Will Mobile Fidelity Sound Labs start selling DSD Files?Plus a look at 3 incredible sounding albums
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- čas přidán 11. 09. 2024
- Now that the MOFi lawsuit has been settled. What's next for Mobile Fidelity Sound Labs? Will we be able to buy DSD streams or files of their mastered recordings? It's only a matter of time.
Plus a look at 3 incredible sounding albums that won't break the bank.
Enjoy!
I've had the original first run releases of MFSL Miles in the Sky and the AP 2-45 Wired, and YES! Both are absolutely stunning! I have most of the latter MFSL miles and they all sound very good. It's great that they are repressing them so others can now get them.
There is no way major labels will allow DSD files to be sold.
Agree
Also agree
Analogue Productions did it a while back. (Well maybe 10 years ago) and you could buy the DSD files (DSD64) I bought Abraxas and Jimmy Smith. They eventually stopped offering it, but I’m not sure the reason. Might have been the labels pulling it
Should not be a problem now that Sony dropped DSD
you can buy sacd and easily rip it to dsd
The whole purpose behind the DSD based SACD (apart from improved sound quality of course), was to prevent copying. Selling DSDs would throw that out of the window.
The DSD files are all I've wanted, since 2005. Crazy how my music buying shifted to second hand market, I would've bought so much more music had DSD been more accepted as the top end standard, rather than "you can't hear the difference above 48k" which also seems to lead to justifying producing a 96k master and selling the upsampled 192k files which WOULD JUSTIFIABLY COST MORe if they weren't 96k sounding...
The "you can't hear the difference" mistaken argument I feel has kept there being a market for DSD.
There's a CASSETTE revival... Now, if you're digitizing that Cassette at DSD then THAT I'm interested in, then I get the cassette sound without the tape deteriorating.
There’s a rumour on Steve Hoffman forum that someone on a stream said that ‘Suspicious Minds' on 'From Elvis In Memphis is mono on the one step. It’s not just to confirm, all stereo and it sounds absolutely fantastic.
That was on my roundtable a few weeks ago we mentioned that. I will be sure to correct it for today’s roundtable.
NativeDSD been doing it for a long time with many labels such as Reference Recordings, Groove Notes, 2xHD, Yarlung, and many more. I have tons of DSD files, including many 256 and even 512, but having the vinyl version of it is much more 3 dimensional and open sound, unless you pay +20k for a proper DAC to hear a close version to vinyl, I would rather spend the money on a better TT/cartridge.
Seems like I remember Mike from the in groove saying that the DSD files do not sound as good as the vinyl pressings.😮
The SACD version of some of those albums are still available and sound pretty good. But, we have to remember that they don't necessarily sound similar to their vinyl counterpart. I believe Krieg Wunderlich does a great job on masteering for vinyl from those DSD files.
Agreed
hit and miss
No way major record labels would license DSD files to MoFi. The European record labels that take advantage of public domain laws in Europe would buy and essentially be cutting audiophile records without paying royalties or licensing fees.
Hi Steve, interesting thought and potential perspective for the digital media community. As to me, for vinyl, MoFi can go out of business. The vinyl community in many parts has lost faith in them to say the least, and a lot of value of their collection. Esp. because of the inflated prices we had to pay in Europe, or yourself in Canada. Maybe a MoFi mark III could be a trustworthy company and brand for fully analogue produced vinyl again (if any label entrusts them at all with original master tapes offsite again and if the brand is not dead by then.)
I doubt that we will see DSD files on the past released records. Contracts fore releasing albums are generally very specific when it comes to formats, and the major labels have digital distribution locked down. The labels are making too much of their profit from digital to give a piece of that to another company.
Great video Steve. I’d love to be able to get a DSD file. It would be a good way for MOFI to regain some good will and move beyond the scandal.
They might also use it to their advantage as well, like say yes you can have the file, but it’s our Paravicini analogue mastering that produces the sound that a lot of people love.
I was as pissed as anyone about the deception, but their Dylan and Miles Davis titles are some of the best I’ve heard.
Should I upgrade my DAC just in case?
DSD 256 does seem to be the future - even Kevin Gray was impressed by it and he is not a fan of DSD. Let's hope so...
That's a different thought process then most have mentioned. Where did you get the Terry Callier? I checked Discogs and the Craft 2018 seems to be sold out. I picked up the ERC awhile back and it's very good. Have you compared those two?
I don’t think so and the record companies will most likely not allow it. We all know what’s went on but there is some magic when the DSD files go onto vinyl.
I just received the 'From Elvis in Memphis' and it's much better than the official 96k 24bit download as you’d expect it to.
I’m still keeping my MOFI's and surprisingly, even to myself buying more!
They’ve been selling DSD for a long time - it’s called SACD.
Exactly. But open up the market to the customers who are pure digital and only want high res files.
Digital DSD should be the cheapest option considering there is no physical media to produce for the customer. If an SACD is $29.99, a digital offering should be no more than $19.99 regardless of DSD resolution. Maybe $9.99 for DSD64 or $14.99 for DSD128. I think I would purchase an album I loved at DSD 256 for $19.99 without too much hesitation. I could imagine my pocket book becoming a lot lighter if they were to start selling digital DSD. Would be cool if they did the occasional sale. Three albums for $45 instead of $60 or something like that.
I do have a FiiO FLAC player that could play DSD as well, but a software change killed that ability. I do have half a dozen DSD files in my cloud folders somewhere! I recently bought an SACD player so I will stick with Vinyl and/or SACD. Cheers
I would appreciate MOFI selling DSD files, for sure I would buy them, I like all the available higher resolution music, so yes I would buy DSD
In a word NO. Not anytime soon. DSD is essentially the master tape. The record companies want to keep selling inferior products so they can make millions. Vinyl though great is not a good medium. I love my vinyl. It has playback problems and consumes crap load of oil used etc. terrible medium even though it is my preferred. The record companies want the gravy train. Every year they offer another “window” for sales. Keep selling more and more. Would they sell the master tape to you? No. I could see DSD in lower resolution (64) because that is already a thing. But don’t think they would ever sell the 256/512. So, full res DSD no. Lower quality possible.
I rip all my SACDs to DSD files for playback on my media server.
Interesting thoughts.
And yes, some great albums there.
Thanks Jason. I think it’s a reality for them.
Analogue productions sell hi res files, so why not! Make our digital Brothers happy!
I’m sure it may happen at some point.
May I ask what is SACD if not a DSD file in terms of quality?
Steve there is something about physical media especially vinyl records. Mofi’s transfer of those DSD file to vinyl produces, for the most part, great sounds. I am still buying One Steps but have become selective in the titles. FOMO is dead for me ever since the revelation the digital chain in the process. I just hope they continue to produce those titles from Miles, Dylan and others. I will skip on DSD files because I find my listening process more enjoyable by listing vinyl and CD’s.
They already were.
If they did decide to sell the DSD file, I wonder what the cost would be? Would it be priced around $20 or would it be priced closer to the Analog Productions ultra tape? My guess would be the latter. Would someone be willing to spend a couple hundred dollars on a DSD file?
Let me rephrase... Will they price it for the masses or will they force collectors to share ...
DSD downloading will never happen with MFSL. They do not have the licensing. They cannot use past releases for this or current ones. That would cause a lawsuit. That would be the record companies NOT making money. Also why build a record plant if you are going to do downloads?
I'd buy DSD files
I definitely would have more room in my house if I had DSD files.
Is it possible to stream DSD files? I don't think the record labels would like the DSD files to be so readily available, but a high quality digital streaming service might work from a business standpoint at least.
My gut tells me they would start a streaming service. Maximize revenue, plenty of providers out there with a cloud model that would be easy to adopt, and loose DSD files will be subject to all kinds of licensure challenges. People would just start ripping them and sharing them out and we'd be right back at Napster?