Washington Post article on MoFi vs. Fremer vs. Esposito

Good points @larryi. There is a case to be made that a DSD 256 (or even 64) file made from a master analogue tape is not necessarily in every way inferior to a 1/4" (or even 1/2") 15 IPS (or even 30 IPS) analogue copy. I’ve read reports from well-respected audiophile mastering engineers who’ve said each has it’s own sonic signature, neither perfect.

But MoFi instead for whatever reason decided to deliberately hide their digital step from consumers. If they compared a digital transfer to a tape copy and judged the digital to be better sounding (perhaps at least over all), then have the courage of your convictions and say so. They didn’t, I believe, because they feared audiophiles are analogue purists, and it would hurt sales of their LP’s. They were probably correct on both points.

Though their promotional material long stated they started with the original master tape, I for one new that was in most cases very, very unlikely. The record companies themselves almost never use the 2-track mix master tape as the source for the cutting of the lacquer. In the analogue days they made production master tapes from the 2-track master, and put that original back in the vault for safe keeping. Some companies were more open to letting a tape out, the Warner Brothers group of labels, for one. Do you really think Capitol Records would lend out their Beatles tapes?!

@djones51: I fully expected to hear of a class action suit being filed. It wouldn't at all surprise me if this puts MoFi out of business. If so, they have no one to blame but themselves.

I myself own far more Analogue Productions, Speakers Corner, Intervention, Classic Records, Chesky, Water Lily, Reference Recordings, Lyrita, North Star, ARK, Sheffield, Wilson, Performance Recordings, etc. LP's than MoFi's. But their numbers are dwarfed by those of my standard non-audiophile LP's (including RCA Living Stereo and Mercury Living Presence originals). I now buy good reissues if originals are either too expensive or too difficult to find in Near Mint condition.

No one has talked about it, but one reason the MoFi's sound as good as they do is because the late Tim de Paravicini designed and built the electronics in the MoFi mastering/production chain. He did the same for Pink Floyd's London recording facility. Paravicini's EAR-Yoshino consumer hi-fi products are readily available, but for some reason are owned by few audiophiles, especially in the U.S.A. 

There are a number of other reissue companies doing superior work, most notably Analogue Productions. Chad Kassem’s reissue of Kind Of Blue was made from the original "father" created by Bernie Grundman in 1997 for Classic Records (who issued it in an UHQR version, I believe). Bernie cut his lacquer (from which the metal father is made) directly from the 1/2" 3-track tape that was running as Miles & company played in the studio!

That’s right, at that time Sony allowed Bernie access to the original 3-track 1/2" master tape, and rather than making a 2-track master-mix tape from the 3-track master, he cut his lacquer directly from the 3-track master. Very unusual, almost unheard of! What commonly happens is the 2-track final-mix master tape is used to make numerous copies, in the industry referred to as production masters (and/or safety copies). The original 2-track final-mix master is very rarely what the lacquer is cut from. The reason being each play of a tape creates wear; no one wants the original 2-track master to wear out, so multiple production masters are made, each used to cut a lacquer (from which a father is made, from which a mother is made, from which stampers are made). Grundman went a step further than using the 2-track master-mix tape, and cut his lacquer from the 3-track master! He mixed the three tracks to two himself, using an original-pressing LP as his model for instrumental balances. I’ve heard of no other LP made in such a fashion. If YOU have, let’s hear about it!

Analogue Productions reissued the entire Capitol Records Beach Boys catalog (with the exception of Wild Honey, for some reason), many in both mono and stereo, some in both 45RPM and 33-1/3 versions. The AP website and each LP cover clearly, unambiguously states the source used to make each album. Brian Wilson always mixed to mono, and for AP's mono Beach Boys LP's Mark Linnet used the original mono tapes (analogue, of course. This was the 60's ;-). To create stereo versions of mono-only LP's (which excludes Surfer Girl, which was originally released in both mono and stereo), Linnet and Wilson used some digital editing to create new stereo mixes. That is clearly stated, with no attempt to create the impression the stereo LP's are pure analogue. Unlike MoFi, who intentionally concealed their use of digital files as the source for making their LP's for the past fifteen years!