Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab has been cutting vinyl from digital since a long, long time ago...

Bingo

 

Probably because Mofi trained us that the sound they were achieving was all analog for many years. This all digital thing was inconceivable to many of us who took Mofi at their word over dozens of releases.

 

That almost sounds creepy. They trained us to hear analogue from digital. Thats quite a feat.

 

Yes, we can pull a "why should they care?" element from the post, but it would be short-cited to stop there and not realize the exposure of pomposity that is more primary to the statement. If one is so sure of singular "dimension" and the absence of "naturalness" in digital, then one should have been able to identify the problem even in this veritable blindfold situation. Otherwise they're just displaying a boastful absorption of meaningless or ambiguous high-end snake-oil advertising language.

 

Wrong yet again. No basis for comparison means whatever is present can't be compared so none of this is relevant.

 

My major beef with this whole thing is not the sound but the fact that MoFi's deception has caused inflated prices. Also, if it's digital, why the need to produce such limited numbers? If what is known now was known then, I don't believe they would have commanded such high prices on the aftermarket, which is the only way I've been able to get them, for the most part. I have collector tendencies and have a conundrum: Take Dylan--I've got all of the Dylan monos and everything MoFi had put out from his later catalog (although my Blood on the Tracks is the 33 1/3 not the One Step) and was rounding the bend on the early Dylan stereos. Do I still complete them? I'm almost done. At this point I would like to finish the set for completion purposes but I'm not wanting to pay $150+ for each one now. So hopefully the prices will come down. I wouldn't rule out buying another new MoFi release after that point as long as the price is decent, but this situation certainly put a huge dent in my enthusiasm.

 

You're not "doing both." You're ignoring the real issue because you personally don't care about it.

 

We're talking past each other on this issue.

 

Well to be fair

Michael 45 rpm has tons and tons of videos where he raves up and down about the Mofi releases
Especially One Steps

Doing one or two where he chose an AP over a Mofi isn’t rocket science

He has recently said he will be actually listening to original lps for comparison
So that is a good focus to add proper insight to his reviews

 

This is way off topic in an already too-long thread, but I enjoyed hearing that about War Greatest Hits gold RSD as well. Not surprisingly, discogs shows over 10 sales of this record the since yesterday. Prior to that, there hadn't been a sale on discogs since January. I happened to get my copy a couple months ago, so good timing on my part.

Also off topic, I listened to preview of the Kirsten Edkins record Kevin Gray is putting out on his new label (at the bottom of this Analog Planet article) and it sounds really good. I found the drum mic'ing particularly impressive.

 

No more competition for AP....they are the last major Analog player.

 

The limited numbers might be a licensing thing: the owners of the rights to the master will set a limit to the numbers of copies.

I think the secondary market prices are outrageous. The prices they ask. Look at Abraxas, which you can not obtain for less than $ 2,000,-. Not because it is rare, because on Discogs there are no less than 13 complete and very good or mint copies for sale! That’s a lot. And it wouldn’t surprise me when if one gets sold some sellers wouldn’t even have to change their description, because they have another copy!

 

Right. But I suspect the emphasis they’d add in a legal argument would be SOURCE MATERIAL.

The albums were sourced from the original masters. And material could refer to tape, but it could also refer to any storage format.

As pathetic and dishonest as it is that they word salad their way around reality, my point wasn’t anything other than this clearly seems to be a company who has thought about how to word their deception. So the argument that; “Oh…sorry our customers took our wording to mean something it wasn’t” is truly, truly pathetic.

I suspect that the goal was to deceive and cover their backsides. It’s one of the most dishonest relationships from a music label with its customers we have ever seen.

 

I did the same thing: I’ve emailed and used the messaging function on the MD website. I can see my orders have been deleted, but my account remains intact and so I will follow that up. Thank you for the prompt.

I outlined the reasons for the cancellation: I presume that they will be capturing that internally.

On a more positive note, I used the funds released from the MD preorders to place an order for the Bill Evans Riverside Collection, having heard rave reviews from @Mazzy and others.

 

I’m in the UK. I buy OneSteps. I’ve cancelled $3k worth of orders (preorders for OneSteps and backorders).

So that’s one person.

 

I believed that they were from the mastertapes, but not that they were AAA And stop accusing me of lying!

 

The competition will be from original copies because people are sick of the overpriced reissues.

 

Don’t confuse the limited number thing. That is always dictated by the label. Third parties pay for a specific limited license. Quantity , time duration , speed 33 or 45 etc. it ain’t t all you can eat

 

Folks keep posting that it is invalid to say that others cant hear digital if there is not an analogue example to compare it with. In other words, we must have a digital copy and analogue copy of the same album mastered the same and then compare the two.

Seems some are just swallowing this as fact or being bullied into believing this. That this is the only way to prove that one can or cannot hear the difference.

If my ears supposedly know what analogue sounds like then my basis and foundation is already there in my memory. If I know, for example, what digital sheen sounds like or analogue warmth sounds like then having actual lps made of both analogue and digital to compare shouldnt be an absolute requirement.

I already should have a foundation from hearing what digital sounds like so many times before. Or vice versa.

I dont have to have an lp that has really heavy bass eq and compare it to another that doesnt. I know it does because I know what that eq sounds like. Ive heard it before. When I heard Abbey Road 2009 mastering, I knew the album was bass heavy in comparison to what Id already heard in the '87. I didnt have to go hunt down a copy to compare. I knew from memory.

I cant see where digital and analogue would be any different in that I would absolutely need analogue and digital lps side by side to tell. If one has heard that sound then one should be able to detect it from memory, yes?

 

It’s hard to find some original titles and even harder to find ones in excellent condition. I think AP has a limited number of analog master tapes that they can get their hands on so are they going to rely on what they bought from Classic Records and more obscure titles? Is that sustainable?

 

Well, we know now since his reputation has gone up in smoke, that it says his ears are no better than anyone else's for detecting that evil 'digital' sound (at least at a high quality DSD level). I'm sure if ABKCO wasn't forthcoming about the source, he would be saying they are the best analog issues out there.

 

You literally cannot give records higher praise than to say that they are better than the original pressings. I know people want to hate Michael Fremer but at least give the guy credit for praising a good-sounding digital set without prejudice.

 

Correct, people do need to remember that reissue companies are limited by the quantity in the license. But I think there is a legitimate question (to which we'll probably never know the answer): how much was the limited quantity insisted on by the rights holders vs. a strategic proposal by MoFi itself?

Is it possible that the rights holders for a lot of these albums would have happily agreed to a much higher quantity (especially since it would not require more use of the master tapes) but MoFi wanted to keep it lower and more limited to create perceived scarcity and/or to save on upfront licensing costs? We can't know for sure, of course.

 

And because they have done and many of you decided they are if a sudden aren’t worth it, you now only have AP of the bigger ones. And he limits what he releases so unless he changes course it’s not like the non classic stuff you could get at MOFI will move to AP.

This is simple. Of course there is speculation to this, but that is what managing a market entails. Projection and speculation. There was AP and MOFI of the bigger audiophile labels. Now that some of you have decided to treat them as something less than because they have a digital step in the chain, won’t by from them anymore and want them to close up shop (some people), you will be down to one. Not that Chad/AP WILL take advantage of that but he COULD and a really good business man would.

 

Yes, exactly the point.