MoFi controversy

I don’t buy vinyl but there are some facts that should be stated before this takes off.

MoFi takes a modified tape deck to wherever the master tapes they are going to reissue are stored (I’m sure that most labels don’t let the master tapes of their best selling albums out of their sight any longer). They play the tapes on their tape player/analog to digital recorder and record them at 4X DSD. The guys that do this are very highly regarded mastering engineers. 4X DSD is very transparent digital. It’s not like CD quality.

The MoFi engineers say that this gives them a better quality recording to work with than making a tape to tape copy would.

The albums made this way are said to sound very good, for the most part, and nobody has said that they don’t sound right until the digital step was revealed.  Michael Fremer had some of them on his 100 best records list.  He has since removed them.

Now, many people are very angry and say that they were duped into buying records they thought were all analog but now find included a digital step in the process.

It is true that MoFi did not tell people about this digital step and gave the impression that it was an all analog process.

The records sound the same as they did before the revelation, but some people want MoFi’s head over the deception by omission.

That’s what I know about this and I don’t buy vinyl so I’m not taking sides.

In order to be transparent (very important in this discussion),, I have learned that Chad Kassem, owner of Analogue Productions, only does reissues of albums that he can get the master tapes for at his facilities. So, I was mistaken in my earlier post when I said that most labels wouldn’t let them out of their sight. Chad has said that his request for the masters does get turned down, though, and in those cases he just won’t do a reissue.

I haven't read through all the posts, but have people also seen the recent article in Absolute Sound?

@twoleftears  I can't find it on their website.  Do you have a link?

Thanks @twoleftears .  I thought maybe they had put something up about the MoFi story.  It will be interesting to see if they have anything to say about it.

Thanks @twoleftears .  I'll definitely read it.  Should be interesting.

Yes, the DSD on the UltraDisc One-Step description and images has been added since the story broke.

@optimize Dynamic compression is not an overlooked problem. It is discussed often here and on other forums. It is by far the biggest problem for digital formats and is contributing to the vinyl resurgence among audiophiles.

There is little we can do about it other than to not buy overly compressed recordings (actually the problem is often overly limited music, limiting is making quiet sounds louder, I believe). The major and many independent labels insist on dynamically compressing digital music in spite of many complaints. We can only hope this practice will end one day.

MoFi’s customers are fired up because they have been misled, to put it diplomatically. They are right to be outraged about MoFi’s marketing of their vinyl. Let the vinyl folks have their say. The dynamic compression issue will not go away.

@clearthink I guess that people can disagree on whether MoFi calling their vinyl mastering process Ultra Analog and not disclosing that the master tapes are converted to digital is lying or not, but it’s not being open and straightforward when these vinyl albums can cost up to $125 each, is it?

From Mofi’s website:

Technologies – Mobile Fidelity Sound Labs (mofi.com)

GAIN 2™ Ultra Analog™ System for Vinyl

GAIN 2 Ultra Analog™ is a proprietary cutting system built and designed by legendary design genius Tim De Paravicini, with consultation from one of MFSL’s founding fathers – Stan Ricker, an audio engineer responsible for many of MFSL’s most heralded past releases.

The GAIN 2 Ultra Analog™ system is comprised of a Studer™ tape machine with customized reproduction electronics* and handcrafted cutting amps that drive an Ortofon cutting head on a restored Neumann VMS-70 lathe. (*It is worth noting that independent studies have confirmed that the GAIN 2 Ultra Analog™ system can unveil sonic information all the way up to 122kHz!)

First and foremost, we only utilize first generation original master recordings as source material for our releases. Our lacquers are then plated in a specialized process that protects transients in the musical signal. (Due to this process, there may be occasional pops or ticks inherent in initial play back, but as the disc is played more, a high quality stylus will actually polish the grooves and improve the sound). We further ensure optimum sound quality by strictly limiting the number of pressings printed for each release. These limited editions, in addition to being collectors’ items, ensure that the quality of the last pressing matches the quality of the first.

As you can imagine, all these efforts involve a tremendous amount of time, technology, cost and effort. The introduction of GAIN 2 Ultra Analog™ maintains Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab’s position as the world’s leading audiophile record label, where a passion for music with extraordinary sound quality matters most.

@twoleftears Interesting article. Plenty of opportunity to mention that their modified Studer contains an analog to digital converter and why they do the transfer this way, but no mention of it at all.

In the youtube video with the MoFi mastering engineers after the story broke, they say they get a better source to work with by converting to a 4x DSD file than they would if they made a tape to tape copy.

Well, MoFi has apologized and promises to do better:

mobilefidelity on Instagram: "We at Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab are aware of customer complaints regarding use of digital technology in our mastering chain. We apologize for using vague language, allowing false narratives to propagate, and for taking for granted the goodwill and trust our customers place in the Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab brand. We recognize our conduct has resulted in both anger and confusion in the marketplace. Moving forward, we are adopting a policy of 100% transparency regarding the provenance of our audio products. We are immediately working on updating our websites, future printed materials, and packaging — as well as providing our sales and customer service representatives with these details. We will also provide clear, specific definitions when it comes to Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab marketing branding such as Original Master Recording (OMR) and UltraDisc One-Step (UD1S). We will backfill source information on previous releases so Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab customers can feel as confident in owning their products as we are in making them. We thank you for your past support and hope you allow us to continue to provide you the best-sounding records possible — an aim we've achieved and continue to pursue with pride. Jim Davis President, Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab"

Let’s slow down a little. MoFi says they convert the DSD file back to analog for mastering. They say they do not convert it to PCM for mastering. I don’t have any direct knowledge of what they do, so I can’t say for sure what they do, but that is what they are saying now.

@mahler123, You misunderstood my post. johnss made a post about MoFi converting its DSD files to PCM for mastering, adding more conversions to their mastering process. I just stated that at this point MoFi says they do not convert their DSD files to PCM for mastering, they convert the DSD files back to analog for mastering. I can’t vouch for MoFi, we’ll just have to wait and see how this all plays out.

I don't have any problem with DSD, PCM or analog.  They all can sound great.

Yes some people are really upset that MoFi vinyl has a digital step in the process that no one was informed of.  There is a thread on this over a thousand pages long on the Steve Hoffman Music Forums.  I suggest that anyone who wants delve deep into this matter seek out that thread:

Steve Hoffman MoFi DSD Vinyl thread