Instances where the * (MoFi) MFSL CD * -version is the best version of any digital format

MFSL's that are my preferred Digital:

[Silver CD's]
Booker T. & The MG's - McLemore Avenue
Joe Cocker - Mad Dogs & Englishmen
Willie Dixon - I Am The Blues
Procol Harem - A Salty Dog
Al Stewart - Year Of The Cat

[Gold CD's]
Bryan Adams - Reckless [pretty much a dead heat with original 38XB based mastering]
Guns and Roses - Use Your Illusion I and II
Albert King - Born Under A Bad Sign
Moody Blues - Days Of Future Passed [original CD mastering is it's equal]
Jethro Tull - Thick As A Brick [side/track 2 only]
Allan Parsons Project - Tales Of Mystery and Imagination [the 2.0 channel on the recent Blu-ray is equally as excellent]
Simon and Garfunkel - Bookends
Sting - Nothing Like The Sun [*Different mix in effect]
Supertramp - Breakfast In America [I have not compared to the SHM-SACD]
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers - Damn the Torpedoes
U2 - Joshua Tree
XTC - Skylarking
XTC - Oranges & Lemons

[SACD Hybrids]
Allman Brothers - Eat A Peach
Bob Dylan - Times They Are A-Changin
Bob Dylan - Another Side [*Remix - for original mix the 25 8p based mastering]
Bob Dylan - Blonde On Blonde
Bob Dylan - Freewheelin
Bob Dylan - Blood On The Tracks
Billy Joel - Pianoman
Billy Joel - Turnstiles
Billy Joel - Glass Houses
Billy Joel - Songs In The Attic
Billy Joel - The Nylon Curtain
Foreigner - Foreigner
Foreigner - Double Vision

MFSL's that are excellent but are not, or no longer, my preferred Digital:

[Silver CD]
Alan Parson Project - I Robot

[Gold CD's]
Allman Brothers - Live at the Fillmore East [original MFSL Double CD]
Allman Brothers - Eat A Peach [original MFSL CD]
Blind Faith - Blind Faith
Cream - Disraeli Gears
Elton John - Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
Elton John - Madman Across the Water
John Klemmer - Touch
Tom Petty - Full Moon Fever
Police - Synchronicity
Rush- Signals
Rush - Moving Pictures [*some tracks like Vital Signs on this are my digital preferred]
Sting - Dream Of The Blue Turtles
Yes - The Yes Album
Who - Who Are You [some of the tracks are alternate mixes ]
V/A - A Very Special X-Mas

[SACD Hybrids]
Foreigner - Head Games [SACD]
Marvin Gaye - What's Goin On

MFSL's with sound that is simply not my cup o'tea:

[Golds CD's]
Derek & the Dominos - In Concert
Emerson Lake & Palmer - Tarkus
Guns and Roses - Appetite For Destruction
Iron Butterfly - In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida
Moody Blues - All, except Days of Future Passed
Pink Floyd - Dark Side of The Moon
Pink Floyd - The Wall
Rush - 2112
Rush - Permanent Waves
Saturday Night Fever - Original Soundtrack
U2 - War
U2 - The Unforgettable Fire
Who - Who's Next

MFSL's that are their own are excellent and now sit in my compare queue

[Gold CD]
Cars - Candy-O

[SACD Hybrid]
Allman Brothers - Live at the Fillmore East
Cars - The Cars
Cars - Heartbeat City
Derek and the Dominoes - Layla
Bob Dylan - Highway 61
Bob Dylan - Greatest Hits
Jefferson Airplane - Surrealistic Pillow
Alan Parsons Project - I Robot
Pretenders - The Pretenders
Pretenders - Learning to Crawl

 

Spirit..12 Dreams
Procal Harum...Love With The Edmonton Symphony

 

Blind Faith- Polydor (USA) 825 094-2 By Tom Dowd

 

Update, I have done some compares and have additions to MFSL's that are my preferred Digital:

[Gold CD]
Cars - Candy-O - Superb! Always liked the Target, still do, but now prefer this MOFI CD

[SACD Hybrid]
Allman Brothers - Live at the Fillmore East - The 2nd SHM-SACD [from 2016] I feel it's equal but the Mofi has the original "short" Stormy Monday
Cars - The Cars - On systems that do not excel on DSD playback, if you have the funds, the DCC is the way to go
Cars - Heartbeat City
Derek and the Dominoes - Layla - The 2015/2016 SHM-SACD is just as good, but for those who don't have that this may be easier to find.
Bob Dylan - Highway 61 [Stereo] - On systems that do not excel on DSD playback there are excellent Redbook choices such as the DCC and 30DP
Bob Dylan and The Band - Before the Flood - given the recording I feel is so-so, this mastering is Excellent. Highly recommended.
Jefferson Airplane - Surrealistic Pillow [mono] - not sure hi-res matters at all on this recording but by a large margin this mono MFSL is the best on Digital.
Alan Parsons Project - I Robot - caveat I feel the 2007 Classic HDAD, 24/192 layer is very, very close and since different formats sound will vary based on one's gear. So for systems which handle DSD well, without PCM conversion for example, this MFSL might win out.
Pretenders - The Pretenders - Always liked the Target, still do, but now prefer this MOFI SACD
Pretenders - II - I give this my elusive highest recommendation!
Pretenders - Learning to Crawl - Always liked the Target, still do, but now prefer this MOFI SACD

Dylan Mono - all below I feel best the Sony's by a decent amount and for the most part have much greater dynamics. Well Done MFSL!
Freewheelin' [mono]
Times They Are A Changing [mono]
Bringing It All Back Home [mono]
Highway 61 [mono]
John Wesley Harding [mono]

 

I can attest to those, and will add:
Faith No More : Angel Dust
GN'R : Appetite & Illusions (Lies isn't much different than the OG)
Nirvana : Nevermind and In Utero

 

I have a couple of The Cars ones as well as Bob Dylan and Pretenders and I do agree I like these versions the best, even if just the CD layer.

 

Bookends Simon and Garfunkel is the best version around.

 

Supertramp crime of the century
Joe Jackson Night And Day

 

Beck Sea Change great mastering from MFSL.

 

Digital, yes.

 

UDI Def Leppard - Pyromania.

UDII Rush - Moving Pictures.

 

Yes This tread is About digital

 

What version of Cream -Disraeli Gears do you recommend then?

 

Ricks,
What are you're preferred digital versions of the Elton John's Goodbye and Madman titles you list?

 

My 5 cents ...

Jean Michel Jarre's Equinoxe is the only MFSL CD that I bough new (in my local high-end audio equipment store) when it was released in the 90's. It sounded better than the early Polydor disc back then and I didn't keep Polydor disc. But I have to say that the early Polydor disc of The Concerts In China sounds amazingly good on my current CD player, and maybe the Equinoxe Polydor disc would sound good too, if I still owned it...

My other MFSL CDs are mostly used or NOS discs that I bought after 200o, once I learned that they generally sound good and the Internet made used items easily accessible.

The Saturday Night Fever MFSL CD sounds awesome, with very smooth falsetto vocals and string arrangements. I never heard another early disc of this title, but when I found a cheap MFSL I just bought it and never felt the need to buy another version. I can tell that the Bee Gees songs on this soundtrack sound much better than on any compilation CD I owned before. Other MFSL CDs that I think sound nice, but never excessively compared to other versions are Herbie Hancock's Man-Child (really jumps out with awesome sound), John Lee Hooker's The Healer (I heard the original CD sounds pretty good too), Curtis Mayfield's Curtis, Police's Synchronicity, Steve Winwood's Arc Of A Diver (really jumps out with awesome SQ), Sting's Dream Of The Blue Turtles and Vangelis' Chariots of Fire.

The Joe Jackson Night And Day MFSL CD sounded a bit warmer than the early West Germany AM+ disc and is my favourite digital version at the moment. Still, the original Dutch vinyl sounds much warmer, so I'm still looking for a better sounding digital version.

I have Don Henley's Building The Perfect Beast and U2's War. Both might be the best sounding version, but to my ears they don't improve on the original recording, which is very 80's cold on the Don Henley disc and downright bad on the U2 disc. I hardly play them.

I have U2's The Unforgettable Fire and it is the best sounding version I have heard. I like the album a lot and this digital version finally managed to get the sound of the wall behind my speakers, and give the soundstage some depth. I also have Pink Floyd's Meddle and Dark Side Of The Moon, and although (a lot of) other forum members disagree, I think they are the best sounding versions. I compared my Meddle MFSL to sound clips in the Meddle comparison thread and I still like it the most. And yes, I hear clearly that the DSOTM MFSL sounds extremely different than all other versions, but I just like its sonic character. I'm not bothered by its smiley faced EQ (which is done with care to my ears) and I love the very black background and smoothy relaxedness that MFSL got into the sound. I do also own the Sony mastered Harvest Black Face for DSOTM, but I keep returning to the MFSL.

Supertramp's Crime Of The Century is another disc that sounds very different from the original with its jaw dropping dynamics. I like it a lot on my main system, but in most other listening situations a more compressed version sounds nicer (I currently use a Speakers Corner vinyl rip in those situations).

Finally Stevie Wonder's Innervisions. It sounds nice and beefy, but I prefer the Audio Fidelity hybrid SACD for its more open and slightly warmer sound.

 

And neither is criticizing another’s post. Let’s hear your choices on the OT’s topic.


Mine:

S&G: Bookends
Elton: Yellow Brick Road
Cream: Disraeli Gears
Dave Mason: Alone Together
Joe Walsh: Barnstorm
Steve Winwood: Arc Of A Diver

 

Get the SHM one.

 

Folk Singer, Murmur, Reckoning, Oranges and Lemons, Chuck Berry twofer, Kinks first 2 twofer

 

I prefer the the DJM of GBYBR and the original 1st MCA mastering of Madman. I feel the DJM/1st MCA of GBYBR has a nicer midrange which gives it more life like sound. The Sony repeating CSR (3xCSR) pressing of Japan for US MCA of GBYBR is exactly the same as the DJM, and may also be the first worldwide pressing given repeating CSR's are a determiner of a very early pressing. I only have the Japan for US of Madman on the MCA front so not sure if it is same mastering as the USA pressings.

Anyhow those are the one's I prefer even if it may be a minority opinion. Please note the MFSL's of both are excellent even a tad short of being my favorite on Digital.

Hi,

SHM-SACD for Stereo, and for Mono it pretty it's much a dead heat with the MFSL CD. So I guess I should add the MFSL on the Mono side given the virtual tie in my opinion.

 

Great thread!

Anyone who would like to post their favorite (or "best") MFSL SACDs can do so here: Your Favorite MFSL SACDs

 

Hi,

Thank you.

 

Except it's also one of the most expensive MFSL CDs to acquire. It must not have been a big seller for MFSL because it seems fewer copies circulate of it than others.

 

MFSL Silver disc of The Dead's Mars Hotel is just Superb...

 

Year of The Cat by Al Stewart