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17 hours ago, Get off My lawn said:

The One Step of Bridge Over Troubled Water is not as consistently good, but some of the tracks do sound amazing. I dont really have anything special to compare it to, just a standard pressing from 2007, but the One Step certainly sounds much better than that.

 

 

A lot of people are saying this, that the source material/masters were pretty ordinary to begin with. What I don't understand is why it has gone to silly prices for it. $800 or so I think. What are people paying for? A hard to get album remaster which sounds pretty ordinary? Unlike the SATVV which by all reports sounds wonderful and is priced for both the rarity and quality. Although MFSL have no excuse now, not to churn out another 50K copies of it. 

 

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How many of you Mofi sukers are joining in?    

 

This is starting to feel like Bill's cables  :classic_biggrin:

 

NEW CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT

“Vinyl record seller Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab was hit with a consumer class action Thursday in Illinois Northern District Court. The case, brought by Wolf Haldenstein Adler Freeman & Herz and Bursor & Fisher, contends that Mobile albums on vinyl which are marketed as 'purely analog,' or made from original master recordings, have actually been produced from digital files since 2011. Counsel have not yet appeared for the defendant. The case is 1:22-cv-04405, Stiles v. Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab, Inc.”

from Law.com Radar

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18 hours ago, metal beat said:

How many of you Mofi sukers are joining in?    

 

This is starting to feel like Bill's cables  :classic_biggrin:

 

NEW CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT

“Vinyl record seller Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab was hit with a consumer class action Thursday in Illinois Northern District Court. The case, brought by Wolf Haldenstein Adler Freeman & Herz and Bursor & Fisher, contends that Mobile albums on vinyl which are marketed as 'purely analog,' or made from original master recordings, have actually been produced from digital files since 2011. Counsel have not yet appeared for the defendant. The case is 1:22-cv-04405, Stiles v. Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab, Inc.”

from Law.com Radar

only in America!

probably the same people who flip, never miss an opportunity to make a $

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Mobile Fidelity Lawsuit #2: -> STILES v MOBILE FIDELITY SOUND LAB, INC.

The complaint in this second class action lawsuit is different inasmuch as the plaintiff resides in North Carolina and the laws being cited as having been breached are:

• Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act

• North Carolina Unfair and Deceptive Trade Practices Act

 

The latter best known as the NC UDTPA can be interpreted very broadly proving both Judge and if it comes to it, Jury with rather a wide latitude.

 

Moreover, the complaint filed in this lawsuit is far more detailed and informational than the initial class-action lawsuit filed in Washington State's 9th District. It is rather thorough providing the court and readers of the complaint with graphics: photographs, charts and tables.

 

I am linking to the complaint below:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-zV8YxTGtieqkwpKBJQxxe0e4z2ZoBbL/view?usp=sharing

 

and for those who want fuller historic context, a link to my commentary and updates on all this over at dagogo.com

The MoFi Predicament

 

Edited by davd2664
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32 minutes ago, davd2664 said:

Mobile Fidelity Lawsuit #2: -> STILES v MOBILE FIDELITY SOUND LAB, INC.

The complaint in this second class action lawsuit is different inasmuch as the plaintiff resides in North Carolina and the laws being cited as having been breached are:

• Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act

• North Carolina Unfair and Deceptive Trade Practices Act

 

The latter best known as the NC UDTPA can be interpreted very broadly proving both Judge and if it comes to it, Jury with rather a wide latitude.

 

Moreover, the complaint filed in this lawsuit is far more detailed and informational than the initial class-action lawsuit filed in Washington State's 9th District. It is rather thorough providing the court and readers of the complaint with graphics: photographs, charts and tables.

 

I am linking to the complaint below:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-zV8YxTGtieqkwpKBJQxxe0e4z2ZoBbL/view?usp=sharing

 

and for those who want fuller historic context, a link to my commentary and updates on all this over at dagogo.com

The MoFi Predicament

 

That is interesting, I really appreciated the chart on page 14 of the "complaint" as it clarified the difference between analogue & digital in an easy to understand way (good for me) 🙃

 

Article on Mofi Predicament very good too - this comment left there was one I had not thought of & kind of showed they were busted and knew it 🙃

 

" Michael of In Groove and Michael of 45 RPM made their claims based on rumour’, and Fremer further adds that he knew of the rumour” but could not prove it.” Odd then, that Mobile Fidelity would react as it did, in so quickly granting Michael Esposito an interview. Would they not have first asked him for proof of his claims?"

 

 

 

Edited by April Snow
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Looking at the MoFi info supplied with 1 Step pressings it is clear that they never claimed that the process was all analogue but it can be inferred from the small pic of a tape as "the master" prior to the pressing, I guess they are guilty of misleading information or guilt by omission ?  I would presume like most people that have purchased older Mofi "Original Master" recordings that they always cut from the Master tapes thus you rely on previous history with the company and expect that the newer pressings are done in the same manner.

 

It is an entirely different matter whether the DSD step degrades the sound or not as their is still scope for pressings to sound different because the recoding enginner still applies his own EQ after the Master tape to provide the final mixdown that ultimately gets cut hence there is always likely to be  difference between a Kevin Gray or a MoFi or Analogue productions pressing.  Even the old MoFi pressings had distinct differences in the EQ between say a UHQR and a Original Master.

 

Watching various reviews of the Mofi 1 Step recordings and comparisons with other pressings  that were done prior to this scandal erupting it is clear that some of the 1 Step pressings ( not all ) are clearly superior to other pressings as judged by some of the guru's online like the two Michaels, Fremer and 45RPM Audiophile so in effect they did a blind test and preferred the DSD mastered versions !  I note the anguish in 45RPM's voice after the discovery almost like he was embarrased that he had posted videos from a year before of how good some of the 1 step recordings ( and mastering ) are and therefore approving of the DSD master.

 

As an aside I pointed out on a U.S. forum that I had my eyes opened in regard to mastering from digital when I met Chad Kassem at a HiFi show in L.A.  6 or 7 years ago and I was raving about the amazing quality of  the record "Poet Game" by Greg Brown that I had bought from Acoustic sounds,  and Chad says " yes and can you believe it was mastered from the CD because the master tapes were not available  ! "   I was a little shocked to say the least.

 

As others have said the fact that they were mastered from a DSD does not change the fact that if they sounded good before they still sound good now, unfortunately however MoFi has effectively unhidden the truth of artificially creating a high value for a limited release in the vinyl world.

 

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On 24/8/2022 at 1:32 PM, U_J said:

it is clear that they never claimed that the process was all analogue but it can be inferred from the small pic of a tape as "the master" prior to the pressing, I guess they are guilty of misleading information or guilt by omission ?  I would presume like most people that have purchased older Mofi "Original Master" recordings that they always cut from the Master tapes thus you rely on previous history with the company and expect that the newer pressings are done in the same manner.

MoFi supplies an insert with every one step that would take some imagination to interpret as anything but direct from original analogue master. And yes your point about hit and miss sound quality is what keeps people like me coming back. My mate has the Dave Grisman Jerry Garcia 45rpm which sounds spectacular. Unfortunately it was sold out so I got the SACD which I was happy to have even though it wasn’t at the same level as the LP. Not quiet sure why but it annoys me now. Maybe because it was one of the few AAA releases and one of the few I went for the SACD with. 

 

540E5C8F-AB61-4ADD-8010-0DDD68DD164B.jpeg

Edited by abelb
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6 hours ago, U_J said:

Looking at the MoFi info supplied with 1 Step pressings it is clear that they never claimed that the process was all analogue but it can be inferred from the small pic of a tape as "the master" prior to the pressing,

 

You don't need to look at the picture of the tapes...If you read the blurb, they explicitly state: "MFSL engineers begin with the original master tapes and meticulously cut a set of lacquers"

 

14 minutes ago, abelb said:

MoFi supply an insert with every one step that would take some imagination to interpret as anything but direct from original analogue master. And yes you’re point about hit and miss sound quality is what keeps people like me coming back. My mate has the Dave Grisman Jerry Garcia 45rpm which sounds spectacular. Unfortunately it was sold out so I got the SACD which I was happy to have even though it wasn’t quality at the same level as the LP. Not quiet sure why but it annoys me now. Maybe because it was one of the few AAA releases and one of the few I went for the SACD with. 

 

540E5C8F-AB61-4ADD-8010-0DDD68DD164B.jpeg

 

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Clapton’s UNPLUGGED… UN-ANALOGUE????

 

The Magic Vinyl vs Digital website made an exhaustive comparison of the Eric Clapton ‎– Unplugged (Vinyl, CD, DVD stereo, DD 5.1, Streaming, MOFI One Step and SACD)

 

The link can be found here: https://magicvinyldigital.net/.../eric-clapton-unplugged.../

 

From their section entitled Ed9: Vinyl MOFI One Step ref UD15 2-020 -2022

 

“Presentation: MOFI UltraDisc One-Step Edition, Original Master Recording with 2 LPs in 45 rpm, presented in a very nice box. For this vinyl, there is no ambiguity about the origin of the master which is indeed digital (as shown by the response curves).”

 

And taken from their Spectrum section for the same MoFi One Step:

 

“The mastering between the MOFI vinyl version and the MoFi SACD version is a bit different. There is a bump of more than 5 dB between 15 kHz and 20 bHz for the vinyl compared to the SACD (yellow area). There is also a small difference in the bass (green zone).

 

For both versions, we find the 22 kHz limit of the original digital master (with a 44.1 kHz sample rate).”

 

And then from MoFi’s own website where on July 28th of this year we were informed that source/provenance information would be backfilled. To be fair the folks at MoFi may have not gotten to it yet, but here’s what it reports for the Eric Clapton Unplugged One Step:

 

https://mofi.com/.../eric-clapton-unplugged-ultradisc-one...

 

“MASTERED FROM THE ORIGINAL MASTER TAPES AND LIMITED TO 10,000 NUMBERED COPIES”

 

No mention of digital. And if The Magic Vinyl vs Digital website indeed got this right, then this One Step took a step down from DSD to the land of Red Book CD, 44.1 kHz for its source.

 

What does this portend? Will all of MoFi’s assertions of provenance require proofing and validation from a 3rd party?

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On 13/8/2022 at 2:42 PM, metal beat said:

Went over to Greg's place this morning and compared Marvin Gaye What's Going On.

 One Step Modfi 45rpm and Universal 33.3 release,  mastered by Kevin Gray. 

    John was also present and Greg played the tracks DBT so we couldn't see what he was playing. 

 

  Kevin Gray $50 has the clear win against the $250 One Step.

   KG's mastering just made Marvin's vocals magical and the ambience of the studio was more present.  Bass was similar.   Overal the KG was just more engaging. 

 

 Thanks to @April Snow for bringing the cheap KG to our attention.   It certainly is the modfi giant killer.

 

 I am pretty sure the KG analog el cheapo 2020 remaster will be equally  impressive vs the One Step version of Santana Abraxas.

 

  Cheers

IMG-20220813-WA0007.jpg

Oh boy how I would love to be there 

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On 13/8/2022 at 2:42 PM, metal beat said:

Went over to Greg's place this morning and compared Marvin Gaye What's Going On.

 One Step Modfi 45rpm and Universal 33.3 release,  mastered by Kevin Gray. 

    John was also present and Greg played the tracks DBT so we couldn't see what he was playing. 

 

  Kevin Gray $50 has the clear win against the $250 One Step.

   KG's mastering just made Marvin's vocals magical and the ambience of the studio was more present.  Bass was similar.   Overal the KG was just more engaging. 

 

 Thanks to @April Snow for bringing the cheap KG to our attention.   It certainly is the modfi giant killer.

 

 I am pretty sure the KG analog el cheapo 2020 remaster will be equally  impressive vs the One Step version of Santana Abraxas.

 

  Cheers

IMG-20220813-WA0007.jpg

Just picked up the Kevin Gray pressing replacing a 2012 EU pressing - Amen - loving it 

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2 minutes ago, Hydrology said:

Maybe MoFi are being paid a finders fee for getting everybody to the buy the Gray cut/Universal pressing to compare? Seems like there a hell of them being sold in the last 2-weeks!!!

 

 

I bypassed the modfi, which I generally do and just bought the KG  :classic_biggrin:

Edited by metal beat
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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 5 months later...

So bois.   

 

How are all the digital One Step releases going?   

 

Everyone still buying them as soon as they are released?

 

 

thankfully for me 99% of the releases have no interest to me as many have been reissued nicely many many times over and are none are any favourites of mine musically.    there are a PITA to play as well getting up after one track on some releases

Edited by metal beat
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2 hours ago, metal beat said:

So bois.   

 

How are all the digital One Step releases going?   

 

Everyone still buying them as soon as they are released?

 

 

thankfully for me 99% of the releases have no interest to me as many have been reissued nicely many many times over and are none are any favourites of mine musically.    there are a PITA to play as well getting up after one track on some releases

Are you  feeling like a challenge today by poking the bear 🤣 (the evil new Winnie the Pooh one) 🤣

Edited by April Snow
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34 minutes ago, frankn said:

Just got the One Step of Michael Jackson; Thriller .  
Sounds good to me. The digital step (or not) doesn’t bother me at all. 

Quote

I bought the standard Mofi 45rpm  Elvis "Blue Hawaii" and love that too, at least I know what I am buying now if I choose to.

The Elvis is very very good 😉

Edited by April Snow
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19 minutes ago, April Snow said:

I bought the Elvis "Blue Hawaii" and love that too, at least I know what I am buying now if I choose to.

The Elvis is very very good 😉

 

There is a One Step " Blue Hawaii " ?            I had a look and it seems to be a 45rpm normal mofi?

 

But, there is a One Step of " From Elvis in Memphis "

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5 minutes ago, metal beat said:

 

There is a One Step " Blue Hawaii " ?            I had a look and it seems to be a 45rpm normal mofi?

 

But, there is a One Step of " From Elvis in Memphis "

Sorry my bad - Blue Hawaii is the "standard Mofi 45rpm :thumb:

I do not own any 1 Steps 😉

(I shall edit the previous post) 🙂

Edited by April Snow
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