What Is Happening With MoFi?

Maybe mofi is looking long and hard at their current business plan. Some of their vinyl releases have not sold well. Maybe they are realizing that with items like the One Step boxes, customers are willing to pay for a product that actually is a major improvement over other re-pressings and the original as well. For example, I bought the Silver Series pressing of Street Survivors from Lynyrd Skynyrd. It's not that good. The original blows it away. It's obvious that they didn't use the master tape, so I don't know why they bothered. What they should have done is waited until they got the master tape and do One Step reissue that would hopefully shock and awe like the other One Step releases have. Apparently people don't mind paying for QUALITY. Give me a major sonic upgrade and I'll gladly hand over $125.

 

And the One-Step What's Going On is also #1 bestseller at Acoustic Sounds.

 

By percentages the numbers are fairly significant but by actual volume vinyl still pales

 

Any idea how this compares to the $125 MoFi version??

 

It hasn't come out yet.

 

Maybe I’m misunderstanding you, but MOFI presses their records in California. They print their jackets in California. They operate their mastering facility in California and they license American recordings from American record labels. If you want to import that, you’re going to have to pay shipping and possibly duties. Just like anything else you might like to import.

Can we put this topic to rest? It’s not even what this thread is meant to be about. Let’s get back to speculating about the demise of a business based on absolutely nothing.

 

The Silver Series was there, for titles which weren't for any reason able to use the original mixdown master tape. Whether a tape had issues for whatever reason, a safety copy had to be used, or the title wasn't up to Original Master Recording standards.

 

I agree. I'm relatively new to audiophile and for me the Mofi Dylans were the right product at the right time. I may be in a very large minority there. There are 4 titles for Dire Straits with Mofi (meaning 8 products SACD and Vinyl) that appear to have been either delayed or abandoned because (it seems) of competing releases by others. I wonder if there is a concern about being second to market on these titles? If so, planned releases may not eventuate even though they are authorised and capital invested into the licensing may be at risk. The One-Step Titles are a unique product (or billed that way) so a much safer investment for Mofi.

 

I understand the reason for the silver series. Not worth doing in my opinion. Why bother when the sound of an original beats it???

 

Not everybody can find originals, or originals in near mint condition. In my area, in Eastern Tennessee, Lynyrd Skynyrd LP discs are seriously hard to find in anything but abused, partied hard condition, These records took a lot of abuse and hard living. And the demand for copies is very high. The supply of copies is very limited. Less than 10% of the available survivors are in anywhere close to playable condition on a good system.

 

I would like opinions on the Pure Pleasure version compared to this Acoustic Sounds version, if anyone has heard both.

The PP version beat my originals.

And to keep this thread on topic, I cannot wait for the MOFI One Step version.

 

The SACDs are pressed in Austria as far as I know.

 

Just an aside related to this topic, about 7 years ago my girlfriend and I were doing a cross-country Amtrak trip and we were seated with another couple in the dining room. Sometimes this can be awkward but usually people just talk about their destinations, where they have been, etc. This older couple, who were from the Midwest if memory serves, mentioned that their son owned a record company or something along those lines and they eventually mentioned MFSL. I knew a bit about the origins of the company and about Brad Miller so when they mentioned their sons name I drew a blank, but they seemed very proud that they had finally found SOMEONE who knew about the company and who was praising it up and down.

Well turns out that their son owns Music Direct and evidently they bought up the MFSL catalog after Brad died and/or left the biz. It wasn’t more than a couple of days later that I received a nice note from the president of the company thanking me for spending time with his parents and he included a full catalog of the Music Direct offerings.

 

The bog standard Universal Music reissues are better than the Rod Stewart Silver Label releases! An original EPTAS (UK) blows both versions out of the water.

 

The Ryan Adams Silver Series is so much better than the original Love is Hell releases. It’s a mixed bag and should be considered on a title by title basis.

 

The same for Miles Davis alums. The Mofi were the only way to go, with local supply either non existent, worn and always overpriced. I have some of the Skynyrd for the same reason.

 

Just checked a couple: Aretha's Gold only says "Made in the USA"; Pixies' Doolittle doesn't say anything; Dylan's Desire is made in Austria; In A Silent Way stipulates Austria, but Kind Of Blue says nothing; Santana's Caravanserai says nothing; Music From Big Pink seems to have been made by EMI in Hollywood.

Seems to be a bit of a mix.

 

All SACDs are made in Austria. Only SACD plant outside of Japan.

 

So they're made in the EU yet we have to import them from the USA. That's great.

 

I was thinking of vinyl when I said they were pressed in California, of course. I always forget how popular SACD seems to be on this forum. Still, they’re manufactured in Austria for the US market. That’s how licensing works. MOFI would have to pony up more money and probably deal with additional record label subsidiaries to license titles for release in other countries. And then they’d have to line up distribution and take even less profit. It likely doesn’t make good business sense.

And this is still off topic.

 

Exactly my point. Never should a reissue organization put out something that doesn't improve upon the original, unless it's something so rare that just equaling the sound is sufficient. In this day and age with Ebay, originals can be found on most records at anytime in great condition. Mofi appears to be realizing that with the One Step series. Put out a product that actually gets me closer to the master tape than anything prior, and people will line up to buy it. I'm laughing now as I recall James Earl Jones' speech to Kevin Costner near the end of "Field of Dreams." Allow me to change it a little to fit this situation:

"And they’ll pass over the money without even thinking about it, for it is money they have and good sound they lack. It’ll be as if they’d dipped themselves in magic waters. The memories will be so thick, they’ll have to brush them away from their faces."

And they did. Everyone thought Mofi was nuts at charging $100 per record. No way it could be worth it! For the most part, all that changed once people played the One Steps. Suddenly, money was not a barrier any longer. Give people a great sounding record, and they WILL buy it. They will come.

 

Simon and Garfunkel - Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme (Numbered Edition Hybrid SACD)
In stock at musicdirect

 

Thanks for that! I made an order only two hours ago, so I'll add it in to my next order, when Miles Smiles SACD is released.

 

SACD isn't just popular on this forum, but pretty much every audiophile forum I am on.

 

It has the 'Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab' banner instead of 'Original Master Recording'. Were the master tapes lost or damaged?