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

"Beat me to it, by that much!" Max says to Agent 99

 

They are a private company. Unless someone offers to buy them, or they decide to sell off MoFi, how would the ownership change? They only have a handful of employees as well.

 

Which bodes even worse for them, because without a change of ownership, I would think their ongoing business ethics are going to result in greater damage.....

 

Hey!
We had a Red Rooster, it was a one-off from the early '60s, it should still be there, referred to as the Red Rooster in Brewster (NY), though probably in Pauling, NY. See https://www.redroosterdrivein.com/
Next door was the Hotel Bel-Air. And there was a 7-11 across the street with gas pumps.
I said to my wife: "Let's sell all our **** and move up to Brewster. We can live at the Bel-Air and eat at the Red Rooster. And if anybody asks, we are living in Bel-Air.
She would not buy it.

 

Pig Virus!

 

Well done, Mike F.

 

Well , they could negotiate a buy back program , but no one here would want to give up their albums.

Still waiting for a clearout in the classifieds

 

They lied for over a decade, and they only stopped once they were caught. Music Direct and MoFi will never get another cent of my money.

 

I don't get why Fremer is so obsessed with this whole "journalist" thing? An official "journalist" should have been the one conducting the interview to tell the story correctly? What are we missing?

 

I just did a direct A/B comparison of the Band self titled 45rpm from the box set and the MFSL. The MFSL wins by a pretty wide margin for me. Definitely liked the Big Pink 45 more than the self-titled. A bit too polished and bright maybe. Wasn’t terrible but the MFSL had more thump, sounded warmer.

 

Watch out, you're going to make Mazzy jealous

 

All I read is a lot of different people and their part in the story. All walks of life who have at least one thing in common. Vinyl music. Some of them make records, some sell them. Some hide secrets behind boardroom decisions. Some seek to expose them. Some seeth from their silence. Lawyers, engineers, small businessmen. All of them affected by a decision not to have an ounce of integrity or a shred of transparency. Instead , we get double speak and a roomful of mirrors .

 

For those thinking the SRV DSD64 transfer to One Step is the same as the SACD, it is way off. Been listening to CSTW all night. Now on my fourth version. Played in order, the SACD, the MasterSound, the One Step, and now an OG vinyl. Have one more to go through.

Digitally, I'm playing from files to a native DSD DAC through Roon. The digital path is (everything) to 2xDSD via HQPlayer using ASDM7ECv2.

The SACD was ripped to DSF files as DSD64. Playing back upsampled to 2xDSD. This is the worst sounding so far by a wide margin. Sounds like the tape was slowed. Highs are cut off and a Texas drawl type sound was added to the overall sound. Of the four I've heard so far tonight, this is about as bad as it gets.

The MasterSound file ripped goes through poly-sinc-guass. Normally I use poly-sinc-ext2 but that was giving me a headache on this version as it was too bright. Guass is my go-to upsampling algorithm in these cases as it shaves off that brittleness and gives better phase and timing effects than ext2. Ext2 isn't has time sensitive as guass but is more dynamic has holds more upper frequency snap. Anyway, guass for this to soften it a bit. Blows away the DSD. Not even a contest. Everything sounds more natural, vocals, guitars, drums, cymbals, all of it is better than the Mofi SACD.

The One Step is clearly a different mastering than the SACD. It sound much more like the MasterSound CD but with more grit and soul. More detail with body. Winner by a large margin over the SACD. Winner over the MasterSound as it's less bright but has more detail and body. It sounds right.

An OG Epic. Phew, timber sounds like the One Step but lacking transient response and detail on Side 1. It's nicer to listen to than the two digital version but misses the dynamics and detail of the One Step. The MasterSound could slightly beat the Epic on detail retrieval if you can tame it as I do with a different upsampling method. The OG is more palatable with a smoother easier to enjoy sound without having your head ripped off sound of the MasterSound.
Side 2 of the OG is mesmerizing though. I might have to revisit this vs the One Step. As I write this while listening, The Roughest Part of Town is sweeter here than on the the One Step. The One Step gives you more details but this gives better emotion and fun listen. Glad I pulled this back out of the sell pile.

I still have one more vinyl reissue to play that I probably won't get to tonight but a long story short, the MOFI SACD isn't even close to being on par with the other three I've heard so far tonight. Since the One Step was sourced from DSD64 I think we can assume the SACD was sourced from the same place but it is not nearly the same caliber of recording as the other three in this list. It's not even in the back seat. It might not even be in the same vehicle. It is so different it tells me it is a completely different mastering even though it's probably from the same source as the One Step.

Long story in a nut shell. Don't trade those One Steps for the SACD and think it is a sideways move.

 

Perhaps MoFi nailed their digital post a/d conversion mastering tweaking on that one, and a few others

This x 1000

In a lot of cases I can immediately tell the remaster missed it’s mark

You know how the album sounds or should sound. The essence of the original or other definitive release sounds.

Such disappointment, pretty obvious, No comparison necessary

Mike Esposito in his wrap up final Youtube video said he was at MoFi 6 hours
It’s well worth watching (use 1.5 x speed)

Stick with your UK originals
The Mofi sound lifeless in comparison

The EC Bert Bacharach Painted From Memory MoFi is very nice and warm

Mr Fremer was certainly not the only one

 

Are all the journalism experts going to rush to the defense of the WaPo writer or do you just do that for Fremer?

 

Where is John Madden when we really need him? How about an option (C): "you prefer and is all-analog".

"Can't help but be"? Here's an alternative suspicion: Some people like to promote their prejudices and pet peeves as if they were the inescapable conclusions of detached, rational analysis.

 

One wonders what the folks at "Music on Vinyl" are considering.

They have been pressing records cut from high res digital on really clean and quiet vinyl for years. I have a couple of their albums and they sound great.

How much sales revenue did MOV lose because of the deceptive marketing descriptions used by Mo-Fi?

 

Yes, I do find it plausible that Esposito was spontaneously invited. He was invited shortly after his initial video.

It’s the only plausible explanation because from a business point of view, it was a strategically poor decision to bring him there at all. To have that interview to be the primary MoFi response was ridiculous. “Yeah, we’ve used DSD going back to Abraxas…” hardly addresses the primary issue of trust betrayal. And still no genuine apology from MoFi. Bush league stuff.

But I do not feel sorry for Music Direct. This is a mess of their own conscious making.

 

The end doesn't justify the means

 

They're not quite as good of liars as marketing exces and CEO's

 

Too much crow for breakfast.

 

Is there an album you think is better mastered by MOV?

Is there an example where a current Sony master of Bob Dylan or Miles Davis trumps the MoFi?

 

Don't you think it gave us more insight than a suit w/ a script?

 

I really like those MoFi inner sleeves any good substitutes? I like their super record wash too.