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

I don't want them to go under, but I want my money back, and the only way to do that is through a class action. I don't have any receipts from my purchases (that weren't from mofi direct) and I doubt they are going to voluntarily send out refunds.

 

Yes, you can tell us your personal preferences and opinions. You can even try to paint them as universal truths. Doesn't mean they are . . .

 

Did you try contacting them for a refund?

 

I wonder if anybody has tried arranging something like this with them.

 

What took so long then?

 

I've asked in previous threads that if you found out tomorrow that your favorite Classic Rock act had all their songs ghost-written while most of the music was performed in the studio by expert but uncredited jazz musicians, would that affect your enjoyment of the music?

Because it really shouldn't. First, that process describes most of Motown and latter-day Steely Dan, the quality of which very few people dispute and secondly, isn't what comes out of the speakers what really matters here? You don't listen to publishing notices and performer credits.

Similarly, if you thought the One-Step of a particular title was one of the greatest LPs you ever heard, finding out there was an intermediate hi-rez digital copy in the pathway shouldn't change your opinion of that record, either.

 

How would they possibly agree to this. How could they be certain they people they are sending money to actually have copies in their possession? Anyone could just send in pictures of vinyl asking for refunds. They could ask us to send in our copies and then we'd be refunded, but no one is going to pay all that shipping. Not them, and certainly not us. Ergo, class action is the only option.

 

Does any of it matter to this overall story though, Bill?

 

Yeah, but again, don’t forget that MoFi are also running that 4xDSD through whatever is in that custom De Parvinci system they use. Probably tubes and whatever other analog sweeteners that further help a DSD source get back closer to sounding like pure analog.

If anybody gets from all of this that they can just buy these run of the mill digital vinyl reissues that the majors often put out and not hear any difference to vintage analog pressings, I think they will be very disappointed.

MoFi’s dishonesty is one thing, but let’s face it, part of the reason they were able to pull this off is probably because of how much analog they are using in combination with the highest digital resolution possible.

 

Since you’re in the US, what would shipping be? $20 for a bunch of titles?

 

I think people either don't want to listen or just can't!!
I just watch a video where he says a good source told him the Dire Straits master tape was at MFSL.

From that how do you get where he is saying the entire mastering proses MFSL did with the tape they had in hand and cut lacquer from it? How would he know that?

We also know only by the mastering engineers words at MFSL from the video interview Mike did. They get the tapes, they do digital & tape transfers if they can't take the tapes back to MFSL. However they master in both analog and digital, from the master, copy tape or digital file, then do a shootout to listen to what they like best. They even said they go to the extent of getting the lacquers plated and pressed so they can listen to it on vinyl to make a final choice.

Even if someone sat in for some of these mastering sessions or all of them, how is anyone going to know what was actually picked as the final choice. Maybe they cut lacquers from different sources and all the above is true, doesn't mean the final product was cut AAA from the master tape.

 

This. Huzzah!

 

This will never get to court unless an individual foots the legal bill. There is not enough money involved to make worth a class action suit. You are probably talking $5 million at most.
The most that will happen is MOFI will stop the one step program and perhaps revert to only issuing albums which they can gain access to the original tapes. Which means that we’ll only see obscure jazz, classical and MOR vocalists.

 

Yeah but aren’t your records worth quite a bit more than you paid for them anyway? So you want to keep your great sounding records and receive a full refund?

 

They could simply agree to pay the purchase cost + the return shipping upon the receipt of a valid copy of the album. It's not rocket science. But I agree that if they fail to voluntarily correct the fallout of false advertising, they should then be subject to a class action.

 

Again, we all interpret things differently based on the totality of the information, usually discounting the info from the subject.

I do not believe his own words misrepresented himself.

He actually gave them great reviews. I previously posted links.
Maybe Mr. Davis just does not like him nor need him?

Davis knew, he got on an airplane.
A phone call would have stopped it.
Pretty sure if the owner called the phone would be answered. Not to mention it was on YouTube 2 days in advance.

Mike E's video was made at MOFI, with their facilities, personnel and cooperation.
Permission.
Sounds official to me?
Even after the video and before aired it could have been stopped: cease and desist.
They likely gave him a release.

There is something rotten in Denmark.

 

It’s shi**y that they lied but honestly I hope the MoFi lawyers mop the floor with any suits brought against them.

Trying to put a company out of business over this is bonkers.

Some of y’all have lost all perspective.

 

Got it. As for the latter, based on my own experience (plus the 2007 AES paper by Meyer & Moran), I think that indeed, most people in fact couldn't tell under normal circumstances (meaning non-synthetic stimuli and normal listening levels).

But I got your point.

 

Al Schmitt did.
(I'm thinking Bill Evans "You Must Believe in Spring")

 

They will not do that. They don't even offer to foot the shipping bill now to send out replacement for damaged vinyl you bought from them.

 

I see your point with the industry as a whole, however. outside of some brickwalled, compressed version, does the minute differences a standard-priced album vs an audiophile version really make one enjoy the content any less? The standard Sony Legacy Kind of Blue that you find on the shelf today (stereo version) was mastered by Kevin Gray and sounds fantastic. The difference between that version and the UHQR is not really night and day IMO. Especially for $100 difference.

 

I don't think that any lawsuit would be successful....

1) Looking at the specific words used by Mo-Fi I don't think a lawyer could prove there was dileberate misrepresentation; outright falsification ("or lying"). This is why Mo-Fi's apology was worded the way it was. They will never admit to mis-leading the consumer

2) Even if one could prove falsification or misrepresentation, it will be even more difficult to prove damages (financial or emotional ) to the consumer.

 

We buy COKE made in Mexico, they still use good old fashioned bad for you sugar and you can taste the difference.
Widely available in Southern California.

 

within the constraints of their business model.

within the constraints of their business model.

 

Trust me there are many lawyers out there happy to take a cut of 5 million bucks.