Definitive Audiophile pressings

LeeVing said:
I get that people are cancelling orders. I also get you have a mix of analog-only purists and some that just don't want to do business with a company that obfuscates the truth.

They knew people thought their releases were AAA and did nothing to stop this assumption. While they didn't outright say "All Analog" on the releases - they never mentioned the digital part of the mastering chain - but go to great length to write about all the other parts of the mastering chain. The marketing for these one step releases has ALL the technical aspects of the mastering, but omits the fact that the master was first recorded to DSD.

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That being said...I'm not even a MoFi fan boy. I've got 19 titles I've picked up over the years - mostly used. The last 2, Superfly and Electric Warrior sound amazing.

Mike mentioned a few times in his last video that he heard the new Thriller one step, and it blew him away. I'm keeping my pre-order on that, and that will be my first one step.
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This is not even the worst part.
Several old video clips of the Mofi engineers claiming "it's all analog"

 
Yeah the one steps are where the deception was the greatest. Big fancy box claiming it's tape to lacquer to convert.

Can't argue with the sound advantage though of that process regardless if it's got DSD to start with. They will still all sell out just as fast and sell for ridiculous prices on the aftermarket. Pressing 40K of the Michael Jackson though will keep that one on the market longer and for cheaper though most likely.
 
keylime_5 said:
Also, I think this was mentioned before but they downsample the 4X DSD down to 1x DSD for the SACD. I'm not sure there is any downsampling going on when they cut it to vinyl, but I'm not sure.
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It's not really "downsampling", but the 4x DSD is EQ'd differently for cutting vinyl, RIAA curve and all. If they cut the 1x DSD audio they use for SACD it would sound really bad.
 
keylime_5 said:
Also, I think this was mentioned before but they downsample the 4X DSD down to 1x DSD for the SACD. I'm not sure there is any downsampling going on when they cut it to vinyl, but I'm not sure.
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No choice there - SACD is a DSD64 format. Must downsample. But MOFI take the master tape and transfer at DSD256, and the Santana-Lotus shows that they have the capability to cut direct from that, which few studios do.
 
Looks like they're starting to slowly release source data for all releases.

Archive

Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab Discography From its esoteric origins releasing field recordings of steam engines on vinyl to UltraDisc One-Step titles, Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab has accumulated quite a body of work. This out-of-print archive is organized by media format, so simply choose the format...
mofi.com

I assume A = Analog A/C = Analog copy?
 
One of the reasons I frequent N&G is the fact that we have a wonderful group of rational folks who can have a conversation and maintain relative objectivity. Love hanging and engaging with y’all.

I think what a lot of the outraged analog purists are missing is that for some of these tapes, a transfer to DSD is going to be the best option available, because it’s one and done and that tape is gone forever given the condition it’s in today.

You’re still getting MoFi’s mastering chain, which to me sounds 10000% MoFi. Just like Kevin Gray sounds 1000% Boom Boom. They are some of the best in the business.

The quality of vinyl is what you’re paying for on a One Step - only 1000 pressed from each lacquer, no mother/daughter degradation. Whether that translates being worth it is up to the listener and their system. Personally, the only “one step” press I’ve ever sprung for was Craft’s Lush Life, because it is such a huge record for me personally. It’s the best copy I’ve heard, but it’s ultimately a luxury item, so if part of that luxury is the allure of all analog, it makes total sense that people would no longer want to buy in. Whether that’s deception on MoFi’s part? They’re obviously going to avoid using the word “digital” because for some reason, it’s taboo in the audiophile circle. If they only knew truly how few honest AAA releases are able to be made…

Aside - didn’t MoFi do a One Step of Clapton’s Unplugged? That was captured digitally, as far as I know!

Anyway, hopefully this’ll drive down the price of Oh Mercy a few bucks, cause I’ve been after one! 😂
 
wenis said:
I only have three MoFi records (Weezer Blue & Pinkerton and REM's Document) but I hope at least with this news maybe they'll be slightly easier to get a hold of and prices will be adjusted accordingly in the secondary as they release the master list of sources for each of their releases.
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I'm pretty sure that R.E.M. is super digitally mumble jumbly - please send my way and I'll dispose of it properly for you
 
DeadwaxDude said:
Looks like they're starting to slowly release source data for all releases.

Archive

Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab Discography From its esoteric origins releasing field recordings of steam engines on vinyl to UltraDisc One-Step titles, Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab has accumulated quite a body of work. This out-of-print archive is organized by media format, so simply choose the format...
mofi.com

I assume A = Analog A/C = Analog copy?
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I think I've seen that before.

I don't remember what the A means, but the C is for Cassette.


It's an old list, though.
 
RHANDMJ said:
I'm sure there are tons of order cancellations taking place. Fetishists. All of a sudden a fantastic sounding record isn't good enough, or maybe they preordered to cash in on FOMO when they flip it, or are worried their Discogs value won'y go up as much. Tough luck.

I too feel badly about the deception. I haven't bought much MOFI in the past 5 years - Procol Harum, ELO and Miles Smiles are the only ones (and I suspected at the time that Miles Smiles sounded a bit TOO perfect), so I don't have a stake in it. No interest in One-Steps which I consider a FOMO product for fetishists largely.

I'm not surprised by it. The Music Direct MOFI is not the original MOFI. Anyone who reads the Music Direct catalog - the totally absurd, way over the top hyperbole and flat out bullshit - knows that Music Direct have no problem playing fast and loose with the facts.

But if they came out and said that they are transferring the master tape to DSD256 - not SACD level DSD64, but extreme definition DSD256 - because that actually sounds better than the tape, they might have an argument, and it would at least ignite some heated debate and reconsideration of how vinyl is mastered and cut today.

Transferring at DSD256 is a far cry from simple 'digital mastering' even if that mastering is from a 24 bit file. Those of us who have the MOFI Santana Lotus, cut from DSD256, will surely attest that it sounds out of this world, a-fucking-mazing. And it makes the Speakers Corner Lotus sound thin and anemic in comparison, even though the SC is supposedly cut all analog.

There might just be a case to be made that cutting from a DSD256 transfer is a better chain, resulting in better sounding records. I'm open to that argument.

Two problems though. If MOFI had disclosed this earlier, it would have gotten the Hoffman board assholes going wild and could very well have killed MOFI - the analog purist types, combined with the lemming like behaviour of many in this pursuit and the conspiracy theorists.

Second, it could very well be a significant threat to the guys cutting true all analog with no digital step. All of a sudden, their mastering chain could be seen as lesser.

As I said earlier, I don't like the deception. I understand why - the online experts would have slaughtered them over it, as they are now, regardless of whether they sound better. But I still don't like it, I question Mike - In The Groove's motivtions for exposing it (likely attention seeking), and it wouldn't stop me buying a MOFI record - in fact, knowing it was cut master tape to DSD256 to lacquer might even make it more attractive to me.
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I get your point, but there is no excuse for the deception. They should have introduced it on some records and seen the reaction. Most new products are tested and evolved, its a terrible practice to change everything at once. Its a terrible practice to change something like this over time and lie to your customers.

The market would no doubt have naysayers but in all likelihood most people on Hoffman forum would buy 2 copies so they can compare anyway.
 
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Was looking at the super clean Mofi copy of the Beatles White Album I have for Mather and came across the Japanese version EAS-66018. Check it out on discogs and scroll down to the single comment. You could be one of five that own it as I have a very clean copy I’ll let go. Weirdly, our garden is infested with Japanese Beatles here in Denver these days.
 
OMC said:
Was looking at the super clean Mofi copy of the Beatles White Album I have for Mather and came across the Japanese version EAS-66018. Check it out on discogs and scroll down to the single comment. You could be one of five that own it as I have a very clean copy I’ll let go. Weirdly, our garden is infested with Japanese Beatles here in Denver these days.
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Appears to be priceless. ;)
 
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