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Mobile Fidelity, ‘One Step’ etc

I wholeheartedly agree with your general point that (most) hifi is a just a big con-job. People buy into brands, their sometimes made up 'heritage' and exclusivity rather than listening with their ears.

These guys who have their knickers in a knot about the MoFi remasters keep repeating the same thing, "oh it doesn't really matter whether it's digital or analog, we just want you to be transparent, that's all...'. BS, they are really worried that they are from digital masters because it would totally destroy their belief system.
 
At this point I think no matter how great mofi can sound they will have to fully transparent about the source and mastering and to drop the price by at least 50%. Many are cancelling orders already and I can't see it improving.

Having said that my mofi Annadisc JMJ lp's are the best sounding records I've ever heard but they are mid 90's.

It's like Lance Armstrong all over again, no one can deny his cycling ability, just how he and many others won.

I can see Anogue Productions doing very well out of this, if theye are also to be believed as the vinyl-heads, myself included won't forget this and it will be 'mofi?, but they're all digital'

At this point I'll just have to enjoy them for many of the newer ones are, fantastic sounding digital albums which still sound better than my digital front end playing hires files....
 
I find it telling that MF now uses a DD turntable. I had an Sl1200g for a while as along side my LP12, I did sell the 1200g for financial reasons but maybe I wonder if I sold the wrong deck? The fact MF had the chance to review the Techics, I wonder if the seed of DD over belt planted on his brain sealed the belt drives fate? Although he's not using a technics himself?

The only issue with Japanese products is that when you need support you may as well had bought a microwave from amazon because its pretty much non existent.

So many unanswered questions.
 
myles said:
It all makes a bit of a mockery of the analogue Vs digital debate.
Yours,
A confused record enthusiast.
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I definitely feel analogue fans like myself have maybe not lost the argument for analogue v digital but we are teetering on the edge, almost no way to convince someone on the fence.

Fremar claimed only a couple of days ago he could spot digital a mile away!

We're still waiting for Elvis In Memphis to be released, I expect Sony haven't sent them the Hires files yet!;)
 

Here’s the In Groove interview. It reads to me that they regularly copy a ‘master’ tape to hi-res digital and cut from that. I certainly no longer view MoFi as being a full analogue chain. There is enough here to sink that marketing and they still have a lot of explaining to do and as a result now need to detail the mastering process for every single release in their catalogue to clear the air IMHO.



Here’s a comeback from Michael 45rpm and Michael Fremer. Fremer really doesn’t cover himself in glory here IMO, much comes over as butt-hurt. He is clearly furious that an “amateur” like Mike got to go rather than a “professional interviewer” such as himself. Lots of digs such as “Mike is just a record dealer, what does he know?” and conveniently ignoring the fact (inadvertently admitted here) that Fremer himself actually knew much of this story but had sat on it. We are only here because of Mike being honest enough to stand up for record buyers, his own principles, and not giving a crap what he knocked down in the process. Sure, there are some questions I wish he’d asked, but we got enough to know that there has been some dishonesty in the way MoFi have described their product. Some are clearly digitally sourced. The end.

PS Michael Fremer’s claim he can always hear digital looks to be coming unstuck too and some of this video came across as post-rationalisation there. There is little doubt MoFi hung Fremer out to dry and I definitely feel sorry for him here, but this was not the best way to handle that situation. Michael 45rpm always comes across as the knowledgeable vinyl consumer I’m sure he’d describe himself as. He’s a good bloke. The butt hurt here is in one place only.
 
The issue isn't the source per se, it's about whether the mastering has been dedicated to vinyl production or whether it's just a file dump through a limiter. If the latter I'd rather just have the file and at a significant discount too. There's little point in adding digital artefacts unnecessarily but if the tapes are on their last legs it's quite understandable. I can also see why you might for mass production, Eric Boulanger makes the case well in a video of Fremer's. This is why we need transparency. I don't own any MoFi and never will, it's just not my thing.
 
gavreid said:
The issue isn't the source per se, it's about whether the mastering has been dedicated to vinyl production or whether it's just a file dump through a limiter.
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The issue is honesty and integrity. Deliberately concealing that vinyl claiming to be from ‘the master tape’, especially if detailed as a “one step” process has actually gone through an unmentioned additional digital process is IMHO fraudulent.
 
Tony L said:
The issue is honesty and integrity. Deliberately concealing that vinyl claiming to be from ‘the master tape’, especially in detailed as a “one step” process has actually gone through an unmentioned additional digital process is IMHO fraudulent.
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I totally agree, I think is par for the course in the industry unfortunately with only a very few honourable exceptions. Early digital recordings on vinyl told you so. The blurring goes back to the dropping of AAD, DDD etc from cds I think and they've stuck with it. There's no excuses of that kind for mofi of course.
 
Tony L said:
The issue is honesty and integrity. Deliberately concealing that vinyl claiming to be from ‘the master tape’, especially if detailed as a “one step” process has actually gone through an unmentioned additional digital process is IMHO fraudulent.
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Exactly, their whole business model is based on letting their customers believe they are analogue through and through.

I’ve lost count of the time I’ve been excited to get a new album believing it was from the master tape. Annoyingly, many of them sound very good. Will definitely be buying more AP's now however.
 
Weekender said:
If I lived in the US I'd probably own some but too tight to buy in UK.
They should have offered full details of how each release was mastered from the kick off.
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The expense always put me off too and that ugly banner ruining the cover art...
 
I don't care for MoFi products and don't buy them (except for a very old one bought out of curiosity) but did they really mislead people in their marketing? I mean, have they actually said somewhere that everything is analog in the chain? Or, have people just assumed that it was all analog because they use the phrase "Original Master Recording"?

It seems to me that what they are saying at the end of the video here is that every step (after the master) is totally analog. Of course they failed to mention that the master itself is a hi rez digital file.

allthingsanalog said:
I’ve never seen this channel but this chap has got quite a collection of records for his age!

Jump to 32:04 for the outright lie.
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The key for me is my ears cannot tell if an LP has been mastered from a digital or an analog source so I really do not care. If I have paid a fortune for an "all analog" release however and found out it was actually digital then that would be a different thing!
 
hockman said:
It seems to me that what they are saying at the end of the video here is that every step (after the master) is totally analog. Of course they failed to mention that the master itself is a hi rez digital file.
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I expect this is what they will use in their defence in the no doubt upcoming lawsuits which I’m sure will on the cards.
 
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