Local Vinyl fans are up in arms over the recent MoFi scandal with Sydney retailer Len Wallis taking to his web site to voice is opinion on the scandal. Some audiophiles are calling for a class action in Australia.
MoFi (Mobile Fidelity), who’s so called analogue vinyl recordings are distributed in Australia by Synergy Audio has in the past claimed they have prided themselves on using original master tapes for its pricey reissues.
The reality is that it was one big con with the Company actually been using digital files in its production chain.
For audiophiles like Len Wallis where provenance is everything and the quest is to get as close to the sound of an album’s original recording as possible is sacred, digital is considered almost unholy.
And using digital while claiming not to is the gravest sin a manufacturer can commit claim audiophiles.
Wallis who is seen as a leader in the audiophile market has taken to penning a piece pointing out to his customers that the expensive MoFi vinyl was not the Company claimed.
Referring to Mobile Fidelity he said Their albums are relatively expensive, ranging in price from $65 to $300…last year allegations surfaced that Mobile Fidelity had been using a digital process – DSD (Direct Stream Digital) technology – in producing their albums, a claim they initially denied. However, Mobile Fidelity has since admitted that the claim is correct, that they have used this technology since 2011, and that DSD will be utilised in all future recordings”.
“This has, understandably, resulted in some very hostile reactions within the audiophile community. Some have suggested that this may signal the company’s end, with others declaring that they would never purchase another of their products. One audiophile, who owns 50+ Mobile Fidelity recordings, has suggested that he would have never purchased a single album if he knew a digital stage was involved in the process”.
“The furore that has erupted is understandable.”
I can understand why someone would refuse to buy their products out of righteous indignation, but I cannot fathom why you would not purchase a product based on the methodology that led to its production.
John Johnson an audiophile writing in Home Theatre Hi Fi said “Those who have extensive LP collections, are discovering that their manufacture, in many cases, included (and still includes) a digital intermediate in the signal path, usually playing the master analogue tapes into an analogue to digital converter, or ADC.
The digital conversion is either to PCM or DSD. PCM is Pulse Code Modulation, and DSD is Direct Stream Digital, which is the generic version of SACD, in particular, DSD64. They can both be edited in the digital domain, but it is very difficult to do that with DSD because it induces errors and more noise.
So, part of the reason, perhaps the main reason, that we went into vinyl was that we wanted to experience vintage pure analogue music, which vinyl certainly used to be back in the day.
Now, we find that the vinyl we have been enjoying is not pure analogue, but a hybrid format, with both analogue and digital versions of the music in the signal path.
The current protocol of at least one company is to record the master tape to DSD256 digital format. DSD64 is the equivalent of SACD. DSD formats such as DSD128 and DSD256 are higher resolution than SACD.
All digital formats are subject to several artifacts which include Jitter, Quantization Errors, and Aliasing, but the biggest issue is the clipping of intersample peaks. Jitter, quantization errors, and aliasing can easily be controlled to levels that reduce the resulting noise and distortion to levels that are 110 dB to 140 dB below the peak level of the music. These artifacts are well below audibility in a good digital system. In contrast, clipped intersample peaks are very audible. They produce bursts of distortion that are just 30 to 40 dB lower than the peak level of the music. ”
These bursts of distortion are well above audibility”.