Comments on Profile Post by Merrick

/popcorn/

Whoa. Big reputation hit for them? What a shame.

@Merrick do you have a link? I'm interested in seeing their full comment.

at least we know schiit gear was in no way involved. ;)

@MellowVelo https://youtu.be/shg0780YgAE

@Soups Extra funny because Mike designed MoFi’s first ADC Gain system.

@Merrick - I really want to know what happened to that ADC. Is it in a studio somewhere or collecting dust?

We all know when you spin a record you're listening to the rig as much as the master on the plate so I don't personally find this upsetting at all. Most mastering for vinyl even without the MoFi label is done digitally anyway. I'd still probably prefer the particular coloration of my cart and phono vs playing the same DSD master on my DAC, so who cares.

@E_Schaaf I agree with everything you said, except I do care about companies lying to consumers for profit. The product is misrepresented (and people have found proof of MoFi reps and engineers explicitly stating they master all analog). There are more than enough labels out there that I can skip MoFi going forward and not miss anything.

I see it as a massive bummer. Not only b/c their marketing now seems a little shady, but b/c MoFi has been a decent to solid re-issue label. Though I have a bunch of digitally-sourced LPs (bought before I much cared about provenance of the master), I'm now on the side of the fence that feels that if a file is involved at some point, why not just listen to it as a file?

@wbass issues of marketing transparency aside, there might still be valid reasons to listen to the vinyl version instead of the DSD version. For one, a listener might simply prefer the coloration of their vinyl rig compared to a DAC, as @E_Schaaf pointed out.

But also, it’s possible that the vinyl version is produced with one less digital step than the digital version. If I understand correctly, MoFi masters their albums in the analog domain. So for vinyl, they play the file, converting from digital to analog. In the analog domain, they do the mastering wizardry, and then they cut the lacquers from this analog signal. Altogether, there’s one digital step in the process.

Compare this to SACD. The file is converted to analog, mastered in the analog domain, and then a second DSD capture is made for the final product which is released. Altogether, there are two digital steps in the process. At least in MoFi’s case, they’re not releasing the original DSD capture they’ve made from the tape; rather, they’re releasing a second DSD capture after the mastering.

So in some ways, the vinyl version still gets you closer to the original master tape. If I’m wrong about any of this, somebody please correct me.

@MellowVelo I'm not sure that's correct. I believe the mastering in the case of vinyl is in the analog domain in that the mastering moves are being communicated to the cutting head via analog processes, but I don't believe the digital file is being transferred to analog tape for mastering.

@MellowVelo Additionally there would be no reason to move the SACD mastering out of the digital domain at all. Depending on the tools they have, they may need to convert the original DSD file to PCM to master, then back to DSD, but they're not sharing that info.

I admit there's some subtlety to it, and tape has its own sound, wherever you are in the chain. But, then again, you can get that sound from recording to tape and releasing to digital. I guess that, for me, if it was a file at one point, then your analog rig just ends up as a tone control.

While I agree that mastering for LPs can often be superior, records are expensive, and I can always spend my money on things released pre-1982, etc. MoFi will get a *ton* of cancelled orders on this big-wave of OneSteps they have coming. $125 for something that was once a file does not make sense for me anyway.

@Merrick you’re right that I might be incorrect. There’s still a lot here that we don’t know. Just to clarify, I’m not saying that MoFi would transfer the DSD to analog tape and then master it. I’m saying that they would play the file with a DAC, apply mastering to the analog signal, and then cut lacquers for vinyl or recapture a new DSD file for SACD.

For SACD, they definitely can’t master a pure DSD file. At the very least, it needs to be converted to PCM and then back to DSD. This assumes that they’re keeping the SACD mastering entirely in the digital domain.

@MellowVelo The vinyl and SACDs are definitely mastered separately, and by different people as well. They both start with the same 4x DSD source.

I have to say, other than a few marquee jazz titles, the MoFi re-issue program, which heavily favors Boomer rock, isn't totally my bag. But I nearly picked up their Mingus, Ah, Um one-step back when. Probably wouldn't now.

Whatever the actual mastering chain, I’ve enjoyed a lot of MoFi titles over the years. I just hope that, moving forward, they strive for clarity in their marketing. Miles Showell at Abbey Road got a lot of shit for using a digital step. At least he was honest.