MoFi controversy

MoFi releases what it thinks are essential albums is higher quality vinyl. I have seen nothing in their marketing that says they stick to analog masters. That would be hard to do anyway as most everything has been converted to digital. Digital has one major advantage. It does not age. You can also do processing in digital that is impossible to do in the analog world without distortion. 

I am totally with @rauliruegas on this one. I love records. I buy at least 1 record a week. I am in the process of spending $30,000 upgrading by vinyl rig. However, digital, from a strictly performance angle is superior. Where vinyl wins is in the psychology of the collector/gadget freak . Records are simply more fun from a sociological perspective. From a sonic perspective, the most jaw dropping recordings I have are in digital files. I will toss one more hand grenade while I am at it. In order to build a SOTA system in this day and age you have to use digital signal processing. There is no system that is totally free of problems that stand in the way of the absolute sound. Few of these problems are not amenable to digital processing. 

Amen to Larryi. Listen to frank sanatra recordings from 50’s to 60’s. Far better than todays redux.

This thread brings back a memory of attending a meeting prior Covid that featured a rep from MoFi who discussed their new releases, including the ’One Steps’. The rep did answer questions about the mastering and the ability to use the original master tapes. I remember him stating that in the event the original master tape was available, and not too deteriorated that they would use this. The rep also stated that they would even occasionally go to the trouble of ’baking’ the master to improve the transfer ( which at the time i thought as odd). Many of the tapes that are available to them are not usable, due to noise and age. Also, i think I remember him saying that master tapes from the likes of Apple and the Beatles were never going to be available again; as Apple would never allow them to go out.

Nonetheless, the question is whether all of the ’One Step’ release have been mastered from a digital file? This is unclear to me. Also, if that is the case, did MoFi intentionally leave out this info, knowing how much negative impact it would have on their new ’One Step’s' desirability.

Along these lines - the best sounding versions of the first 4 Led Zeppelin albums I have (including all of Page's remasters) are from recent Japanese needle drops of the 1st vinyl pressings from back in the day sold on cds. Digital doesn't automatically mean lesser quality if the source is excellent.

Too bad this is evolving into a digital vs analog debate.  It's a very tired topic and one that has been done to death.  By now, us old coots have all made our private choices and have well developed preferences that are unlikely to change.  But maybe that lets MoFi off the hook, which might be a good thing.  No matter how you slice the baloney, they have given us some great LPs that are uniquely excellent, along with some others of their production that are only "as good" as the best one can get from other sources, and still others that are inferior to the originals.  But their batting average is way above .500, and I've never bought one of their $125 re-issues.