Mobile Fidelity 24k CDs

@ghdprentice 

Thought it might be helpful for OP to talk to you, but it would appear he is wedded to his Rega CDP. 

@goofyfoot 

In my experience, it is exactly the mix and mastering of MoFi releases that is so inconsistent and at times, worse than other versions. Surprisingly, I find myself in agreement with @jasonbourne in this regard. 

@stuartk Agree that MOFI is inconsistent but believe it has a lot to do with the original tapes and whoever does the remastering. I‘m not much of a collector when it comes to popular music, so I rarely purchase MOFI releases but will say that I usually find good remasters to be an improvement to their originals, regardless of which label they’re associated with. However, a dealer friend always preferred original vinyl to remastered vinyl on his very high end rig so I’m inclined to say that it’s a matter of taste. Major labels like Universal are now taking great measures to remaster their catalogue and many are excellent but as I said, it always depends on the quality of the source and who they hire to do the remastering.

Thank you everyone. There seems to be a lot of mixed reviews of Mofi. I personally do hear a difference with my system. I have bought about 20 Mofi in about the last 2!weeks. Since I only listen to digital I think it is worth it to me. 👍

@goofyfoot 

Yes. Agreed. I'm by no means one of those guys who asserts that "original CD releases are always the best". This is apparently "gospel" for some, here.

Personally, I've had extremely variable results. Sometimes the originals sound better. Often, remasters sound different but not necessarily better and sometimes remasters definitely sound better... to my ears, of course. As you assert, it's a matter of taste. 

At this point, a sufficient number of MoFi CDs have disappointed me that I'm disinclined to purchase any more. I have a few Analogue Production CDs and these fall into the "different but not better" category, for me. 

Part of the equation is that my system is now sufficiently resolving and sufficiently dialed in to make decently mastered CDs sound very good and well-mastered CDs sound excellent to stunning. Of course, there will always be some recordings that cannot be helped by remastering... "Layla" comes to mind immediately. I've tried various versions and have (ironically, perhaps, given the topic at hand) opted to stick with the old MoFi gold discs. ;o)

@stuartk I believe that ‘Layla’ remaster was relatively recent. If you like Eric kClapton, then I’d recommend the ‘Blind Faith’ remaster from many, many years ago. They did a remix that warrants having, even if the original is highly prized. The old Traffic remasters are also pretty good, however they never released a version of ‘Johnny Barleycorn Must Die’. The Grateful Dead ‘Mars Hotel’ was remastered twice. Once in the late 1980’s and another time just around two years ago. There is a significant improvement in the most recent release however that recording isn’t that good to begin with, so there’s an issue with separation, balance and distortion. The original Traffic recordings are just old and there’s just no work around under those circumstances. My two favorite MOFI remasters are Bob Dylan’s ‘Blood On The Tracks’ and The Grateful Dead’s ‘American Beauty’. Those both turned out really nice while giving the slight edge to ‘Blood On The Track’s’. So in a very discursive way, what I’m saying is that yes, the catalogue is inconsistent but I would say the same thing regardless of who does a remaster/re-release of pre recorded material. There’s absolutely no way they couldn’t be unless the original tapes were all recorded in the same studio, by the same producers, with the same equipment and at the same time. And while the historical period of the recordings are worthy of serious consideration, some earlier recorded tapes sound better than recent ones. The Analogue Productions ‘Scheherazade’ RCA Richter/CSO remaster that was originally recorded in the later 1950’s on a three track machine is jaw dropping. There are just so many variables to consider, that it’s either hit or miss or get to together with someone who owns a lot of these re- releases and pick there brain. My last purchased re-releases are Japanese paper sleeve remasters of the three Nick Drake studio albums. I’m happy with them however what they lack in detail, they make up for in warmth of tone. Anyway, recordings are flawed and they’ll always be that way but I would never want to be the guy who makes the blanket statement that all remasters are b*ll s**t.