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Mobile Fidelity Analog Vinyl Controversy

Azazello13

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I got sucked into this rabbit hole on Youtube, and I can't stop laughing.

Basically it's coming out that MOFI has been using a digital step in their remastering since at least 2015, while all these analog "audiophile" snobs have been paying $130 per remastered, reissued LP thinking they're getting the pure, undefiled analog magic, and talking these reissues up as proof of their delusions. Now they're getting the rug pulled out from under.

A bit of a rundown here:
 

MattHooper

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Personally I don't care if there are any digital steps in creating a record. I love records but I'm no purist that way. A record either sounds good or it doesn't.
 

dougi

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It doesn't matter to me either, as long as the pressing is done well. I digitise after the phono stage anyway.
 

MattHooper

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Well, admittedly I'm not totally consistent on this "keepin' it real" analog records thing.

One reason I spin records is that I find the sound is generally a bit different from my turntable rig vs my digital, and I enjoy it. It doesn't seem to matter if
there was digital somewhere in the recording or mastering chain, the vinyl versions still tend to sound more like vinyl than the digital. I put it down, likely, to all the kludges of re-mastering for vinyl, putting it down in grooves, and scraping it back off with a rock. So even a digital master gets somewhat bastardized by the process :) So I find the sound quality I hear from any record is never predicted by whether it came from a fully analog process or not.
Some records from analog masters suck, so do some digital. And visa versa.

But when it comes to how I treat my stereo, I keep my digital and turntable separate. That is, I don't care to digitize my turntable/vinyl signal. I know that I could in all likelihood digitize it in a way that is sonically transparent and keep the vinyl "sound," but I guess it's ultimately more of a conceptual thing that gives me some pleasure. I'm doing digital source when I want, analog when I want.

As a friend of mine who plays strictly vinyl in his main rig (and toils to keep vinyl up to snuff) says:

"Once you've digitized your vinyl, admit it, you've given up." :p
 

watchnerd

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I got sucked into this rabbit hole on Youtube, and I can't stop laughing.

Basically it's coming out that MOFI has been using a digital step in their remastering since at least 2015, while all these analog "audiophile" snobs have been paying $130 per remastered, reissued LP thinking they're getting the pure, undefiled analog magic, and talking these reissues up as proof of their delusions. Now they're getting the rug pulled out from under.

A bit of a rundown here:

Eh, I may have paid big bucks for some MoFi releases, but I never thought they were pure analog.

And it doesn't really matter -- digitally mastered LPs still sound like LPs when you play them (for good or ill).

Digital mastering doesn't make LP playback "non analog" or turn it into a FLAC.
 

Chrispy

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Pretty much.

I have albums that are modern, digitally recorded, and then released on LPs (in addition to digital).

And a lot of old recordings that get remastered for a new LP release go through digital mastering, too.
And generally if the work is done well, it's not an issue
 

Chrispy

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I don't understand the question.

You can do lots of things via a DSP-based phono stage that you can't do in an analog based one, or not as easily.

You could also easily not bother with vinyl playback.....I'm not sure what your signal chain is any more at all....but good luck!
 

watchnerd

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You could also easily not bother with vinyl playback.....I'm not sure what your signal chain is any more at all....but good luck!

Eh?

Playing back a digital file does't sound the same as playing back an LP that has gone through an analog to digital converter feeding a DSP phono stage.

LP still sounds like LP.

As should be expected, because analog to digital converters, for the most part, are transparent.
 

Chrispy

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Eh?

Playing back a digital file does't sound the same as playing back an LP that has gone through an analog to digital converter.

LP still sounds like LP.

As should be expected, because analog to digital converters, for the most part, are transparent.
Maybe, depends on what you did for setup....hard to know from your posts
 
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