stade de France, he paid tribute to the legacy of French electronic music and passed the torch to a new generation of French artists. With his signature laser harp on the grand finale ‘The Time Machine’, Jarre captivated the audience.
Just months before the Olympic Games, Jean-Michel Jarre’s “VERSAILLES 400 LIVE” concert marked a historic moment in electronic music and multimedia performance. This unique event, which took place on December 25, 2023, celebrated the 400th anniversary of the Château de Versailles with both a live and virtual reality performance.
In the sumptuous setting of the Galerie des Glaces, Jean-Michel Jarre fused history and innovation, using artificial intelligence to create a graphic universe that blended the visual context of the 17th century with a futuristic world of robots and kinetic structures. The concert was broadcast on French national television and reached a worldwide audience via live streaming, offering a multi-sensory experience that transported viewers into a whole new artistic universe.
The concert is now available in physical form, allowing fans to relive the experience.
Other albums by Jean-Michel Jarre reviewed:
For this review, you will find 3 versions tested: Tidal Max, vinyl record and CD.
The CD and vinyl record include an NFC chip, enabling you to continue your concert experience via the Internet, with exclusive videos, photos… Content will be updated regularly.
Below you will find the description of the different editions, as well as the measurements of each edition in the following chapters.
The album is composed of 13 tracks:
- Le Chateau (Live)
- Epica Oxygene (Live)
- The Opening (Live)
- Oxygene 2 (Live)
- Equinoxe 4 (Live)
- Equinoxe 7 (Live)
- Industrial Revolution Part 2 (Live)
- Chronology 6 (Live)
- The Architect (feat. Jeff Mills) (Live)
- Oxygene 19 (Live)
- Zero Gravity (feat. Tangerine Dream) (Live)
- Falling Down (Live)
- Stardust (feat. Armin van Buuren) (Live)
Summary, scoring and Samples
Ed 1: Tidal MAX – 2024
Presentation
This is the Tidal Max presented in FLAC 24 bits 48 kHz.
Waveform and Spectrum: DR5
The waveform of TIDAL max 24 bits 48 kHz shows a low dynamic range confirmed with album’s DR5.
The spectrogram shows that the signal rises above 24 kHz (yellow arrow) without signal above 24 kHz (white arrow) due to the 48 kHz sampling frequency used.
Synthesis and listening
The Tidal Max version presented in 24-bit 48kHz is affected by the loudness war with its DR5 (with tracks between DR4 and DR7)! It sounds very heavy indeed, to the detriment of the clear, natural rendering we’re familiar with for most tracks originally using analog synthesizers.
Rating:
- Dynamic: ●oooo (1)
- Bandwidth: ●●●●● (5)
- Restitution: ●●ooo (2.5)
Sample : “Equinoxe 4 (Live)” 24 bits 48 kHz:
Ed 2: Vinyl Record – 2024
Presentation
This is the spetial edition of the vinyl composed with 2 LP records in 33 1/3 rpm 180g (ref : ). The vinyl includes a digital bonus that can only be accessed with the NFC chip included with the vinyl. The product is available numbered to 2000 copies.
Waveform and Spectrum: DR12
The vinyl waveform shows a good dynamic range with DR12. The recording level is more than 5 dB lower than usual for a vinyl record. To simplify visualization, a 6 dB gain has been added to the waveform display. It’s difficult to define the original quality of the master, but despite the low engraving level, it’s probably a more dynamic master than the digital stereo version that’s used.
The spectrogram shows that the signal rises above 20 kHz (yellow arrow), the signal above this frequency (white arrow) containing distortion information due to the vinyl record’s operating principle. In fact, the recording was made at a sampling frequency of 48 kHz, so there is no signal above 24 kHz (see spectrum representation).
The graph below compares the spectrum of the Vinyl Record – 2024 (white curve) with the spectrum of the Tidal MAX – 2024 (blue curve).The two spectra overlap perfectly from 60Hz to 13 kHz, with a small drop in level at 50 Hz (2 dB) for the vinyl record (green zone), and an accentuation of the treble beyond 13 kHz for the vinyl record (yellow zone) with a maximum of 3 dB. This graph shows the fine quality of the lacquer cut for the vinyl record, with no accident in the spectrum.
Synthesis and listening
The vinyl pressing is of good quality. We find a clean, open and more precise version than the digital version, with a rendering that is closer to the original analog sounds. This is the most interesting version of the album, but be warned: it’s limited to 2000 copies!
Rating:
- Dynamic: ●●●oo (3.5)
- Bandwidth: ●●●●o (4)
- Surface noise: ●●●●o (4)
- Restitution: ●●●●o (4)
Sample : “Equinoxe 4 (Live)” 24 bits 96 kHz:
Ed 3: CD – 2024
Presentation
This is the CD presented in PCM 16 bits 44.1 kHz (ref:198028387323). The CD includes a digital bonus that can only be accessed with the NFC chip included with the CD.
Waveform and Spectrum: DR6
The waveform of CD shows a low dynamic range confirmed with album’s DR5.
The spectrogram of the CD shows that the signal goes up to 22 kHz (yellow arrow) and that there is no signal above this frequency (white arrow), due to the 44.1 kHz sampling frequency used.
The graph below compares the spectrum of the CD – 2024 (white curve) with the spectrum of the Tidal MAX – 2024 (blue curve).The two curves are perfectly superimposed due to the use of the same master.
Synthesis and listening
Sound rendering is similar to the streaming version, with very marked dynamic range compression (DR6).
Rating:
- Dynamic: ●oooo (1)
- Bandwidth: ●●●●o (4)
- Restitution: ●●ooo (2.5)
Sample : “Equinoxe 4 (Live)”:
Exceptional concert by Jean-Michel Jarre at the Chateau de Versailles, presenting the best audio show on vinyl. We can only regret that there is no Dolby Atmos version to immerse us even more in the immersive ambience of this concert.
Dynamic Range measurements are shown below.
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Measurements
Dynamic Range comparaisons
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).
The comparison of the 2 waveforms clearly shows the impact of the limiter on the digital verson with the suppression of peaks on the waveform.
For our 3 editions reviewed have obtained the following Dynamic Range (DR) :
| Tidal MAX – 2024 | Vinyl Record – 2024 | CD – 2024 | |
| Global | DR5 | DR12 | DR6 |
| Min | DR4 | DR10 | DR5 |
| Max | DR7 | DR14 | DR8 |
| Le Chateau (Live) | DR5 | DR13 | DR6 |
| Epica Oxygene (Live) | DR6 | DR13 | DR7 |
| The Opening (Live) | DR5 | DR12 | DR6 |
| Oxygene 2 (Live) | DR6 | DR13 | DR7 |
| Equinoxe 4 (Live) | DR6 | DR12 | DR7 |
| Equinoxe 7 (Live) | DR6 | DR11 | DR6 |
| Industrial Revolution Part 2 (Live) | DR6 | DR12 | DR6 |
| Chronology 6 (Live) | DR7 | DR14 | DR8 |
| The Architect (feat. Jeff Mills) (Live) | DR4 | DR11 | DR5 |
| Oxygene 19 (Live) | DR4 | DR11 | DR5 |
| Zero Gravity (feat. Tangerine Dream) (Live) | DR4 | DR10 | DR5 |
| Falling Down (Live) | DR5 | DR12 | DR6 |
| Stardust (feat. Armin van Buuren) (Live) | DR5 | DR11 | 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.
Detail of the ratings :
- Dynamic :
- Significant dynamic compression, DR less than 7
- Compression of the present dynamics, DR between 7 and 9.
- Correct piece DR >=10
- No dynamic compression (DR >12), dynamic rendering
- No dynamic compression, high DR and very dynamic sound rendering
- Spectrum :
- Spectrum cut and less than 15 khz
- Spectrum cut at 15 khz
- Spectrum not conforming to the original and cut (not HD) or original but limited bandwidth (but less than 20 kHz)
- Spectrum conforming to the original (but not HD)
- Spectrum conforming to the original with HD resolution (higher than 24kHz)
- Surface noise (only for vinyl):
- Continuous audible noise
- Audible surface noise except on passages with a high level of noise
- Reduced surface noise, barely audible on low level crossings
- Low surface noise, very good quality
- Very low surface noise, no defects, almost inaudible on the quiet passages (exceptional disc)
- Spatialization :
- Between 0 and 5 for 5.1 or 7.1 channels configuration
- Between 0 and 10 for Atmos configuration (7.1.4)
- For more information on spatialization, you can read the article describing this parameter here.
- Restitution :
- Low quality of the restitution mixing dynamics, clarity, separation of voices and instruments.
- Average quality of the restitution mixing dynamics, clarity, separation of voices and instruments.
- Quality of the restitution mixing dynamics, clarity, separation of voices and instruments. Good record.
- High quality of the restitution mixing dynamics, clarity, separation of voices and instruments. Very high level disc.
- Maximum quality of the restitution mixing dynamics, clarity, separation of voices and instruments. Exceptional disc.