What do you guys think of MoFi?

[Robin L]

Haven't had the greatest luck with Mo-Fi product. I'm a dinosaur, so I recall the "Golden Age of Analog", that is to say, the sales peak in the 1970s. I happened to live in Pasadena California at the time. There were lots of stores one could easily reach via car. Vouge records in Westwood, near UCLA, had a huge selection of Japanese imports, among other hard to find imports. Poo-Bahs in Pasadena had all the Sun Ra titles. And there were lots of places selling "high-end" vinyl. I worked for a while at a place called "Ray Avery's Rare Records", we got the first releases of Telarc and Sheffield Labs along with a lot of the Verve Japanese imports of classic Jazz from the 1950s/1960s.

I know Mobile Fidelity started out with stereo recordings of trains:

I don't know if I got the Mo-Fi version of "Magical Mystery Tour" in the late 1970s or early 1980s. It was a real disappointment with Mo-Fi using the same master tape as the original US issue. Side one, with the original EP, was in stereo, some of side two, featuring the singles, was in fake stereo. There was a German remaster from the early 1970s with proper stereo mixes and much better sound, that became the mix used in later CD incarnations. Many years later, I got the Mo-Fi CD of Aretha Franklin's "I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You". It had the most egregious error I've encountered with a CD, with one channel about 6db lower in level than the other.

As regards the controversy of using digital dubs for "pure analog" LPs, it doesn't surprise me.

 

[SSS]

Some of the MoFi LP offers I have the original non MoFi issue from the past. Today I do not buy LPs anymore. Since MoFi transfers the analog master tape to DSD and then to the lathe I would buy a wav file derived from DSD instead.

 

[MCH]

I don't own any. At the time, I didn't like their cover designs making the CD covers smaller or the band on top that wasn't that bad but still, in my opinion, was very disruptive of the original designs.
That said, I think at some point in time, when the market was flooded with very poor pressings of classic albums, they were investing resources in providing folks who could afford it with quality pressings. I was a teenager at the time and nothing of that was for me, but appreciate their dedication.

 

[HedgeHog]

I purchased a few of their later SACDs. They sound OK and not anything spectacular. I miss the gold CDs with the fancy cases. The main thing that really bugs me is there "Pre-Order Now" and nothing gets released for years. Some even get cancelled.

 

[JeffS7444]

I used to love them, though I think my last purchase occurred in the early or mid 1980s (Supertramp: Crime of the Century UHQR). But if I want the ultimate in sound quality today,16/44.1 PCM recordings suit me just fine. Or if it's a multichannel mix, Bluray disks are fine. At this late date, why bother with SACD, why not MiniDisc or DAT

 

[RexrothPigeon]

dubious missteps

I think the word you're looking for is "fraud"

 

[mlsstl]

Because I believe it's stupid. And I hate stupid. The technology has improved to such an extent that holding on to an archaic format is just being thick.

Interesting. I try to reserve my rage for problems in our world which are a shade bigger. For issues like this I can't get much past mildly bemused.

 

[HalSF]

I think the word you're looking for is "fraud"

No, fraud is a terrible and inaccurate word if you’re trying to indicate the negative side and the various mistakes MoFi has made over half a century of history as a company and a brand. You could certainly argue, as many people have, that the specific case of MoFi’s unannounced switch to DSD sources while continuing to signal its vinyl releases were AAA was tantamount to fraud. But a blanket statement suggesting everything MoFi has done wrong over many decades is “fraud” is the kind of angry audio-is-for-mud-wrestling invective I find useless and sort of childish, like the OP’s hate tantrum.

 

[krabapple]

I compare them to the "old" MoFi CDs, which are stellar.

LOL, OK.

The compression is "intelligent" these days. They can compress only certain instruments yet leave others intact.

And you think MoFi is doing this?

You are nuts.

 

[RexrothPigeon]

No, fraud is a terrible and inaccurate word if you’re trying to indicate the negative side and the various mistakes MoFi has made over half a century of history as a company and a brand. You could certainly argue, as many people have, that the specific case of MoFi’s unannounced switch to DSD sources while continuing to signal its vinyl releases were AAA was tantamount to fraud. But a blanket statement suggesting everything MoFi has done wrong over many decades is “fraud” is the kind of angry audio-is-for-mud-wrestling invective I find useless and sort of childish, like the OP’s hate tantrum.

I have no idea what you're talking about--I didn't say that "everything MoFi has done is fraud" lol whut?

The fact is that mofi did perpetrate fraud, and calling that a "dubious misstep" is euphemistic almost to the point of whitewashing.

 

[Laika2]

I like and buy their vinyl but that's about it. Generally better sounding and low surface noise. Mostly listen to CDs or flacs from CDs. MOFI CDs were great quite a few years ago. New music, not so much.

 

[xanalog]

I personally hate the new MoFi, which is very much focused on vinyl. And I personally hate vinyl.

When you say "MoFi" do you mean the umbrella org Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab?
If yes; then; I disagree... I am quite happy with my MoFi Electronics speakers.

OT: Why so much hate?