French digital amplification powerhouse Devialet seems to be looking to the past for inspiration instead of its usual focus on the future for products involving high fidelity.
The company’s latest venture involves remastering previously unreleased analog recordings of Sarah Vaughan, Bill Evans, and Oscar Peterson for limited edition vinyl sales, and is a somewhat unusual investment, especially given the choice it will also produce ultra-rare lacquers for purchase as well. Several videos were made available regarding the process, and I’ve included a few here.
From Devialet:
“We had a dream.
A dream to revive the emotion of forgotten recordings using Expert technology. One year ago, we set out on a journey of sound archaeology with our friends at Fondamenta to excavate the emotion of three jazz greats:”
“Today, the journey is complete. Very soon you will be able experience the power of THE LOST RECORDINGS on limited edition vinyl and for the first time in the world, on lacquers, the ultimate analog medium.”
While the idea of having these ultra rare LPs turns my vinyl crank completely since Devialet has always struck me as a company dedicated to ultimate audio fidelity playback (Also, only 900 pressings per album, so the collector in me us satisfied as well), the lacquer aspect leaves me cold, since I believe you’d be lucky to get a dozen plays off of one before it was destroyed. Regardless, this project marks a very interesting chapter for Devialet, one I hope they continue to add to in the future, as I quite like the idea of a curated analog catalog. Oh, and while they’re at it, why not have an ultra high-res digital version as well?
Read more about this analog story From Devialet HERE.
-Rafe Arnott
