Oh! Thank you. It had shit down for maintenance, I had thought. Maybe the web address changed as well. I’m very grateful
― beamish13, Tuesday, 12 July 2022 20:27 (two years ago) link
I stumbled on the old forum several years ago and was surprised to find a gold mine of posts from Shawn Britton and Rob LoVerde from Mobile Fidelity. I guess something happened with the old forum, because all of those posts seem to be lost forever. A real shame, they had some amazing info.
― birdistheword, Tuesday, 12 July 2022 20:39 (two years ago) link
The new MFSL interview zings Steve Hoffman at 34:30 without using his name
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=shg0780YgAE
― birdistheword, Wednesday, 20 July 2022 18:03 (two years ago) link
is this Youtuber for real with his "BREAKING NEWS" hysterics less than a week ago about Mobile Fidelity not being fully analog and now putting out a sit down interview with them about it?I don't care about this stuff, don't own any of their expensive product, but it's pretty funny.
― maf you one two (maffew12), Wednesday, 20 July 2022 20:21 (two years ago) link
I mean, it has the H0ffmanites all up in a tizzy with many saying they will never buy from MoFi again so.... it's something, I guess.
― a superficial sheeb of intelligence (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Wednesday, 20 July 2022 20:22 (two years ago) link
haha ok i will enjoy on my next visit to the forums
― maf you one two (maffew12), Wednesday, 20 July 2022 20:23 (two years ago) link
I didn't see his previous video - I generally don't watch one-man rant videos, ever - but I tuned in for this one simply because it was more like a group interview with people who know what they're talking about firsthand, it did indeed have some good info.
― birdistheword, Wednesday, 20 July 2022 20:26 (two years ago) link
small self-confidence boost: i don't know what any of those dudes are talking about.
― "Why is the voice of reason treated as the unreliable narrator?", asked (Austin), Wednesday, 20 July 2022 20:47 (two years ago) link
I checked the forums; the thread about this is at 170 pages. This post on the first page is kind of perfect:
It’s impossible that they are digital because so many people on here can ‘sense the naturalness’ of analog over the ‘harsh superficial glare’ of digital. So they would have known already and told us.
― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Wednesday, 20 July 2022 20:53 (two years ago) link
LMAO
― birdistheword, Wednesday, 20 July 2022 20:55 (two years ago) link
oh wait i might've paid an extra dollar for the fully analog Loveless. I'm a hypocrite
― maf you one two (maffew12), Wednesday, 20 July 2022 20:57 (two years ago) link
not going to deny it, i love the charity shop thread that i hang out on ..
― mark e, Wednesday, 20 July 2022 21:02 (two years ago) link
lol Tarfumes, amazing find
― budo jeru, Wednesday, 20 July 2022 21:04 (two years ago) link
those quotes might be a hint.
― bulb after bulb, Wednesday, 20 July 2022 21:07 (two years ago) link
i laughed too but geez those mofi guys are sampling at 4xDSD which is roughly 11,000,000 samples per second. that's got to be more or less transparent to anybody's ears.
― Thus Sang Freud, Wednesday, 20 July 2022 23:11 (two years ago) link
never, the digital glare is caused by the shininess of 0s and 1s, you can never get rid of it, unless you use this power cable studded with crystals
― assert (matttkkkk), Thursday, 21 July 2022 00:52 (two years ago) link
Sounds like a secret society with a guru figure, with rituals done at home where they all connect together through their magic machinery, preserving a lost art known only to a few chosen (male) onesBegging for an anthropological study.
― Nabozo, Thursday, 21 July 2022 07:59 (two years ago) link
he had this Mofi version of Bringing It All Back Home, a record I am quite familiar withhttps://www.discogs.com/release/9486656-Bob-Dylan-Bringing-It-All-Back-Homeand I swear I was hearing things I had never heard before when he put it on
JFC, the median price for that on Discogs is $110 with one purchase going as high as $225.
For years, a brand-new copy of Mofi's SACD was typically sold direct from Mofi or Music Direct for $15-20 - it may still be available for $15-20 at any retailers who still have stock. And both the SACD and the vinyl were likely mastered from the same DSD transfers of the original mono master tape. (FWIW, the stereo version they put out is a digital remix, not worth it.)
I've got one myself, it's a definitely an upgrade, but no one in their right mind should dump an extra $100+ into the toilet just to have it carved into two slabs of vinyl.
― birdistheword, Thursday, 21 July 2022 14:55 (two years ago) link
*it's definitely
― birdistheword, Thursday, 21 July 2022 14:56 (two years ago) link
Man, they better not have lied about using the original master on this:
https://i.discogs.com/xorbQhHZeVxhlAMH1BLMfBzzglPLW8uaWIqo2qhB-pQ/rs:fit/g:sm/q:40/h:300/w:300/czM6Ly9kaXNjb2dz/LWRhdGFiYXNlLWlt/YWdlcy9SLTE5OTAz/MjItMTQ5MjAzODU5/OC04MzUzLmpwZWc.jpeg
― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Thursday, 21 July 2022 15:29 (two years ago) link
Seems quite clearly to be sarcasm, to be fair to that poster.
― Noel Emits, Thursday, 21 July 2022 15:40 (two years ago) link
Yeah, that one was pretty clearly sarcasm or trolling, but it's telling of that site in general that there was even a question. That said, I know a lot of those stereocental folks that set up an entire H0ffman burn forum like to troll the H0ffman forums with those kind of posts too.
― a superficial sheeb of intelligence (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Thursday, 21 July 2022 15:48 (two years ago) link
i just stopped parsing sarcasm like ages and ages ago. i recommend it - it's done me a world of good. whatever someone says, i just treat it like they meant it seriously and unironically.
in fairness to sh.tv, this listening project some of them are doing where they listen to and review every single recorded version of dark star is pretty great. aside from _dots and loops_ basically the only music i've been listening to for the last year+ is dead boots, and the project was just _essential_ for me when i was compiling my greyfolded-style tc-era dark star mix.
https://everydarkstar.blogspot.com/
― Kate (rushomancy), Thursday, 21 July 2022 16:05 (two years ago) link
Man, they better not have lied about using the original master on this
That's actually a good one to have. I only hope the master didn't get damaged or destroyed in that fire some asshat caused on the Universal lot.
― birdistheword, Thursday, 21 July 2022 19:52 (two years ago) link
But yes, it's the original (and correct!) master.
― birdistheword, Thursday, 21 July 2022 19:53 (two years ago) link
I am hard-wired to not detect sarcasm unless it's completely transparent and this tendency feels like a perk to me
― J Edgar Noothgrush (Joan Crawford Loves Chachi), Thursday, 21 July 2022 20:49 (two years ago) link
I was not the world's biggest Kids in the Hall fan but this sketch has lived in my head for 30+ years:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9vunDdxWLA
― but also fuck you (unperson), Thursday, 21 July 2022 20:54 (two years ago) link
Oh no, what a personal disaster!
― Ashley Pomeroy, Thursday, 21 July 2022 20:59 (two years ago) link
It's best to detect the sarcasm but respond like it's sincere, everybody wins.
― Halfway there but for you, Thursday, 21 July 2022 21:00 (two years ago) link
there should be bb code for [ sarcasm ]that messes with capitalization or something
― brimstead, Thursday, 21 July 2022 21:06 (two years ago) link
I remember reading about this thread back in June:https://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/will-sanctions-be-the-end-of-the-tube-resurgence.1134832/
A lot of vacuum tubes come from Russia, apparently. It's fascinating both for a glimpse into a peculiar worldview and also because it's 51 pages long.
On the other hand Russia was for a long time the only source of old-fashioned mercury camera batteries, so I can see where they're coming from. The frustrating thing is that in the early 2000s a lot of people assumed that camera film would never die because China and Russia would continue to pump it out forever, because it would be decades before digital cameras became a thing in the former second world. But of course digital cameras and eventually smartphones crashed in price, and in large parts of the world a smartphone is an indispensable daily tool, so camera film died a dead. It's still being made, or at least slowly repackaged from existing stocks, but it will never be cheaper than it was in the early 2000s. I'm digressing here.
― Ashley Pomeroy, Thursday, 21 July 2022 21:29 (two years ago) link
I think many poaters on Stereo Central are a lot farther gone than on SH.tv itself
― PaulTMA, Thursday, 21 July 2022 22:15 (two years ago) link
― Halfway there but for you
i've found that in order to really respond to anything as if it's sincere, i kind of have to _believe_ it's sincere. otherwise it's just meta-sarcasm.
― Kate (rushomancy), Thursday, 21 July 2022 22:35 (two years ago) link
I would hope in 170 pages it would be pointed out, no matter what media is used, it probably more important who is actually running the lathe to cut the new vinyl master.
― earlnash, Friday, 22 July 2022 00:35 (two years ago) link
Yeah pretty much. They're all good formats, how it's mastered matters a thousand times more.
― birdistheword, Friday, 22 July 2022 00:52 (two years ago) link
512 pages into that monster thread about MoFi now, but I really appreciate the poster that dropped this nugget in the middle of it all:
Yes, but the most glaring takeaway is that nobody noticed. All those people with golden ears and impeccable gear profiles.
― a superficial sheeb of intelligence (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Friday, 29 July 2022 14:50 (two years ago) link
What a wonderful long troll game these MFs have played on the AAA-holes ;-)
― Noel Emits, Friday, 29 July 2022 14:57 (two years ago) link
if you were running an experiment to definitively prove that all stuff was fully bullshit you couldnt have set it up any better, its just so hilariously perfect
― nobody like my rap (One Eye Open), Friday, 29 July 2022 15:00 (two years ago) link
Spot on. It's a placebo effect. To be fair, yeah, there are differences you can hear, but after a certain point, they start claiming you can tell if this orange was growing on this tree or the one next to it.
― birdistheword, Friday, 29 July 2022 15:13 (two years ago) link
And yet, audiophilia will continue. Monster Cable managed to survive that "we replaced an expensive Monster cable with a wire hanger and no one noticed" thing years ago. MFSL will probably issue a vague "we goofed, sort of" statement, wording will be slightly tweaked on their release announcements (from "All Analog! No Digital!" to "All Analog? No, Digital!"), and everything will continue on as if it never happened.
― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Friday, 29 July 2022 15:16 (two years ago) link
They already did:
https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=529092975710629&set=a.524617522824841
We at Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab are aware of customer complaints regarding use of digital technology in our mastering chain. We apologize for using vague language, allowing false narratives to propagate, and for taking for granted the goodwill and trust our customers place in the Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab brand.
We recognize our conduct has resulted in both anger and confusion in the marketplace. Moving forward, we are adopting a policy of 100% transparency regarding the provenance of our audio products. We are immediately working on updating our websites, future printed materials, and packaging — as well as providing our sales and customer service representatives with these details. We will also provide clear, specific definitions when it comes to Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab marketing branding such as Original Master Recording (OMR) and UltraDisc One-Step (UD1S). We will backfill source information on previous releases so Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab customers can feel as confident in owning their products as we are in making them.
We thank you for your past support and hope you allow us to continue to provide you the best-sounding records possible — an aim we've achieved and continue to pursue with pride.
Jim DavisPresident, Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab See less
― birdistheword, Friday, 29 July 2022 15:18 (two years ago) link
xp - Yeah, apparently they've already started to tweak their new release descriptions. It will absolutely continue. Not only do the companies selling the snake oil have too much to lose at this point, but the buyers in are never going to willingly admit to being duped for tens of thousands of dollars.
― a superficial sheeb of intelligence (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Friday, 29 July 2022 15:19 (two years ago) link
They were probably on precarious ground, but I kind of liked MFSL in the late '00s through the mid '10s when you could count on all of their SACD's being marked down to $15 within six months of release, often with 20% off discount codes during the holidays.
― birdistheword, Friday, 29 July 2022 15:23 (two years ago) link
(from "All Analog! No Digital!" to "All Analog? No, Digital!")
lol
― budo jeru, Friday, 29 July 2022 16:02 (two years ago) link
― maf you one two (maffew12), Friday, 29 July 2022 16:12 (two years ago) link
It'll be easier to get their vinyl, that's for sure. Part of the reason they did DSD (maybe the biggest reason) is that labels don't want to let their masters out of their facility anymore. So the only way to go AAA is if they ask the label to create analog 1:1 copies for them, but then they have to admit they aren't cutting from the original master. I think that's what Hoffman's done in the past without telling anyone, at least with certain labels. He had to because of his reputation, but unfortunately MFSL are in the same boat now that Sony and at least one of the other majors won't let anyone check them out, regardless of their reputation.
― birdistheword, Friday, 29 July 2022 16:26 (two years ago) link
The 40,000 copies of Thriller don't even drop til November haha
― maf you one two (maffew12), Friday, 29 July 2022 16:31 (two years ago) link
i think this is a strawman point. i don't think i have heard anyone anywhere ever claim they can hear the difference between the source and a 4xDSD copy. that is a ginormous sample rate.
― Thus Sang Freud, Friday, 29 July 2022 17:32 (two years ago) link
It's not about it being a valid point, it's more about dropping that into an audiophile forum where members very frequently brag about how great their ears are and watching the outraged reactions. It's A++++ trolling.
― a superficial sheeb of intelligence (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Friday, 29 July 2022 17:35 (two years ago) link
i guess. i am from a pre-trolling generation and don't really get the point of goading people for things they haven't asserted. seems trumpish. i do get irony though. usually.
― Thus Sang Freud, Friday, 29 July 2022 17:40 (two years ago) link