Washington Post article on MoFi vs. Fremer vs. Esposito


Here's a link to a Washington Post article on the recent dustup with MoFi. The comments section (including posts by Michael Fremer) are interesting.

Disclaimer: This is a "public service announcement, a point Im adding since some forum members complained the last article I referenced here was "paywall protected", I'll note that, for those who are non-subscribers, free access to limited numbers of articles is available by registering (trade-off: The Post will deluge you with subscription offers)

kacomess

The case number is 2:22-CV-01081, filed in Western district of Washington.  Defendants will file response then Judge will decide if there's a case to move forward. 

Why, you planning on attending ? Joining the suit ? 

If anything, MoFi did us a favor by demonstrating that digital does not inevitably lead to horrible sounding recordings.  Records do sound different from digital versions because of differing mastering and the process of mechanically converting the signal to a vinyl recording and then playing it back, and if you like the results (I do too), that is quite different from concluding that digital conversions inherently ruin the sound (I don't think that that is the case).  Even Michael Fremer often shared digital downloads of records being played back by different gear and has admitted that digital copies of his analogue playback sound good.  Clearly he likes what analogue recording and playback does to the sound, but, that hardly implicates digital as ruining the sound when digital can faithfully pass through analogue sound.

 

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

The case number is 2:22-CV-01081, filed in Western district of Washington.  Defendants will file response then Judge will decide if there's a case to move forward. 

Why, you planning on attending ? Joining the suit ?

Thanks for sharing the details! It may be an interesting thing to follow. No, I don't plan on attending or joining the suit in any way. It isn't even clear to me what the actual damages would be. I'm pretty happy with my MoFi LPs so I wouldn't have much of a case.