Definitive Audiophile pressings

Jbraswell said:
People are posting they have canceled $1,000s of back/preorders.
One guy said MD hung up on him today when he called to cancel orders.

There's a bit of a mushroom cloud going off here.
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Iā€™m still trying to process all this. Having a very low opinion of big business ethics in general leads me to be more disappointed that another company whose products I truly enjoy jumps to the top of the s*#t list than surprised they treated their customers (me) with so little respect in pursuit of $$$s.

Iā€™ve been going down my preorder list trying to decide which ones I may cancel and which ones to keep. In the end it will be just like VMP. I buy fewer but I still buy the Classics sub monthly (and select other items) because I love the product but I never put one on without thinking how they treated the original forum members. Likewise, I doubt I ever play another MoFi without thinking of the shady nature of MoFiā€™s marketing dept but ultimately Iā€™ll still enjoy the vinyl. Just maybe a little less.
 
POGunter said:
Iā€™m still trying to process all this. Having a very low opinion of big business ethics in general leads me to be more disappointed that another company whose products I truly enjoy jumps to the top of the s*#t list than surprised they treated their customers (me) with so little respect in pursuit of $$$s.

Iā€™ve been going down my preorder list trying to decide which ones I may cancel and which ones to keep. In the end it will be just like VMP. I buy fewer but I still buy the Classics sub monthly (and select other items) because I love the product but I never put one on without thinking how they treated the original forum members. Likewise, I doubt I ever play another MoFi without thinking of the shady nature of MoFiā€™s marketing dept but ultimately Iā€™ll still enjoy the vinyl. Just maybe a little less.
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I think everyone is still processing this fiasco.
Someone mentioned the WAPO getting a story in next week.
That would be surprising to me.
Good time to pause and see what happens over the next several weeks.
Plenty of good vinyl out there for affordable prices.
 
Russ I said:
Ah, I see what you're saying. But the one-step process is also supposed to be about eliminating steps from the pressing process, and limiting the number of records that are pressed from any one stamper. That's still happening. So if anything, it's exclusivity that's lost, as best represented by the size of the print run for Thriller.
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I mean, the process was supposed to ensure that the first and last pressed record per stamper were of the same quality. If the stamper continues to sound the same for 15,000 pressings then who needs the one step insurance. Once the sound degrades, make a new stamper. Who cares? The one step was supposed to ensure that you don't get the 5000th copy and it sounds like hell because some default in the metal wore it out under normal usage (I believe 5000 is the number MOFI normally uses per stamper).

It's not necessarily just about exclusivity/limitedness/collectivity. It was a bit of added insurance that yours would sound the way the mastering engineers meant it to sound. Kind of like nth degree quality control.
 
Question is Acoustic Sounds run by Analog Productions?

MoFi lies. has questionable CS practices
VMP has lied, has QC issues, questionable CS practices
AP - hasn't lied, no qc issues, but if AS=AP questionable CS practices

@Terry Cole and @Plaid Room / Colemine can I send you a list of every record I ever want and can you work on making them happen, preferably at a 4 record a month frequency?
 
Only time will tell, but have true "audiophiles" ever held MoFi in that high regard anyway? I'm sure they'll take a hit, enough to feel the pain, not entirely sure, but if we go to past experiences with things like this and look at what people plop down on the secondary market for variants, I think they'll be fine in the long run and will suffer the "slap on the wrist" the majority will give them.

Personally, MoFi has never been my first choice when looking at pressings, I've always looked for other options because of cost. OG's, early pressings, whatever. I'm not saying I don't buy MoFi pressings, I do, I mean I plopped down an "ok" amount for The Nightfly which has always been believed to be digital and it is by far the definitive version of the album. Like any label, they're going to have hits and misses, MoFi is no different, all their pressings, from Silver label to One Steps have good and bad pressings.

That said, I only own 2 One-Steps, 5 Silver and 45 OMRs out of a collection of almost 1000 albums and I think they all sound fantastic. The problem is the deception and price. I think @HiFi Guy mentioned this, the pricing is where it gets stuck in my throat, the pricing was already a point of contention personally (One Steps), now, well, it kind of forced my hand and its become even easier to sit here and say "I can do without the fancy packaging" and lower the price $50-75.
 
Iā€™m curious to see the list of titles that were digital vs analogue and how long it goes back. The deception is frustrating for sure and I get why some people are angry.

The Facebook MoFi groups have totally lost it. People saying they will start a class action lawsuit. Cancelling thousands of dollars of preorders.

I think part of the outrage is from the fan boys who have claimed for years that they can tell something is digital within 5 seconds of listening to a record. And a lot of those same people said the MoFis were the definitive versions of albums. Now they were caught with their pants down a bit. And the flippers and people who make a decent amount of money flipping and raffling MoFis off on Facebook are NOT happy either.

Iā€™ll still pick up some MoFis here and there. I do think they largely sound great. And as @RHANDMJ said, albums like that Santana Lotus pressing can sound absolutely incredible from digital sources.

The one steps will be the biggest loser for sure. I can still see a benefit to the one step process but the price tag is going to make a lot of people cancel or stop buying them in the future.
 
Lee Newman said:
I mean, the process was supposed to ensure that the first and last pressed record per stamper were of the same quality. If the stamper continues to sound the same for 15,000 pressings then who needs the one step insurance. Once the sound degrades, make a new stamper. Who cares? The one step was supposed to ensure that you don't get the 5000th copy and it sounds like hell because some default in the metal wore it out under normal usage (I believe 5000 is the number MOFI normally uses per stamper).

It's not necessarily just about exclusivity/limitedness/collectivity. It was a bit of added insurance that yours would sound the way the mastering engineers meant it to sound. Kind of like nth degree quality control.
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I donā€™t think thatā€™s quite right either. Iā€™m pretty sure that whatever process youā€™re only getting 1,000 albums per stamper.

The benefit with one step is that the stamper is made direct from the lacquer and the 1,000 are pressed from that. Being a straight transfer from the lacquer it hasnā€™t experienced any degradation. The downside is cost because each lacquer only makes 1000 records.

With the normal process the convert from the lacquer becomes a father which makes 10 mothers which in turn makes 10 stampers which can do 1000 records. The benefit is 1000 records for each of the 100 stampers, the downside is the generational detail loss as you go from the father to the mother to the stamper.
 
Lee Newman said:
Question is Acoustic Sounds run by Analog Productions?

MoFi lies. has questionable CS practices
AP - hasn't lied, no qc issues, but if AS=AP questionable CS practices
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Mr Moustache said:
Yes, they are
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I would add that just as AS owns AP, Music Direct owns MoFi. I do think MD runs its storefront well, as I have always had good experiences with them as a customer, especially when buying gear. BUT, just like AS, MD "flips" their own records by raising prices when scarcity develops.
 
dansomeone said:
BUT, just like AS, MD "flips" their own records by raising prices when scarcity develops.
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I just find that so shady on so many levels. I also found MD really rude to deal with from an international standpoint. I kinda get it because itā€™s more difficult for them too, but still, itā€™s custom.
 
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