Do Mobile Fidelity Vinyl Re-issues Have a Digital Step in the Process?

Audire

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Yes, we all agree on this aspect.



Yes, there were people who did not like the MoFi re-issues. The same way some disliked many analog re-issues. But the great majority of the famous vinyl golden years enjoyed and praised them. Until the scandal no one came in public saying firmly they could identify the digital link. And the system has been in use for long years and audio forums also exist since long.

Please re-read the thread. I know Mike from Suncoast Audio exchanged emails (dated before the scandal) with another audiophile. I believe there’s a video on it in the thread. Others here also recognized it.
 

microstrip

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Please re-read the thread. I know Mike from Suncoast Audio exchanged emails (dated before the scandal) with another audiophile. I believe there’s a video on it in the thread. Others here also recognized it.

I read the thread in due time. As I said, nothing that can be taken as a firm public denunciation of the existence of a digital link.
 

Avidlistener

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Before MofiGate and before purchasing the Paul Simon Still Crazy one-step, I downloaded Michael Fremer's digital capture of the One Step LP. When I compared a dsd64 version with the Fremer rip, it wasn't even close. The DSD file played over my Directstream MKI sounded generations closer to a master than the Fremer rip. I ended up buying it anyway because there were a few still new at MSRP, and hoped for a miracle. I'm missing a dac now but when I get the Directstream MKII next month I'll do a proper comparison between it and the one step on my vinyl rig. I'll go in with an open mind, but I would imagine the LP in comparison would sound broken, based on Fremer's capture.

@microstrip I see why it would take you time to get up to date on the forums, with a system like yours. A friend used to own U1's. I still dream of owning SoundLabs one day and I have a pair of MA-1's and Speltz autoformers just sitting around collecting dust that are a great match for Soundlabs.
 

Audire

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I read the thread in due time. As I said, nothing that can be taken as a firm public denunciation of the existence of a digital link.

You are hilarious. The email I referenced is in post #777 of this thread. It was in a direct response to what you asked. :rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:

Mike of Suncoast Audio emailed Fremer…. If you go to Mike’s site, he says, “I for one sent multiple emails to Fremer beginning in 2019 and told him I heard digital in these One Step’s. Happy to share the emails with anyone not believing me.” Then he posted the pic in his forum and the same one is in #777 of this thread.

Mike’s forum Post 33 - (https://www.audioshark.org/music-forum-128/mofi-one-step-s-tape-digital-big-debate-21170.html).

So the issue was known well before the scandal, i.e. at least in 2019, if not before. So, some people knew something was already amiss.

Your argument rests on the assumption that all audiophiles post on a forum. Most don‘t and could care less about them. So we never hear from them. Many stopped purchasing MoFi long before the scandal ever broke. Perhaps like me some just didn’t like them. I didn’t know it was FrankenVinyl - digital vinyl - only that I didn’t enjoy the music.

Losing purchases is a public denouncement of a product - it’s the strongest denouncement of all! I will continue to denounce their lies by not purchasing any items from them.
 
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microstrip

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You are hilarious.

I will avoid entering in an insulting competition, my apologies for not following your style.

The email I referenced is in post #777 of this thread. It was in a direct response to what you asked. :rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:

Mike of Suncoast Audio emailed Fremer…. If you go to Mike’s site, he says, “I for one sent multiple emails to Fremer beginning in 2019 and told him I heard digital in these One Step’s. Happy to share the emails with anyone not believing me.” Then he posted the pic in his forum and the same one is in #777 of this thread.

I already answered to that post in post #785. What was addressed was just sibilance and doubts on the tapes that had been used.

Mike’s forum Post 33 - (https://www.audioshark.org/music-forum-128/mofi-one-step-s-tape-digital-big-debate-21170.html).

So the issue was known well before the scandal, i.e. at least in 2019, if not before. So, some people knew something was already amiss.

Your argument rests on the assumption that all audiophiles post on a forum. Most don‘t and could care less about them. So we never hear from them. Many stopped purchasing MoFi long before the scandal ever broke. Perhaps like me some just didn’t like them. I didn’t know it was FrankenVinyl - digital vinyl - only that I didn’t enjoy the music.

Losing purchases is a public denouncement of a product - it’s the strongest denouncement of all! I will continue to denounce their lies by not purchasing any items from them.

Please go on. Even long before the DSD use many people did not like and some even hated MoFi remasters. I am sure you are not alone, but the current prices on the usual LP markets show that your message is lost and people still value and appreciate MoFi LPs, in spite of the sandal. I will not sell mine and if some I like show close to me at a nice price in pristine condition I will not hesitate to take them.
 
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microstrip

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(...) @microstrip I see why it would take you time to get up to date on the forums, with a system like yours. A friend used to own U1's. I still dream of owning SoundLabs one day and I have a pair of MA-1's and Speltz autoformers just sitting around collecting dust that are a great match for Soundlabs.

Just to point that current SoundLabs can be used with the MA-1s without the Speltz autoformers - only an old generation of backplates optimized for solid state amplifiers needed them. Even those backplates could be easily modified for higher impedance - the so called impedance mod.
 

Audire

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I will avoid entering in an insulting competition, my apologies for not following your style.



I already answered to that post in post #785. What was addressed was just sibilance and doubts on the tapes that had been used.



Please go on. Even long before the DSD use many people did not like and some even hated MoFi remasters. I am sure you are not alone, but the current prices on the usual LP markets show that your message is lost and people still value and appreciate MoFi LPs, in spite of the sandal. I will not sell mine and if some I like show close to me at a nice price in pristine condition I will not hesitate to take them.

First in post 1,062 I said to you, “Mike from Suncoast Audio exchanged emails (dated before the scandal) with another audiophile.” He was commenting on hearing a digital link.

Seven (7) minutes later you respond, “I read the thread in due time. As I said, nothing that can be taken as a firm public denunciation of the existence of a digital link” in post #1,063.

But then in post #1,066 I found the post in question (#777). I also discovered that it was originally posted as an answer to you. And now you state you answered post #777 in post #785. Perhaps you should reread post #785. You didn’t reply to me but to Audiophile Bill.

The fact is that you already knew that some audiophiles were familiar with something being wrong with MoFI in post #777 before you made your comment in post #1,061 saying “Until the scandal no one came in public saying firmly they could identify the digital link.” And if you will look further back in the thread some others also commented on their dislike of MoFI.

Facts are facts.

Enjoy. Good night.
 

Audire

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Here’s a video outlining what is currently in the proposed settlement. The comments under the video are interesting as well.

 
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Atmasphere

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Just to point that current SoundLabs can be used with the MA-1s without the Speltz autoformers - only an old generation of backplates optimized for solid state amplifiers needed them. Even those backplates could be easily modified for higher impedance - the so called impedance mod.
To be clear, the newer Toroid 2 backplate corrects an error in the crossover that simply made the speaker hard to drive regardless of the kind of amplifier used. The original crossover was designed using a simulation; turned out the simulation didn't match the actual speaker. So now the speaker is easier to drive.
 

Avidlistener

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I have no Dac for a few weeks while my DS MKII is being built and
, and I’m listening to a lot of vinyl. What I’m noticing is that most LP’s with any kind of digital step in them sounds hard. I really thought my stylus was the problem after hearing a couple of LP’s that sounded poor, only to have everything return to normal after putting on some old school fully analog LP’s.

Granted I have a system that might reveal even subtle hardness due to beryllium drivers and Strain Gauge phono cart with most extreme stylus profile (SG6)

Once I have my DAC I’ll do some comparisons with the latest digital and the one step LPs, to really get a handle on what they sound like.
 

Audire

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….. According to a new legal filing with the Illinois courts, terms of a settlement in the Washington case were agreed in January, although the judge overseeing that case declined to approve what had been agreed, mainly because of some technicalities.

An amended version of the settlement was then submitted with the court last week dealing with the technicalities. ……

 

Zeotrope

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Does anyone know if this album on vinyl has a digital conversion?

Paul Simon - There Goes Rhymin' Simon​

 

Ron Resnick

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Does anyone know if this album on vinyl has a digital conversion?

Paul Simon - There Goes Rhymin' Simon​


It clearly (finally) says "DSD":

"1/4" / 15 IPS / Dolby A analog master to DSD 256 . . ."
 
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Avidlistener

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MFSL after maybe 2007? Are all digital except perhaps one or two. I know my Bill Evans Sunday at VV is analog. When my new Directstream MKII Dac arrives I’ll compare some of the one Steps I’ve opened against a digital version. My analog rig is 3 or 4 times the cost of my digital, and I expect the digital files to be far superior to the digital one steps.

Good analog LP’s are a different story. I recently heard a Jimmy Smith LP that was hidden for a while, and shocked how amazing it sounded compared with a DSD file on my Directstream MKI.

I think perhaps the one steps could be a good value for someone who doesn’t have a good digital rig. But I’ve noticed many LP’s I play with any kind of digital step are a bit hard sounding.
 
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Ron Resnick

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"GAIN 2" is another tell-tale sign. David Blumenstein believes that Gain 2 = digital step.
 
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Ron Resnick

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I believe that Fleetwood Mac's Fleetwood Mac and the first two Stevie Nicks albums and Elton John's Goodbye Yellow Brick Road are all analog.
 
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Zeotrope

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My copy of There Goes is a brutal pressing: only one channel audible at times and the tone is off. It’s going back to MoFi forever. I don’t buy vinyl that has been converted to/from digital - I had assumed they would never go to digital with the “One Step” special process.
 
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Audire

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Class Action Update - March 14, 2023

Judge Allows 'Reverse Auction' Protest In Vinyl Record Suit - Consumers alleging a vinyl company secretly used digital mastering to make records marketed as all-analog can try and block the company's $25 million settlement in a related class action, after they claimed the deal was tainted by efforts to settle for the lowest possible amount …​


 

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