Better Records vs MoFi


I’ve read about Better Records on the site. They listen to endless copies of records & separate out the amazing sounding pressings. I can understand because of many variables, some sound better than others. But, can a great sounding regular pressing sound better than a half speed master? Doesn’t a HSM have more music data on it?

I don’t want to go down a rabbit hole. If the BR premise holds up then there are certainly better pressings of Dark Side of the Moon etc. I’m not concerned with that. I’m also not interested in cost or “X sucks, I’d never buy one.”

tochsii

" if I gathered 50 Mofi copies of Dark Side of the Moon, would there be a white hot stamper of them?"

"So my answer is forget 50, you will go through everything MoFi ever pressed, every single copy, and not find one. Not a single one. Not from MoFi."

You might find a copy that's a copy of what a WHS is supposed to sound like?

That would make it a WHSC-white hot stamper copy

The BR biz model is going thru copies of the earliest press and finding the copy that stand out. Then Tom Port does the write up with goofy audio descriptors that clearly sells.

Let's not forget the MoFi scandal- are these recordings REALLY from the master tape?

MoFi Faces Fraud Lawsuit for Selling Vinyl Reissues as “Purely Analog” While Using Digital Masters | Pitchfork

If anything you get a great sounding CD to play on your table.

 

For those who care, not all MoFi titles have gone through digital conversion. But as @slaw correctly pointed out, just as with almost all original pressings and reissues, the lacquers of the all-analogue MoFi LP’s are cut not from the master tape, but from a "safety" (aka "production") copy. One notable exception is the Analogue Productions Kind Of Blue album, for which Bernie Grundman used the original 3-track master tape to cut his lacquer, way back in 1997 (for Classic Records). Numerous guys have compared original 1950’s pressings of KOB with the versions of MoFi, Classic Records, and Analogue Productions. Guess which version came out on top? ;-)

MoFi is of the opinion that their digital step produces a better sounding product than does using an analogue safety tape as the source. But there are other considerations. Just as with the making of all lacquers, equalization may or may not be used. Some of the dissatisfaction with MoFi LP’s---even by those who like many of their titles---is due to equalization choices made by the MoFi engineers.

 

LOL this is just nut spending that much for an LP. Just another audio product that smacks of conspicuous consumption. But hey if you got the coin to spend and yourself indulgent go chase the windmill.

2 recent acquisitions sound astonishingly good  relative to other copies I own:  A re-mixed 2 disc 45RPM of "The Band" (Brown Album) from the boxed set, and a recent remastered "Waltz For Debbie" vinyl that Fremer was all excited about. 

Not sure if it was pointed out that Better Records offers no-questions-asked, full refunds, if you are not happy with what you received for your money - just pack it up well and send it back - so it's not like you're spending all that money on a gamble.