MQA scandal similarities to MoFi scandal

[AnotherJohnson]

Hasn’t MoFi been going through some of the same sort of examination of their claims about their products?

And didn’t the same reviewers miss their problems too?

And aren’t a lot of reviewers now breaking 70, and even 80? No one, including me at 70+, believes that people with 70+ year old ears are in a position to evaluate gear for a 40 year old’s ears.

Stereophile came this week. I thumbed through it. Nothing of interest carefully written by no one of interest.

As is the case with most hobby driven magazines, once you’ve read 12 issues, the only reason to keep subscribing is for the current crop of advertisements and the occasionally relevant news release.

[admin]

As is the case with most hobby driven magazines, once you’ve read 12 issues, the only reason to keep subscribing is for the current crop of advertisements and the occasionally relevant news release.

I subscribe as well. At less than a $1 an issue it keeps me briefly entertained with the "pretty pictures." Otherwise, not worth much.

As for Mofi and MQA. Both have been caught lying in the past. Neither would I ever trust.

[AnotherJohnson]

Back in the day, someone brought a MoFi album to a Linn LP12 demo at a show.

It was summarily turned into a frisbee and sent sailing across the room.

Linn’s official position was that half speed mastering was a gimmick that introduced more bad artifacts than good ones.

I have a pretty good number of MoFi’s half speed mastered catalogue. But I don’t generally play them. I can hear Linn’s point.

[Big Dog RJ]

Yes, had experienced a similar situation with those MoFi LP's. The initial record store I purchased just one Limited edition MoFi label, was on Patricia Barber plays the Cole Porter mix. It was initially an interesting thing, such that the playback level was quite low... had to turn things up.

Another good mate, who also had CLX's at the time, (now has Apogee Diva's refurbed by Graz) also purchased a MoFi label on Dire Straits album, Brother's in Arms. He actually brought it home and so we played it on my humble TT rig, and it sounded quite good! In fact much better than the Patricia Barber LP, so I was confused as to what's going on with the level of playback quality.

After nearly 3yrs, I purchased another MoFi lebel on Natalie Merchant's Tiger Lilly album, that one was even better! Price wise, it was all the high price tag, between $150 to $200. I was thinking what the fuss was all about, and couldn't quite justify those prices, especially after listening to a 1979 LP pressing of George Benson. That very old LP had so much more in terms of dynamics, resolution, detail and a pristine clarity in the midrange. Only then did I realise that the MoFi label was all hype... and of course tech marketing.

Oh well, in any case I had already spent the money, so no point regretting. Might as well just enjoy them as is, and next time be more weary of such hype.

Cheers, RJ

[admin]

Oh well, in any case I had already spent the money, so no point regretting. Might as well just enjoy them as is, and next time be more weary of such hype.

Cheers, RJ

And enjoying them is what it's all about. It's just that when you pay such a premium in price and are expecting to get something unique, it's a bitter pill to swallow that it's simply a copy of a digital master. You can only make a finite copy from the analog master tapes before the master quality degrades so I get the big price increase. You are buying something that will be inherently limited in number. It's not about MoFI not producing good sounding albums, it's about them lying that you are getting a limited edition album that can't be reproduced in the future,... but of course, in this case, that is not true.

Enjoy the tunes and don't worry about spilled milk.

[AnotherJohnson]

The half speed master issue was not lying … it was arguing that the half speed mastering process improved things, a controversial idea. On an LP12 you could quickly hear the difference between the half speed master and the original. The original was nearly always more musically rich.

As collectibles, the old Mobile Fidelity half speeds are still desirable because of scarcity. A true collector will value them as collectible. I have a lot of them, all bought new and discounted from their msrp of the day.

[admin]

Well, lying by omission would be a better phrase.

Basically the assumption was that the entire mastering process was analog when in fact they were just using a digital source to produce "hifi analog records."

https://www.audioholics.com/audio-techn ... ty-scandal

[AnotherJohnson]

Well, lying by omission would be a better phrase.

Basically the assumption was that the entire mastering process was analog when in fact they were just using a digital source to produce "hifi analog records."

https://www.audioholics.com/audio-techn ... ty-scandal

The half speed issue was not lying. It was disagreeing.
If someone says McIntosh is better than X, they’re just giving their opinion. Same with half speed mastering. History eventually settles things, but not always based on quality .., consider VHS vs Beta for example.

In the more recent MoFi situation, clearly they were lying.

Half speed mastering is described here.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Half-speed_mastering

It is a much hyped process with many claims about which discerning listeners argue. The Linn camp was against it from the start. Many other vinyl focused companies of those days were either neutral or positive.