Anyone heard of mofi-gate

[Yelamanchili manohar]

There seems to be a storm brewing in international forums, ever since it has been revealed in an interview, that mofi was making DSD copies on their struder machine, of Master reel to reel to tapes. And then cutting vinyl from them.

I don't know if I have any mofi records in my collection or not. But considering their high prices, which vinyl aficionados were coughing up, in the impression that it is analogue at its best. Are up in arms. There also seem to be possibilities of law suits from what I heard. Just a heads up. Though it still won't stop me from buying a mofi record. But that's just me.

 

[prem]

I haven’t found a single Mofi record that I have liked till date. And I have owned/heard quite a few. I am not even impressed with their expensive one step vinyl. Owned a couple. Sold them off. Don’t own any Mofi as of today with the exception of Cafe Blue one step.

 

[ajeshkumarts]

Had a couple of them (Eagles and Paul Simon). Nothing exceptional about them according to me (especially considering the price) and got rid of them. Was thinking of getting "Thriller" & " Bitches Brew", but dropped the idea.

 

[arj]

..And the controversy

 

[IndianEars]

I believe MoFi maintains a house sound for all their LPs & CDs which I feel rolls off the extreme treble n adds a rose tint to the rest of the sound.

I guess its fans find it attractive, but it is clearly processed n equalised... IMO of course

 

[Bloom@83]

How are the AP (Analog Productions ) , Hoffman , Steven Wilson remasters different ? Are all their remasters done from analog sources ?
If not , why the controversy with MOFI ? Just trying to understand…

 

[prem]

Absolutely spot on IndianEars

 

[acemachine26]

How are the AP (Analog Productions ) , Hoffman , Steven Wilson remasters different ? Are all their remasters done from analog sources ?
If not , why the controversy with MOFI ? Just trying to understand

Yes AP is done from analog sources and explicitly states if they are unable to do so for a particular pressing. People are ticked off because MoFi lied.

At 1:39 in the video below, MoFi mastering engineer Shawn Britton clearly says that they have an all analog mastering chain which is a blatant lie:

 

[manek]

even if they did DSD replica of the original master or from a tape copy of an original master or used any digital replica of the master, “so what?”. Then there is this argument about “They should have told us”. Its basic common sense, ones basic audiophile(or audiophool) senses must kick in, should people not consider it a blessing that the original master got transcribed to DSD or whatever other format so that the music lives ? And DSD is as close to analog sound as it can get ! There have been times that great music has perished along with its analog tape masters(tapes become unusable to age, etc), the original scores and cuts are lost, etc. The fires at universal, mgm have caused great losses.

If you like the product buy it. If you don't like it buy something else that will make you believe they ran the master tapes over and over again (like any master tape owner in this day and age would allow you to do so) to bring out 40k pressings.

Seriously !

 

[joell]

How are the AP (Analog Productions ) , Hoffman , Steven Wilson remasters different ? Are all their remasters done from analog sources ?
If not , why the controversy with MOFI ? Just trying to understand…

AP has always been upfront with the sources. They have clearly mentioned when they have mastered using digital source.

 

[dhombay]

Don't think the argument was about the SQ, but that MoFi was not transparent about the cutting process.

 

[prem]

Sorry, Cafe Blue one step is not mofi. It’s Impex

 

[MIOM]

I've been following the thread at stevehoffman forums and its a *hitstorm approaching 400 pages.

I no longer buy vinyl, and certainly not paying $150+(US dollars) for an album, but I get the uproar. You pay that type of money you should get what you paid for.

That said, I have a few MoFi CD's and they still sound great to me. But that's CD not vinyl as I don't have any MoFi vinyl. I do have a few Columbia Half-Speed masters which also sound great to me.

 

[Bloom@83]

I've been following the thread at stevehoffman forums and its a *hitstorm approaching 400 pages.

I no longer buy vinyl, and certainly not paying $150+(US dollars) for an album, but I get the uproar. You pay that type of money you should get what you paid for.

That said, I have a few MoFi CD's and they still sound great to me. But that's CD not vinyl as I don't have any MoFi vinyl. I do have a few Columbia Half-Speed masters which also sound great to me.

The issue isn’t about SQ,rather the fact that MoFi wasn’t transparent about their source and cutting for their records post 2015.
Who wants to pay north of 100$ for a digitally sourced / cut print ?

On the other hand , this fiasco proved , once again , what a load of jokers most of these audiophiles are with their golden ears and their uber high end systems and their so-called ability to distinguish between ‘pure analog sound ‘ and ‘ harsh artificial glare’ of digital sound.

 

[Bloom@83]

AP has always been upfront with the sources. They have clearly mentioned when they have mastered using digital source.

Untill someone like Mike comes up with proof that they were doing otherwise.
People believed the same with Mofi till yesterday.

 

[arj]

On the other hand , this fiasco proved , once again , what a load of jokers most of these audiophiles are with their golden ears and their uber high end systems and their so-called ability to distinguish between ‘pure analog sound ‘ and ‘ harsh artificial glare’ of digital sound.

Once the focus shifts to the medium and not the mastering the golden ears do not master at all. Old vinyls sound good not because they are vinyl but because they were mastered with no compression and keeping the sound as natural as possible and so many Good cds sound good for exactly the same reason, and most do not not because cds are flawed but because they have been messed around with.

The moment you mess around with the original content then cd or vinyl would not really matter ( other than the price you pay for it !)

 

[Bloom@83]

Once the focus shifts to the medium and not the mastering the golden ears do not master at all. Old vinyls sound good not because they are vinyl but because they were mastered with no compression and keeping the sound as natural as possible and so many Good cds sound good for exactly the same reason, and most do not not because cds are flawed but because they have been messed around with.

The moment you mess around with the original content then cd or vinyl would not really matter ( other than the price you pay for it !)

But does it really explain why so many of us have been praising the ‘analog warmth and transparency’ of these expensive MOFI original master recordings (hundreds of such threads on Steve Hoffman forum ) when they are now allegedly revealed to have been processed digitally all along ? Is it not the case of the emperor’s new clothes ?

 

[arj]

But does it really explain why so many of us have been praising the ‘analog warmth and transparency’ of these expensive MOFI original master recordings (hundreds of such threads on Steve Hoffman forum ) when they are now allegedly revealed to have been processed digitally all along ? Is it not the case of the emperor’s new clothes ?

I think @IndianEars has given the reason and prem has validated it. Maybe it is Mastered as 'Warm and analog" ..so sounding like that and am sure will sound the same on a cd as well.

 

[MIOM]

The issue isn’t about SQ,rather the fact that MoFi wasn’t transparent about their source and cutting for their records post 2015.
Who wants to pay north of 100$ for a digitally sourced / cut print ?

On the other hand , this fiasco proved , once again , what a load of jokers most of these audiophiles are with their golden ears and their uber high end systems and their so-called ability to distinguish between ‘pure analog sound ‘ and ‘ harsh artificial glare’ of digital sound.

I know what it's about, I've been following the thread since page 30 and posting in it. Even acknowledged the issue

And yes, I wonder about audio purists at times thus my comment below posted...

The way I see it... he himself still says it's still the best sounding recording he's heard. Now he's hurt cause it wasn't cut the way he thought? If that's the case, are we now talking placebo effect? Just a thought.

 

[Bloom@83]

Which proves that we are sheep. We believe what we are told. They might have tweaked to add that rose tint digitally , but we believed that to be pure analog sound (not to mention having paid a premium too for that ).
Caveat : I’ve heard only two MOFI records in my life (Original Master Recordings) and they sounded very good to me. I would never presume to judge if that was an all analog sound or digitally altered.
Within my limited means , I’d anyday prefer the pre 1980s pressing (doesn’t matter if they are second , third or forty fifth ) from UK or Japan or even US which I KNOW sounds fabulous and are all analog for sure.
(In reference to arj’s last post )