Vinyl Demand - Do Mobile Fidelity LPs Still Sound Superb?
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- Опубликовано: 28 авг 2022
- Analogue addicts Mike and David try some of the latest Mobile Fidelity Sound Labs LPs, and attempt to make sense of the furore over the company's new DSD mastering system.
After auditioning a number of Mo-Fi pressings from the nineties to now - and comparing them against original standard issue first pressings - they remain highly impressed by the latest DSD-mastered releases, in many respects.
Instead, the benefits that Mo-Fi releases bring are down to various factors - some sound much better than the originals, others not, and that's not just due to the latest mastering. Also, the packaging and quality is sublime, but so is the price!
Each episode of Hi-Fi Riff features the guys' unedited, unexpurgated views about all manner of weird and wonderful hi-fi designs. Mike has a wealth of knowledge from his hi-fi retail years, and David has written about hi-fi for thirty years. Now Editor-in-Chief of StereoNET, he's picked up a few things along the way.
So brew up a cuppa or crack open a can, and relax and enjoy some one-take hi-fi riffing - and please leave your comments below. Oh, and don’t forget to hit the Subscribe button, this one goes up to eleven!
The eighties-tastic title tune is called ‘UFO/Mike’s Jumper’, and used with the express permission of our old pal and rights holder Simon Lythe.
Thanks to David Brook at The Vinyl Adventure for supplying the LPs used in this review - it's our favourite UK resource for audiophile vinyl. Click on www.thevinyladventure.com for more details. 
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Hi David & Mike, I think your video on Mobile Fidelity offers the best and most reasonable analysis of both the controversy and the quality of their output that I have come across. Thank you! Also in answer to David’s question I would love to see you produce a video dedicated to Japanese records. I have been a keen fan and collector of their vinyl since my first trip to Japan five years ago. Keep up the good work guys.
Thanks Mark, we'll get going on that Japanese vinyl special ASAP.
@@MrVinylista Thank you David. I look forward to that video👍
I'm unconvinced by all these audiophile records. Give me an original release any day so I'm with you David, especially if you value rhythm and timing over the normal Hi-Fi criteria. And I can't bear 45rpm albums - up 'n down like a yo-yo!
Sometimes, I find Mo-Fis to be clearly better, occasionally massively so. At others, it's different - more 'hi-fi' sounding - but not really any more fun to listen to, possibly less. As ever, it depends on multiple factors, and it's hard to make sweeping pronouncements.
So my rule of thumb is just to get the first pressing, made in the country of origin of the band and/or record company - so it's not from a copy master.
I have to say though, as a special present to yourself or others, I still think Mo-Fis are things of beauty for us vinyl junkies.
@@MrVinylista Fair enough - ref generalisations.
Showing my age, but I have T.Rex Ride A White Swan LP on Music For Pleasure released in 1972 which is actually a best of Tyrannosaurus Rex. This is a master piece of music. Of course all before the vinyl shortage when LPs became very thin.
Those old 'Nice Price' and 'Fame' records weren't so bad. In my collection some of these old budget pressings sound superior to recent 180g audiophile versions.
It's certainly true that they were no worse than the standard fare that record companies were putting out in the mid to late eighties, which was dreary. For example, a stock 1987 vinyl pressing of Fleetwood Mac's Rumours was woeful, and sounded way worse than the first pressing of ten years or so earlier. Presumably pressed from second or third gen copy masters onto rubbishy recycled vinyl that was probably a Wombles LP in its previous life!
Excellent discussion as usual. This digital content is much better than my old Hi-fi World version, to make a clumsy comparison.
Dear Chaps, Talking of vinyl, I am dying to hear what Pro-ject's new de-clicking device sounds like: the Vinyl NRS Box S3. I have not seen any reviews. Yours could be the first review - a world wide scoop.
Great riff - your review concurs with my experience of mofi records / CD - lovely thick card outer sleeves, printed inners etc & protective record sleeve all 10/10 ... and have the whiff of a nice premium thingy to own / possess etc..
But sometimes the quality of the recording isn't quite as day / night different when compared to a good, clean first pressing vinyl record (or well produced CD for that matter).
That said, I'm not so disappointed / disgusted by the AAA/ADA revelations to be offloading my mofi records / CDs onto ebay any time soon.
ps. A review on good record cleaners would be very helpful 👍
True. Not ADA but ADAA...
I am surpised you didn’t mention the distorted cymbals on the supertramp gone hollywood. It is so jarring compared to the original where they kept it back in the mix. They have revised that info sheet in the box to include the dsd stage in the process. I have found a good OG is often as good or better. The prices of mofi are eye-watering. I pay double with shipping and duty, so I am very selective!
The takeaway for me of the whole Mofi debacle is that IF quad DSD is indeed able to produce an almost imperceptible copy of the original analogue tape it is great news. It means the slow inextricable decline of the original analogue tape through storage and dragging it out for yet another remaster can be frozen in time.
We know the very best sound is from high quality real time copy reel to reel tape - absurdly expensive for an album along with a hopelessly fragile high maintenance unusable format for everyday use.
However with a quad DSD copy means the Mofi (and others) SACD has the actual quad DSD file embedded in it. However we want to be able to download the DSD file to our hard drive. If we have what is ostensibly a near perfect copy of the master tape then it’s just down to DAC technology to nail it and we are golden. Can you imagine how good one of these files would sound through a Linn Organik or dCS DAC.
How can we get the file, as none of us want a spinning silver disc with all the inherent transport vibration issues, disc manufacturing etc.
The record industry wont allow digital transfer specialists to copy original analogue tapes to quad DSD and make them available for download for fear of bootlegging and ‘end gaming’ the whole gravy train of remasters. They’re happy with physical vinyl and SACD that has encryption.
Mmmmm how to break the grid lock.
Great points. DSD was of course invented as a studio mastering medium in the mid 1990s, and it's a job it performs extremely well. There are many reasons why it's preferable to PCM, not least because it doesn't slice and dice the digital audio stream in an arbitrary way to suit the particular digital word length being used - and It's also cheaper, too!
The elephant in the room is that, no matter how well they're stored, those original analogue master tapes from the 1950s to the 1990s aren't going to live forever - they do need to be put into the digital domain before they physically degrade and are gone forever, because analogue tape is just a thin sheet of mylar (or similar) with some ferric oxide stuck onto it. High speed DSD has got to be the answer, going forward.
@@MrVinylista Totally agree. It feels like DSD has come of age. All we need now is a commercial solution that gives us access either via streaming service or can be stored on a local hard drive. It can’t be that vinyl with all its flaws ultimately offers the best sound in analogue. I own thousands of the things played on a Klimax LP12 so am fully invested. However I recently bought a Klimax DSM 3 Organik and there are times when a Hi Res 192kHz out performs the vinyl (who knows if I had an original first pressing things might be different) but digital is getting seriously good. I’m not talking about original digital recordings which by in large sound best kept in the digital domain IMO.
I'd be very interested in your views on Japanese vinyl
It's a big shame they have been deceptive about their signal path, as they have always taken care to make great sounding pressings.
As a recent dsd convert, I can acknowledge that a master taken to a high quality dsd would be fine to these old ears, and allow for a master that won't degrade, so im not concerned by sq implications, but I am by the transparency of the company.
Ive recently bought a sony turntable that outputs a quality dsd stream for me to record. Im passing this via roon to my auralic g1 and the quality of rip im getting is quite frankly baffling. This is of course a big reminder of why I loved vynal, but its also been a huge eye opener in terms of how good a decent dsd stream can sound. Also props to my project vaccum record cleaner, no pops here!
Im still likely to yearn for their new pressings, but im just not prepared to pay the costs!
Thanks for chewing the fat on this subject, it was an entertaining chat and I certainly agree with your conclussions. Incidently , have you guys ever collected jap mini lps (cd format). For some of my fave music, these discs are the best ive heard, in many cases sounding better than more recent remasters, so I advise to try these some time if you are looking for best versions!
P. S. Love that rickie lee jones album, the mini lp of that sounds fantastic. Night train always been a fave test track for me..
Yes please japanese vinyl
The sound is not in question.
The lack of honesty.
The over price for an "All Analog" product......?!?
Address that.......?!?
I am not a fan of Mobile Fidelity as a company. In the U.S., they represent many brands - IsoTek, Solid Steel, HiFi Rose, Dr Feikert. etc., all of which I purchased in the last few years, and ALL of which had major problems. In each case, I attempted to contact MoFi for help, but with no success. They simply do not return calls nor respond to emails. It has been a painful & COSTLY learning experience. Now I know not buy anything they produce or are associated with. Two BIG thumbs down, WAY down.