The MoFi Mess and TAS rolling over for them

Whoever is quoted on You Tube lying didn’t speak for Mofi. I can’t find any materials where they say the records ate produced 100% analogue through every step.

Now that this controversy is out there, Mofi states how each record uses any digital steps in mastering the records. 

Will anyone not buy Aja or Gaucho UHQRs. because there are digital steps involved? I doubt because it peole know AP will try to create the best sounding records possible, just like Mofi does. Sometimes digital steps make the end relut records sound better.

Because it sounds great on vinyl too and I only listen to records.

My Cannonball Adderley One Step is pre-sold out and not even shown to be able to be preordered anymore. Mofi is overwhelmed with demand and every One Step ever made in the last 5 year has sold out. Maybe this nonissue (to me) will cause the resale market to drop, which I would certainly welcome.

I only care about sound quality, and even Analogue Productions is making some of their highest end records with digital tapes involved. They had a major announcement today that they are releasing all Steely Dan studio albums on 45RPM UHQRs at $150 a pop. A few are not totally AAAAnalogue. I couldn't care less. Make the best sounding records you can. Luckily, I have almost all their albums on Speakers Corner, Mofi, or Japanese pressings, so I won't be buying any UHQRs (unless I have a really weak moment and go for Royal Scam or Pretzel Logic).

The packaging drives the prices WAY up. Luckily, they will be releasing them all on 33 1/3 with digital files from Bernie Grundman that I am sure will be excellent with original packaging. No word on pricing for those, but hopefully they will be similar to other AP pricing - $40 for 33s and $60 for 45s.

For those who care more about whether the sound is 100% complete analogue than how it sounds, enjoy paying more for less and thanks for staying out of the resale markets.

I don't think there was deceit. Perhaps not being as honest of every detail about each stage of the mastering. Does anyone care about the number of bits in the DSD file or the size and speed of the tapes used? Come on. 

All we should care about is the sound. If someone bought the records thinking they were 100% analogue and they are not, just sell them. I am sure you will get your money back, probably even make money.

Also, if the sound quality is just as good, who cares? I don't want to get sidetracked, but I am sure when you are buying a Mercedes you don't dig into the source of each component Mercedes assembles. They are overpriced with plenty of snob appeal built in, and because of their lack of reliability and extremely high cost of maintenance and repair, their resale value on the market is terrible.

In Chad’s video announcing the Steely Dan UHQR:s, he says Aja and Gaucho are based on digital, not analogue because of analogue tape availability. Like I said, i doubt if it will impact sales of those titles, and when he said the numbers being produced, it certainly didn’t. Audiophiles care about SQ  after all, above all else, or at least that’s what I thought.

@pratorious - Is an analogue tape copy better than a digital tape copy if the sampling is high enough? It's still a copy. I know that way back starting with Fleetwood Mac's Tusk in the early 80s, some records were recorded digitally. I remember that sounded great.

I have a copy of Kind of Blue on a Mofi 45 box set from a few years ago and would be interested to compare it to the UHQR version and see if the differences are noticeable to a moderately focused listener. I rarely just listen to music like in a demo at a stereo store - usually I am reading or watching tv (sound off of course) or doing a puzzle maybe. 

In any case, I am glad there is competition in the audiophile record market, although the prices seem to be becoming stratospheric. I would rather buy the $60 45 AS sells that sound fantastic to me (Brubeck's Time Out for example) than pay $150 for the new UHQRs. Chad mentioned they will be available at lesser price points with digital steps involved but didn't say the price points. Steely Dan has the first one (Can't buy a Thrill) listed on their web site for $29.99 without any details about the pressing. Knowing Steely Dan, I am sure that it is damn good. At some point it becomes a collecting rather than actual listening issue.

Speakers Corner and Blue Note and Impulse have the right idea keeping prices for excellent records on the reasonable side. Wish they had wider libraries.

@pratorious - I was under the impression the SD titles would be offered thru AP in a “typical” audiophile release at 45 like is available for Two Against Nature and Everything Must Go. They were released on record store day last year on regular vinyl and they sound great. Pressed at Pallas in Germany I believe.

I am not an attorney @denverfred , but as far as I know for a settlement  to be awarded/paid, there has to actually be some damages incurred by the class. If the records are worth more than they paid, then what are the damages? The disgruntled analogue historians can just sell them and make a few bucks as audiophiles looking for excellent sound quality will snap them up. 

BTW the 4 LP set goes for over $300 on Discogs...

@bdp24 - watched Michael Ludwig's video.He is obviously a pal of Chad and Bernie's, which is fine, but I think there is some bias.

He rated the Mofi 45 an 8/10 and the new 45 UHQR 10.5 (which is ridiculous of course - it's like someone giving 110%). His main issue was too much bass on the Mofi, and also said the UHQR was more natural (whatever that means). I can get $40 from a used record store near me for my Mofi 45 (and save the hassle of selling it myself for $50 or $60). I have seen some complaints about surface noise of the UHQR. The only hesitation (aside from the extra $110) is that it is not the ultimate issue of KoB. My brother in law has a Classic Records issue that has 4 45s with only one side pressed to make the records even flatter that sounds unbelievable. AND they are talking about pressing it on a 78. There are lots of people who want every one of them. Why wouldn't you just listen to the best one and chuck the rest? I wouldn't keep more than one.

I  just wish AS would sell it like the regular audiophile 45s they make without all the excess packaging, booklets, etc for 1/2 the price. Oh well....

@bdp24 - you're a higher roller than me if you don't think $3-400 for the 4 LP KoB isn't real money. When you are talking $20K, then you are talking about an investment....Zeppelin is OK, but I don't have any of their stuff and have non interest in it.

I always prefer 45s - they sound better without exception (all else being equal). I don't mind getting up twice as often to flip the record or push a button to change speeds on the Power Supply Unit to 45 (exercise is s good thing). I really just care about sound quality. Not collecting/investing and reselling, memorabilia, boxes, etc. I'd rather have the money go into the pressing.  Although the 1Steps do have all the boxes, it's a better pressing process. You can argue over the digital mastering aspect (I challenge anyone to actually hear that - understanding some thinking there is deliberate deception involved), but not cutting out steps in pressing the vinyl.

Every 45 I own is among the top in my collection (Mofi's as well - The Dylan Greatest Hits one sounds like Bob is in the room). Never heard a bad 45 or got one that had any issues - warpage, noise, although there are seam splits on the top of the jackets of the Carole King One Step I have so I stopped using the folders inside the jackets. 

@bdp24 - understandable, but I would argue that the 45s are not changing the order of the songs the artists prefer, only the pacing between them.

Many of my jazz 45s only have a song or two on a side anyhow. This only other pop/rock 45 I own (aside from the Simon and King 1Steps and the Dylan one I mentioned) is Rumours - just a Reprise issue recently repressed. It is significantly better than a Nautilus one (33) I sold that paid for the new one! I traded old audiophile and other records I never listen to on the 1 Steps because I was curious as to how good they sound. so my out of pocket net was around $30-$35 each. I never owned Tapestry so it is hard for me to say how great it is compared to any reference point, but I did have Still Crazy on a standard release (sold it) and the 1 Step of that is phenomenal. The most I have ever spent out of pocket was $60 for Brubeck Time Out AS -45, and it is great. Back when I got KOB it listed for $60 and got it 10% off with an AS sale before they stopped discounting Mofi.

Being a Steely Dan obsessed fan (I’ve seen them 20+ times including Fagen solos and Dukes of September concerts, read Fagen’s book and met him briefly at a book signing- he’s not what I would call sociable) I am afraid I will break down for 2-3 of the UHQRs coming out. My copies of Royal Scam and Pretzel Logic were standard issues, so they’re definite candidates. I have Gaucho an an excellent Japanese pressing so that’s out, I have Can’t Buy from Speakers Corner, which is fantastic, Katy Lied on an Original Mofi that doesn’t sound great, but is my 2nd from the bottom favorite, so I’ll stick with that, and Countdown is at the bottom, and even though it’s on a standard pressing, it sounds decent and I won’t be paying $150 for that. That leaves Aja. In my mind a top 10 album of all time. I have it on an Original Mofi, which I will probably end up selling and buying that UHQR.

I wish they would issue Kamakiriad on vinyl, and Morph the Cat reissue in the US (it previously was released in Europe and the prices are not worth it for my least favorite album of Fagen). Of course Nightfly is a classic, only outshone by Aja (I have it on an excellent Japanese pressing so didn’t go for that One Step which I hear is unbelievable), Sunken Condos was issued on clarity vinyl (or at least the vinyl is clear) and is second to The Nightfly, but not that close in Fagen’s solo offerings (were really SD albums but don’t get the same notoriety.

I have record store day issues of SDs 20th century albums, and they are excellent sounding, so I will stick with them. I even have a pre SD Fagen/Becker album that was really a movie soundtrack - You Gotta Walk it Like you Talk It that is kind of like a fossil that had maybe one SD worthy track. I think I’ve played it 2-3 times.

In all of the 13 albums in their catalogue of mine (I didn’t mention the Northeast Corridor live album I bought the day it came out) aside from You Gotta Walk it, there is only one song I skip. It’s a Becker (RIP) song and vocal and it’s easy to do so as it is the last song on side 1 of Everything Must Go, their last album. 

I can’t say that about any other group, even the Beatles.

Please help me…..

Cool. Anybody that buys all the UHQRs (or One Steps for that matter) is an investor/collector and is fine for AS & Mofi, but they drive the prices up for the true fans. Whenever I see a great album for sale thats brand new, I don’t think that is what the artist would prefer. Its like the car collectors who never drive them. Their creators, like Dr. Porsche, would roll over in his grave. Collecting us for stamps and  coins and beanie babies, not records and cars.