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

Marlin Perkins!

 

I didn't get that from the article at all. I got that they regret the way it was handled. In any event, once Mike Esposito put out his video, Mofi had to do something. It seems Wood, according to the article, acted in a manner that left Jim Davis out of the picture until the end (and even then Mr. Davis couldn't stop the train).

Any way this worked out, they could never continue to hide the truth. In all respects doing nothing would have been tantamount to admitting digital was involved. And continuing the lie, would have been worse once they were truly found out.

Obviously, even though they will still sell a lot of Mofi product, both Music Direct and Mofi's reputations have taken a hit. How they recoil from this whole thing is what is in front of them now.

 

Mofi will never recover from this debacle! They will continue selling the digital stuff at the cost of their legacy. They never should use the word ANALOG on their site.

 

Some takeaways from the article:

Jim Davis did not approve the interview.
MoFi makes up approximately 20% of their combined MD/MoFi gross sales.

More Updates:

Weezer Blue
1/2" / 30 IPS analog master to DSD 64

Patricia Barber a distortion of love
Digital clone of original PCM digital master direct to lathe

Billy Joel Glass houses, Inocent Man, The Stranger
1/4" / 15 IPS / Dolby A analog master to DSD 64

Stll nothing on Tigerlilly, Eric Clapton or Marvin Gaye One Step

 

Not an oversimplification or misrepresentation at all. Many audiophiles with whom I have interacted over the years have sworn up and down that they can hear even the faintest of digital on a recording ... the golden eared crowd. Their egos notwithstanding, this entire debacle should at least bring them down a notch or two since the purported analog recordings, the virtues of which they have extolled, have a digital component in the chain that they did not "hear."

 

Care to be more specific?

 

The point of what you're saying here (boldfaced above) is much narrower than what you were quoted as saying in the WP:

And Randy Braun, a music lover, Hoffman message board member and lawyer in New York, hopes that, in the end, the MoFi revelation will prove what he’s been saying for years, that the anti-digital crowd has been lying to itself: “These people who claim they have golden ears and can hear the difference between analog and digital, well, it turns out you couldn’t.”

The difference may be due in part to the interviewer's interpretation/presentation of your quote, but regardless, the conclusion of the piece does what I said: it oversimplifies and misrepresents the analog vs digital debate.

 

- MFSL lied (again!) in this interview about the earliest album they used DSD on.
- MFSL = $9M/year in profit, so obviously not hurting, but not in as good a financial position as I had assumed.
- The writer fell into the "analog VS digital" trap as opposed to holding MFSL's feet to the fire regarding the lying and cover-up.
- The industry person who agrees with using digital is one who has a vested interest in digital (Plangent) so hardly an unbiased view which should have been counterbalanced by someone who has experience in using both but prefers AAA (such as our host).
- "Going forward, all MoFi cutting will incorporate DSD."

 

NO ONE says that they have "golden ears." And no one's going "down a notch" more certainly than MoFi.

 

+1

 

To be clear, speaking for myself, I’m not annoyed at anybody for how they feel about this regarding their own purchases. That’s their business, and their right. I’m just a bit confounded by it.

 

So basically the concept of a $125 record is a bunch of BS, is what I’m getting out of this. And $60 for a digital double 45 even seems a bit out of hand.

 

If you pay for the Apple News App on your apple device, you can read the article as well. You may be able to read it if you don't subscribe (I'm not certain what comes with the free version). How a Phoenix record store owner set the audiophile world on fire — The Washington Post

 

Yes, it's BS and a distortion of the market, motivated almost certainly by sheer greed. And ego on the part of MoFi, truth be told.

 

Good article. Still crazy MoFi hasn’t come out with any sort of video explaining why the feel the dad step is the best and apologizing

 

One thing that stands out is Michael Esposito's back story (briefly mentioned). Very impressive!!

 

IMO, the key takeaway from the article (much of which otherwise reads like a synopsis of the first 200-300 pages of this thread):

Davis, the owner, not only didn’t invite Esposito but also didn’t learn about the visit until after Wood had extended the invitation. He tried to get to Sebastopol for the tour but said that a long line at a rental car check-in left him arriving at MoFi headquarters only after Esposito was finished.

By then, the damage was done. Last week, Wood was asked whether he regretted the interview with the engineers. He broke down.

“I regret everything, man,” he said.

Davis also did not appreciate the interview. Music Direct’s stereo equipment business brings in revenue of more than $40 million a year, and MoFi earned about $9 million last year. But the record company has just a handful of full-time staffers and no crisis-management plan. He doesn’t blame the engineers for what happened

“I mean, it was not a well-thought-out plan,” says Davis. “Let’s put it that way.”

 

I think the article definitely held their feet to the fire too. That they lied and handled this bs rather badly. And they knew how badly it was right when Esposito posted his first interview.

Hell they still haven't come out and spoke to us. But the digital analog thing is a very real thing too.

 

Don't think Fremer came off looking good in that article.

And 9 million in revenue - mentally adding up the value of cancelled orders in just this thread, they've taken a fair whack already.

 

I did listen to that video comparison for Fragile. I actually liked D a lot, which was the Steve Wilson REMIX. From my cheap headphones on my computer, I can understand what he was going for with the remix. There was clarity as well as bass definition. But let's be honest, that's a remix from the multi-tracks. Not really a fair comparison to those who had to work with the actual master tape. The UK, while very clean, could lend itself to brightness in some parts, which of course wasn't fully evident on my inexpensive headphones. It was sort of similar to the AP pressing, which I did own at one time and did compare to the One Step. The AP, for some reason in my system, was missing something. It didn't have quite the bloom of the UK nor the bass of the One Step. The One Step did solve some problems of harshness in spots, but can come across as too warm and bass heavy on some systems. There's no magic cure UNLESS you do what Steve Wilson did and remix it. I guess I just feel that while it sounds the best, it is sort of "cheating" and not really giving me the original mix I know and love.

 

How a Phoenix record store owner set the audiophile world on fire
MoFi Records claimed its expensive reissues were purely analog reproductions. It had been deceiving its customer base for years

 

MoFi came off looking far worse.

 

The Washington Post)
The fallout of the MoFi revelation has thrown the audiophile community into something of an existential crisis. The quality of digitized music has long been criticized because of how much data was stripped out of files so MP3s could fit on mobile devices. But these days, with the right equipment, digital recordings can be so good they can fool even the best ears. Many of MoFi’s now-exposed records were on Fremer and Esposito’s own lists of the best sounding analog albums.

Jamie Howarth, whose Plangent Processes uses digital technology to restore sound and whose work has earned praise for Neil Young and Bruce Springsteen reissues, wishes MoFi had come clean years ago and proudly told its customers that their prized records sounded best because of the digital step. He understands why it didn’t. It was terrified of being attacked by analog-or-bust audiophiles.

“One of the reasons they want to excoriate MoFi is for lying,” says Howarth. “The other part that bothers them is that they’ve been listening to digital all along and they’re highly invested in believing that any digital step will destroy their experience. And they’re wrong.”

Wood says that MoFi decided to add DSD not for convenience but because its engineers felt they could help improve their records. He remembers hearing MoFi’s reissue of Santana’s “Abraxas” in 2016. “My mind was blown when we got the test pressings back,” he said.

Wood says MoFi takes great care in capturing the digital file. It won’t simply accept a link from a record company. If a master tape can’t be couriered to Sebastopol, MoFi will send engineers with their equipment to capture it. Having a file allows them to tinker with the recordings if they’re not pleased with a test pressing and make another. He says he is disappointed in himself for not being upfront but that, from here on out, MoFi will properly label its recordings. A revised One-Step card has already been crafted for upcoming releases featuring Van Halen, Cannonball Adderley and the Eagles.

And Randy Braun, a music lover, Hoffman message board member and lawyer in New York, hopes that, in the end, the MoFi revelation will prove what he’s been saying for years, that the anti-digital crowd has been lying to itself: “These people who claim they have golden ears and can hear the difference between analog and digital, well, it turns out you couldn’t.”

Alice Crites contributed to this report.

 

So much for the idea that this was some sort of genius controlled release of info on MoFi's part.

 

Hey folks. Just wanted to say hello as a member and also thank you for the lively discussions and debates (on this thread and elsewhere) that make this forum so enjoyable to read. I know folks will have all sorts of opinions about our story but as a reporter - and no audio expert - I hope you'll appreciate that it is written for a wider audience and with an attempt to bring in different opinions and voices. Anyway...