Hoffman Forums in Wash. Post: "How a Phoenix record store owner set the audiophile world on fire."

I don't know, I watched a couple of his videos lately and he comes off as far more reasonable than many of the descriptions of him here in the forums would have you believe.

 

Fremer is not the big bad evil. People are looking for a scapegoat here, and he seems convenient.

Fremer is articulate, wholly devoted to audio, and has been a champion of high quality vinyl and audio even during the very very tough couple of decades between 1988 and the end of the '10s.

His comments about how a professional should have interviewed MoFi were ill-conceived, but he's done a lot more good for the hobby than most.

 

I think I'd agree with this.

I watched a video of him yesterday where he was record shopping and someone was interviewing him about what to look for when buying records on a budget. He was really good in that one, looking for bargains, making jokes, etc.

 

Couldn’t agree more. The WaPo article makes Fremer out to be the bad guy even more than mofi. Something very odd about that. The level of vitriol directed at him on the ‘other’ thread is through the roof. Don’t think forum members would be allowed to talk about each other that way. I guess he’s considered big enough to take it.

 

I'm a vinyl guy but decidedly not an audiophile and I still find Michael Fremer to be interesting and even funny at times. He seems to have a sense of humor.

 

I've been to his shop every time one of my bands has played in the area, and bought some great stuff at his store (not the audiophile stuff, but some great collectibles).

 

He used to be really funny and witty, but Fremer has lost the plot recently. When he started berating Mike from the In Groove on Youtube about lacquers, I started to think that he's convinced himself that the only opinion that counts is his own.

He'd make a good politician, actually.

 

Thanks for posting this. I haven't had the time or the interest to sit through multiple videos or read 15,000 message board posts, so it's nice to get a well-written summary of the whole saga.

 

"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.”


I am sorry Randy, but the conclusion you draw from MoFi using digital files as a source for some of their vinyl reissues, is flawed.

Unless one has a MoFi reissue cut from an analog master, and is able to compare it to a MoFi reissue cut from a digital master, how do you know that "golden ears" couldn't tell the difference?

All this demonstrates, is that, MoFi got good results with a digital source. The only way to tell if "golden ears" could tell the difference between analog and digital sources, is to blind test vinyl cut from one of each.

But what we have, are reissue from a digital sources, with no analog sourced reissues to compare them to, so there is no way to tell if there is a difference between the sound of analog or digital sourced masters.

 

“Not that you can’t make good records with digital, but it just isn’t as natural as when you use the original tape,” - Bernie Grundman

We baby boomers grew up in the golden age of recording when records were cut in purely analog domain with no digital conversion along the way in the production chain. We got used to that warm sound of pure analog records.

The purists in us prefer no coversion to digital and that's why we hold on to our record collection and didn't totally embrace the redbook CD format. It's also one of the reasons why there's a vinyl resurgence because the sound of pure analog if done right is alluring to some of us with the right analog playback system.

To the newer generation maybe it's okay not to have pure analog records and it's understandable as they grew up in digital age where CD's were the most popular format.

Thanks to the advancements in digital technology such as higher resolution DSD or higher sampling PCM, digital is catching up with the warmth and easier-to-the-ears sound of the analog format.

I agree with you that the main issue is the lack of transparency. Why keeping it secret since 2016? Why keep on advertising that their reissues specially the more expensive One-Step series which includes a note on a thick paper claimimg that their records are being cut from original analog master sources ? Who do you think they are deceiving?

Thanks to the Phoenix record store owner, MoFi was cornerd and don't have other choices but to admit that their "Original Master Recordings" are actually being sourced from digital copies since 2016. Dishonesty, deception and not being upfront for several years now is the biggest problem.

One of my worries is that we are not really sure what digital resolution the lesser record reissue companies such as Friday Music and a few others are using to cut their records. I hope not of them is using mp3 or other low-resolution digital format such as the redbook CD technology as sources for their "audiophile" reissues. I'm glad this revelation and fiasco happened now than at a later time.

 

As far as I'm aware companies like Friday Music, and Music on Vinyl have always used high-res audio files. To give them credit though, they've never claimed otherwise.

 

Geoff from the wapo article mentions something similar in regards to Mike E when he did his 45rpm YouTube interview. He gives credit to Mike E for being the actual person invited and to fly out there, and he did ultimately get mofi to admit to their dsd step. Geoff (as an actual journalist) believes the fact that he is a record store owner and came in not with all guns blazing, but just coming across as a fellow nice nerdy vinyl guy, is the reason mofi felt comfortably inviting him in the first place.

I guess sometimes it helps to not go in all hardcore guns blazing and accusatory

 

It's not a Mofi, but I've been wondering about this one for days now. Is this all analogue?

 

I don't think the AAA crowd particularly has a lot to do with vinyl's resurgence.

 

If you don't think there's just as much "profits/flipping" amongst the MoFi One-Step crowd as with ANY other segment of vinyl buyers (regardless of how expensive their turntable is or isn't), you're 100% kidding yourself.

 

If that's the 2009, then yes. All those Neil reissues were AAA I believe, he insisted on it!
Semi-hot take: I have this reissue along with a really nice Artisan original, and I prefer the original based on EQ choices and just the way everything "sits right" in the mix. Might be fresher tapes or just the mastering. Same with a Lee Hulko Harvest vs. the reissue.
But others LOVE the Neil reissues, and prefer them to originals.... and in fact, my go-to's for Everybody Knows and Rust Never Sleeps are the reissue versions. Honestly, unless you already have a clean Artisan, I think this particular cut will be your final copy.

 

all of the Neil Young vinyl reissues are supposedly AAA. The couple that I've heard have sounded incredible.

 

Well, I know a different Michael Fremer, I had a personal experience with him where he offered to help me sort out some vinyl I had bought when in France and I live thousands of miles away from him!

JG

 

I have a similar opinion, but I will say this, if you don't have Neil Young originals, these reissues are as good as it gets!

JG

 

Fremer was right about lacquers and Mike E talking out of his butt. Fremer has lacquers that he uses as sound demos at audiophile shows. They haven't turned to dust yet.

 

Well, in all honesty, Fremer DOES have a point, but I think it would have meant getting it to the level where Jim Davis was involved, and the meeting between the engineers and Mike Esposito might have flown under Davis' radar initially.

 

I believe it's the analog advocates (audiophile reissue companies, the analog format fans, audiophile forums) who have kept the vinyl format from dying.

 

The key point is surely whether MOFI has been misleading people over the years. It is a label we have trusted.
Sadly, we now know various labels have been using weasel words to describe whether their product is analogue, or all analogue, or from the original master tapes or whatever.
The key is transparency, particularly if we are buying what is meant to be a premium product.
I think many of us accept these days that there is likely some digital part in the transfer to vinyl, even from analogue tapes E.g. for tape preservation. As a consumer I just want to know the facts, so I can make my own decision.
I buy several vinyl albums on Blue Note, not least because Kevin Gray has done the mastering.
I also buy albums on vinyl where I know there has been or likely been some digital step E.g. if it’s a remastering by a good mastering engineer and the used price of an original is ridiculous. I can’t recall what the Prince reissues are but they sound great.
MOFi needs to rebuild trust. The issue is how far it comes clean, not whether folks can’t tell the difference between analogue and digital.

 

I think he's upset because while he waited patently for a reply from Mofi, another guy came in with guns-a-blazing and got the story and the glory. In this age of instant information you can't operate like a fax machine.