Definitive Audiophile pressings

yeah this is just shoddy business and for Mike who has always had a zest for showing off AAA pressings and built a portion of his business around "Hey I got those AAA pressings you want" this definitely will have a knock on effect going forward with all sorts of businesses that tout their bonafides around AAA pressings. It's not just record shops eithers its those boutique coffee/bar lounges that spin records exclusively and buy all this high end equipment and sell the experience of having that equipment playing "analog" sources, it does at the end of the day say "hey we were duped and in turn you our customer were duped in this experience".

it doesnt take away from the enjoyment of the music or the quality, but its just bad business.
 
Man this drama is so beautifully messy I feel like a one year old who got a smash cake and just went in hot damn. Fremer is going off and trying to cover his ass for saying there was a full on analog and exposing names, Mike ITG getting a bit rolled by the interviewers, Mike 45 trying to moderate this insanity.

I love it.

I think there are three pretty clear takeaways at this point for me

A. Digital can sound as good or better as an analog pressing depending on pressing engineer, vinyl quality, etc.
B. Some listeners still have a preference for analog over digital when things are equal or even lesser just as a preference matter and that does count.
C. It was just bad in every way of MoFi to, at best, obfuscate and lie by omission over sourcing of the material and the subsequent approach is a turnoff. Like we can all debate over what was explicitly said but I think most buyers who are considering a $40-$125 record are at least "in it" enough to get the distinction and consider it that way.

I think MoFi approached this strategically, found probably the weakest knowledge point in the Youtube Audiophile front (a retailer over an engineer or even a reporter) and then tried to snow him a bit or not get into more harmful topics
 
Jbraswell said:
Did a little side by side testing today.
Full disclosure: I am a MOFI fanboy.
I like the Mofi pressing. Totally rocks if that's your copy.


However, the original pressing I have is more vibrant, alive, and louder.
Save your hard earned money and buy a solid copy of one of these instead.
This is my version:
www.discogs.com

Pretenders - Pretenders

View credits, reviews, tracks and shop for the 1980 Vinyl release of "Pretenders" on Discogs.
www.discogs.com www.discogs.com

In fact I prefer the older copy. Might put the Mofi up for sale shortly.

Cheers and enjoy the spin!
Click to expand...
This one comes up in the interview. My ears didn't lie.
 
News doesn't bother me. But there's no way one steps are worth their value? I mean, right? I get they sound great but I thought a majority of that cost was for the tapes to be cut from? At least I've always justified it that way. I've never held a one step but I've seen unboxings and the product itself doesn't even seem that premium (box, jacket, inserts, etc) just the vinyl (which is now sourced from digital).

This whole debacle confirms nothing but mofis are overpriced. Hopefully they modernize their catalog now that tape doesn't hold them back. But I doubt considering boomer rock is their entire market. Chad Kassem and Acoustic Sounds are how you run a audiophile label 👍🏼
 
At least with Tone Poets from Blue Note, you can see them cutting the vinyl from the tapes. They actually show you the process months in advance. I guess if I want a One Step now, it makes more sense to just get the cheaper SACD if they're both from digital.
 
I’ve felt for a long time that pure AAA fetishism was a backward step. Tapes aren’t going to last forever and making the best possible backup of them to work from going forward was always going to be necessary. We’re not talking a PCM cut at lower res here either, by making transfers in extremely high rate DSD they’re absolutely doing this in the right way. More power to them, the records sound fantastic and that, at the end of the day, is all I care about.
 
Last edited:
LeeVing said:
They picked the wrong person to ask questions.


Or maybe it was the right guy for MoFi.

A retailer doesn't understand the process enough to ask the right questions to get the right answers.


MoFi still is pretty shitty.
Click to expand...
I wouldnt say Mike is the wrong guy. He knows his stuff, he's building high end listening booths in his shop right now and has shown off his gear in many shoot out videos in the past. He understands the process well enough for the average consumer to feel comfortable in understanding what the steps in the process entail. Even when he's gone up against Fremer in conversation (who largely considers himself THE expert and could spot a digital source a mile away ;)) he held his own well enough not to get steam rolled by fremer bloviating for an hour.

either way MoFi looks terrible coming off this. is it going to have a knock on effect with like enjoyment of the music? nah. do the very few mofi records I own suddenly sound like mud? nah. but it does clear the record that no one can really hear the difference and that consumers will at least take a second to really consider is a MoFi release or an analog sourced release with no details on its lineage be worth that $45+ price tag in the future. that's great news.
 
DeadwaxDude said:
News doesn't bother me. But there's no way one steps are worth their value? I mean, right? I get they sound great but I thought a majority of that cost was for the tapes to be cut from? At least I've always justified it that way. I've never held a one step but I've seen unboxings and the product itself doesn't even seem that premium (box, jacket, inserts, etc) just the vinyl (which is now sourced from digital).

This whole debacle confirms nothing but mofis are overpriced. Hopefully they modernize their catalog now that tape doesn't hold them back. But I doubt considering boomer rock is their entire market. Chad Kassem and Acoustic Sounds are how you run a audiophile label 👍🏼
Click to expand...

So MoFi engineers are like politicians? We pay to allow them to go on junkets around the world to “copy tapes” 😂

I’m getting the impression that this is a cost baked into almost all MoFi though, in that they use these transfers almost exclusively, not just for the one steps. I’m guessing the extra cost in the one steps is just the sheer amount of extra manufacturing involved in pressing multiple thousand copies using lacquers that will only allow for at most a thousand copies rather than multiple thousands in the normal scenario. I love the one I have but yes they’re soooooo expensive and I only have it because it’s that album. The boxes are well made but totally unnecessary and a bit annoying if truth be told.

Hard disagree on Chad and AS though. They do make nice records but I get a really bad vibe off him and some of their sales practices make me a bit queezy.
 
I'm not going to sit here and claim I knew they were using a digital step. I honestly never really looked too closely at what the One Step process actually was. But I always just assumed that due to the age of most of these tapes and with how cleaned up they managed to get everything that there was almost no way this could be achieved by running the tape through and EQing on the fly. I'm not even a tiny bit surprised that there's a digital step in there because honestly how could there not be? When you hear just how tightened up and dead quiet they get some of these 50 year old recordings, I always just assumed they had to be using some sort of computer based process to do it. I couldn't care less about the fact that they do this, but obviously lying about the process ain't cool what with these prices. But in many cases these are the best sounding versions of the albums that exist, and they're digital, and I don't care because THEY'RE THE BEST SOUNDING VERSIONS OF THESE ALBUMS THAT EXIST. It's just a lot of AAA fanatics who've had their pride hurt and now all their friends and also strangers will point and laugh at them on the street when they leave their basements in order to go buy their reuben sandwiches or whatever sweaty things they tend to eat.

On the other hand my ADA system with it's room correction just got its audiophile credentials officially verified so LETS GOOOOOOO DIGITAL IS THE FUTURE BOOOOOOOK IIIIIIIT
 
Last edited:
Joe Mac said:
So MoFi engineers are like politicians? We pay to allow them to go on junkets around the world to “copy tapes” 😂

I’m getting the impression that this is a cost baked into almost all MoFi though, in that they use these transfers almost exclusively, not just for the one steps. I’m guessing the extra cost in the one steps is just the sheer amount of extra manufacturing involved in pressing multiple thousand copies using lacquers that will only allow for at most a thousand copies rather than multiple thousands in the normal scenario. I love the one I have but yes they’re soooooo expensive and I only have it because it’s that album. The boxes are well made but totally unnecessary and a bit annoying if truth be told.

Hard disagree on Chad and AS though. They do make nice records but I get a really bad vibe off him and some of their sales practices make me a bit queezy.
Click to expand...

Chad aside I like the product, transparency and price of everything acoustic sounds does. But see your point 👍🏼

Comparing a MoFi to a Analog Productions title is easy now. One is analog, one has a nicer jacket, and one has a better price... 😂
 
DeadwaxDude said:
Chad aside I like the product, transparency and price of everything acoustic sounds does. But see your point 👍🏼

Comparing a MoFi to a Analog Productions title is easy now. One is analog, one has a nicer jacket, and one has a better price... 😂
Click to expand...

Yeah I get to give them a wide berth because I think they’ve only ever released 2 things that I have any interest in and I own them both 😂
 
Mather said:
I would not be remotely surprised to discover that AP does the same digitizing process.
Click to expand...

I saw an interview with Chad where he said the same things you did about mofi. He seemed very surprised nobody recognized instantly that the one steps were too quite and perfect. I think his transparency is credible. Don't own anything they've done though.
 
Lmfao this is hilarious. Sonically I always felt MoFi's were missing something next to an AP pressing. The only MoFi I own that truly knocked my socks off is Freewheeling Bob Dylan. Oh well, they do a good job I'll continue to buy MoFi pressings if they sound good. They can def knock the prices down a bit now though
 
Ghost said:
Lmfao this is hilarious. Sonically I always felt MoFi's were missing something next to an AP pressing. The only MoFi I own that truly knocked my socks off is Freewheeling Bob Dylan. Oh well, they do a good job I'll continue to buy MoFi pressings if they sound good. They can def knock the prices down a bit now though
Click to expand...

The MoFi Dylan's I have sound amazing. Wish this dude interviewing actual got us info on what is digital or not 😂

I know the dylan tapes are in America so I'm hopeful those were cut straight, but kinda doubtful now!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top