Better Records vs MoFi

Thank you to the originator of this thread and to all those contributing.

I was not aware of Better Records. I have since been in touch with them to see if they ship to the UK which they do so about to sign up

Barry, 

If you take the plunge please let us know. 

You all have been great thank you. Edisoncarter, thanks for explaining its bandwidth for a HSM. I’m now curious, if there’s a white hot stamper for a regular pressing of an album. Not that they sell them but, if I gathered 50 Mofi copies of Dark Side of the Moon, would there be a white hot stamper of them? Or, does their QC weed out the non WHS quality pressings? Just Curious 

This will find you the best sounding of the 50. Doesn't mean it will be a White Hot Stamper. Doesn't even mean it will compare to a Hot Stamper. All it means is you have found the best of the 50.

What if all 50 suck? What if the whole entire run MoFi made of it sucks? If Tom's proved one thing, that would be it. I mean think about it. All he does (the haters say) clean used records and mark em up 1000%. If MoFi are White Hot Stamper level he would buy em, clean em, play em a few times and they would sell for $800. 

Which he doesn't. I've never seen a single MoFi on his site. But we know he plays em, he compares. Because: 1000% markup! If he could make a buck, for sure he would. I would! Anyone would! 'cept for one thing, unless they really do sound good his customers would complain and send em back. Refund! 

So my answer is forget 50, you will go through everything MoFi ever pressed, every single copy, and not find one. Not a single one. Not from MoFi.

" if I gathered 50 Mofi copies of Dark Side of the Moon, would there be a white hot stamper of them?"

"So my answer is forget 50, you will go through everything MoFi ever pressed, every single copy, and not find one. Not a single one. Not from MoFi."

You might find a copy that's a copy of what a WHS is supposed to sound like?

That would make it a WHSC-white hot stamper copy

The BR biz model is going thru copies of the earliest press and finding the copy that stand out. Then Tom Port does the write up with goofy audio descriptors that clearly sells.

Let's not forget the MoFi scandal- are these recordings REALLY from the master tape?

MoFi Faces Fraud Lawsuit for Selling Vinyl Reissues as “Purely Analog” While Using Digital Masters | Pitchfork

If anything you get a great sounding CD to play on your table.

For those who care, not all MoFi titles have gone through digital conversion. But as @slaw correctly pointed out, just as with almost all original pressings and reissues, the lacquers of the all-analogue MoFi LP’s are cut not from the master tape, but from a "safety" (aka "production") copy. One notable exception is the Analogue Productions Kind Of Blue album, for which Bernie Grundman used the original 3-track master tape to cut his lacquer, way back in 1997 (for Classic Records). Numerous guys have compared original 1950’s pressings of KOB with the versions of MoFi, Classic Records, and Analogue Productions. Guess which version came out on top? ;-)

MoFi is of the opinion that their digital step produces a better sounding product than does using an analogue safety tape as the source. But there are other considerations. Just as with the making of all lacquers, equalization may or may not be used. Some of the dissatisfaction with MoFi LP’s---even by those who like many of their titles---is due to equalization choices made by the MoFi engineers.