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

@budlite22 , coffee? I think you mean a good laugh: https://www.atrtape.com/sound-of-tape I don’t know what they were smoking when they wrote that, but they should have been reading instead. Tape does not sound more life like. It sounds like tape.

You got it @secretguy , I am new and have not been brainwashed yet. Better ask me questions quick before my brain is sullied.

@budlite22 a wise old salesman once told me. It is our job to tell the customer what is better about our product. It is our competitors job to tell the customer what is wrong about your product. You don't lie to the customer and you never sell them something that will not work for them, but other than that, you just tell them the good stuff.

I will play the competitor to magnetic tape:

  • While it is true that there is a high density of tape particles, our competitor left out a few key points.
  • The storage and recording is affected by magnetic particle density. It is impossible to keep the magnetic particle density perfectly consistent along the tape causing distortion.
  • In addition to manufacturing inconsistency, the tape moves left/right changing what the tape head is exposed to independent of the audio signal causing distortion.
  • Our competitor did not give an accurate description of the process of magnetism of the particles. There is both orientation and strength of magetization. It is the strength that is the signal level. That strength needs to be communicated to the tape and taken off the tape. It is true there are lots of fine particles, but the signal levels are low, which contributes to analog noise.
  • Magnetic materials are not linear. As the field gets stronger, they will store less and less magnetism. This causes compression which is a harmonic distortion.
  • The tape does not move perfectly linearly by the tape head. It shifts left, it shifts right, it stretches, it rebounds, it even bounces on the head a little. This causes wow, flutter and signal distortion.
  • Every time you play a tape, the tape head become partially magnetized. This slightly demagnetizes the tape every time you play it.
  • The layers above and below can also cause magnetic changes in the tape.

 

 

 

Oh Mr. customer, I forgot one thing. While it is true the number of magnetic particles per second is high, it is a poor analogy to compare to digital. A tape head does not read single particles, It reads all particles under the tape head at once, and when the tape moves, it is not exposed to a single new particle, but a whole row of particles. All the particles in a line act as one particle no matter how many of them.

Our competitor makes a good product, but the technology has fundamental flaws that cannot be overcome without starting from scratch and redesigning everything rendering everything you have already obsolete. Even then, many of those fundamental flaws will exist. I applaud their pushing their technology to its practical limits, however, if the benefits they claim existed, they would be able to easily able to demonstrate their advantages, not just write about them. Any time you wish to compare the two technologies side by side, whether using measurements or with a listening test, we will provide our equipment to participate in that testing at the venue of your choice. Other customers of ours have attempted to do a similar head to head test, but our competitor has not participated as of yet.

@budlite22 , be happy they used a DSD4x digital transfer. It ensured you got the best quality possible. If they used analog tape, there would have been a loss of quality, especially with their process where they make the limited use stamper from the laquer which I believe means they need to play the tape lots of times.

@theaudioamp Sony's original intention for DSD use (regardless who invented it) was to Archive master tape recordings first. Yes, DSD was also thought to be a viable consumer file format as well. 

I’ve been watching all the outrage from the different sides…but if the recording was pleasing to someone “before” they knew about Mofi’s full process, it should still be pleasing now.

 

To those who were buying because they thought it a wise investment, thats a different topic. Mofi owes nothing to the person buying up stock for the sole intent to resell…stuff happens.

 

What we have here is actually kind of humorous if people will take a step back to objectively analyze what has happened. This is the hifi equivalent of a vegetarian ordering a dish, raving that its amazing and stating that it tastes just like bacon …. only to discover they’ve been served bacon. For those who saw the movie “The Crying Game” ….. LOL. You were “in love” only moments ago and now you’ve inadvertently “switched teams”.