| Mobile Fidelity Sound Labs | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Parent company | Music Direct |
| Founded | 1977 |
| Founder | Brad Miller |
| Genre | Various |
| Country of origin | U.S. |
| Location | Vision Street, Chicago, Illinois, U.S. |
| Official website | mofi |
Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab (MFSL or MoFi) is a record label that specialized in the production of audiophile issues. [1] The company produces reissued vinyl LP records, compact discs, and Super Audio CDs and other formats.
Recording engineer Brad Miller (1939–1998) released the first recordings on the Mobile Fidelity label in March 1958, a recording of a Southern Pacific steam locomotive. [2] Later LPs included other steam trains, environmental sounds and orchestral music, and a few pop and orchestral recordings. In 1977 Mobile Fidelity Sound Labs was founded and began releasing Original Master Recording LPs, using a half-speed mastering process. [3]
From 1985-1992, MoFi sourced recordings from the Soviet Union’s Melodiya Records archives. [4] In November 1999, Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab shut down after the bankruptcy of M. S. Distributing. [5] In 2001 MFSL's assets were acquired by Jim Davis of Music Direct. [6]
In 1977, Mobile Fidelity began to produce a line of records known as "Original Master Recording" vinyl LPs. [7] These albums were previously released by other companies, licensed by Mobile Fidelity, and remastered using half-speed mastering from the original analog master tapes, without compression, and with minimal equalization. [8] The recordings were pressed in Japan using a plastic compound invented by JVC, and marketed as "Supervinyl" by Mobile Fidelity. [9]
In 2016, Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab launched a new vinyl series called Ultradisc One-Step, releasing titles including Santana's Abraxas and Bill Evans's Sunday at the Village Vanguard . [10]
During the mid-1980s, Mobile Fidelity began to sell CDs and cassettes. In the 2000s, it began to sell SACDs. [11]
In 2016 an audio electronics line was introduced under the MoFi banner. [12] MoFi Electronics offices and turntable manufacturing are based in Ann Arbor, Michigan. [13]
On July 14, 2022, Michael Esposito, a record store owner and YouTuber, released a video on his YouTube channel "The 'In' Groove" stating that "pretty reliable sources" informed him that, contrary to the company's official statements and marketing, MFSL had been using digital masters instead of analogue for years. John Wood, the label's executive president, saw Esposito's video and then invited him to California for a tour of their business. A second video was produced with Esposito interviewing MFSL staff, where they confirmed that they were using Direct Stream Digital files when creating their vinyl masters for duplication. The staff members stated that at least 60% of all titles used this process by the end of 2011, and that the process was also being used for the label's Ultradisc One-Step releases, which were previously marketed as coming directly from the original master tapes. The revelation generated controversy over not only Mobile Fidelity's integrity, given the company's marketing and the stigmatization of digital audio in audiophile circles, but also the extent of analog audio's perceived merits over digital audio. [14] [15] The scandal became known as "MoFi Gate" (combining an abbreviation of "Mobile Fidelity" with the "-gate" suffix derived from the Watergate scandal) in audiophile communities. [16]
In August 2022, Adam Stiles, a longtime customer of Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab, filed a class action fraud lawsuit against the label over the revelations. [17] [18] The lawsuit resulted in MFSL paying $25 million in damages. [19]
High fidelity is the high-quality reproduction of sound. It is popular with audiophiles and home audio enthusiasts. Ideally, high-fidelity equipment has inaudible noise and distortion, and a flat frequency response within the human hearing range.
An audiophile is a person who is enthusiastic about high-fidelity sound reproduction. The audiophile seeks to achieve high sound quality in the audio reproduction of recorded music, typically in a quiet listening space in a room with good acoustics.
Sound can be recorded and stored and played using either digital or analog techniques. Both techniques introduce errors and distortions in the sound, and these methods can be systematically compared. Musicians and listeners have argued over the superiority of digital versus analog sound recordings. Arguments for analog systems include the absence of fundamental error mechanisms which are present in digital audio systems, including aliasing and associated anti-aliasing filter implementation, jitter and quantization noise. Advocates of digital point to the high levels of performance possible with digital audio, including excellent linearity in the audible band and low levels of noise and distortion.
A phonograph record or a vinyl record is an analog sound storage medium in the form of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove. The groove usually starts near the outside edge and ends near the center of the disc. The stored sound information is made audible by playing the record on a phonograph.
Abraxas is the second studio album by Latin rock band Santana. It was released on September 23, 1970, by Columbia Records and became the band's first album to reach number one in the United States.
Direct Stream Digital (DSD) is a trademark used by Sony and Philips for their system for digitally encoding audio signals for the Super Audio CD (SACD).
A laser turntable is a phonograph that plays standard LP records using laser beams as the pickup instead of using a stylus as in conventional turntables. Although these turntables use laser pickups, the same as Compact Disc players, the signal remains in the analog realm and is never digitized.
McIntosh Laboratory is an American manufacturer of handcrafted high-end audio equipment headquartered in Binghamton, New York. It is a subsidiary of McIntosh Group, which is under the ownership umbrella of Highlander Partners, a Dallas-based private equity firm.
A gold compact disc is one in which gold is utilized in place of the high-purity aluminium or silver commonly used as the reflective coating on ordinary CDs and CD-Rs respectively. Gold disks are available as both CDs and CD-Rs as well, and are compatible with standard players and recorders.
Sittin' In is the debut studio album by singer-songwriters Loggins and Messina, released in 1971.
The conservation and restoration of vinyl discs refers to the preventive measures taken to defend against damage and slow degradation, and to maintain fidelity of singles, 12" singles, EP’s, and LP’s in 45 or 33⅓ rpm 10" disc recordings.
All-Time Greatest Hits is a 2-LP compilation album by Roy Orbison released in 1972, featuring the original Monument Records recordings. The album was re-released on compact disc by CBS Records in 1989. The album was given a high-quality digital remastering from the original analog master tapes by Steve Hoffman for DCC Compact Classics, Inc. in 1997, catalog number GZS-1118. In 2008, Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab (MFSL) released a half-speed mastered, limited edition, 2-LP version on 180 gm. vinyl, catalog number MFSL 2–304. This MFSL release, remastered by Rob LoVerde and Shawn R. Britton, has received positive reviews for sound quality.
Home audio refer to audio consumer electronics designed for home entertainment, such as integrated systems like shelf stereos, as well as individual components like loudspeakers and surround sound receivers.
The Beatles: The Collection was a vinyl boxed set of every Beatles album remastered at half speed from the original stereo master recordings, except for Magical Mystery Tour which was mastered from Capitol Records' submasters with the last three tracks in rechanneled stereo.
Audiophile Records is a record company and label founded in 1947 by Ewing Dunbar Nunn to produce recordings of Dixieland jazz. A very few of the early pressings were classical music, Robert Noehren on pipe organ, AP-2 and AP-9 for example.
Acoustic Sounds, Inc. is a mail-order business specializing in the sale of audiophile vinyl LPs, Direct Stream Digital/PCM downloads (SuperHiRez.com), SACDs, Reel-To-Reel album reissues, DVD-Audios, high-quality CDs and high-end stereo equipment. Located in Salina, Kansas, United States. The business is owned and operated by Chad Kassem and as of 2016 employed 98 people.
Quality Record Pressings is a vinyl record pressing plant launched by music entrepreneur Chad Kassem in Salina, Kansas, United States in 2011. QRP sought to improve premier audiophile pressings, introducing innovations never before tried in the record pressing industry.
High-resolution audio is a term for audio files with greater than 44.1 kHz sample rate or higher than 16-bit audio bit depth. It commonly refers to 96 or 192 kHz sample rates. However, 44.1 kHz/24-bit, 48 kHz/24-bit and 88.2 kHz/24-bit recordings also exist that are labeled HD Audio.
Michael Alan Fremer is an American music journalist, YouTuber, and voice actor from New York City, known for writing about audiophile equipment and vinyl. He is the editor of The Tracking Angle and Senior Editor at The Absolute Sound. Due to his influence within the audiophile community, he has been called the "Pied Piper of vinyl", a "dean of audiophile writing” and “Fremmie”.
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