MoFi controversy


I see this hasn't been mentioned here yet, so I thought I'd put this out here.  Let me just say that I haven't yet joined the analog world, so I don't have a dog in this fight.

It was recently revealed that Mobile Fidelity Sound Labs one step LPs are being cut from digital masters (DSD) rather than being straight analog throughout the chain.

Here is one of the many Youtube videos that discusses it

 

To me, it seems that if MOFI is guilty of anything, it's "deception by omission."  That is, they were never open about the process and the use of digital in the chain. 

One thing to mention is that hardly anyone is criticizing the sound quality of these LPs, even after this revelation.  Me personally, I wouldn't spend over one hundred dollars for any recording regardless of the format.

 

ftran999

Sorry about the above sloppy post and duplications. It is impossible to figure out how to embed links and then continue to add text at various places.

Looks like the ’One Step’ Evans SATVV is an AAA recording, one of the very few! If so, I would think that this would increase its value, certainly to a higher point than ’Abraxas’, which is determined to be from a DSD source!

I cannot believe how many people are making excuses for and/or defending an unethical company who LIED to their customers about making an all analog product in order to charge a massive premium. The literature included in all their releases clearly depicts and/or describes a master tape being the source for their lacquers. It’s literally the core feature of their business. A nice sounding fake analog record does not excuse MoFi from selling a fraudulent product. I will never buy anything from them again, even if their records cure cancer. It would only reward their greed and contempt for their customers. 

If their customers are audiophiles with the stated goal of the best sound possible, then what is more contemptuous, providing the best sound possible but not clearly defining how, or using an inferior all analog process and then claiming it is the best when it quite clearly is not the best possible and they know it is not the best possible?

 

I have several hundred old records from the 50s to the 80s. I also have over a hundred new reissues. 

To my ears, most of the new reissues, including the most famous audiophile brands, sound like digital. I am sure that not only MOFI uses digital in their record path.
I don't understand people who justify MOFI in this scandal, unless they are people who have a material interest in all sorts of reviewers and other hucksters.
If you like digital sound (I don't mind since digital doesn't mean bad sound) then why spend thousands of dollars on vinyl equipment and buy records for $150+ each? Isn't it easier to listen to good digital recordings on a good digital source?

Regards,

Alex.