Established in 1977 by Brad Miller, MFSL specializes in remastering major-label music for the "audiophile" market. CD releases began in 1984.
Copyright dates are often left unchanged from the original release; Most MFSL releases are issued a year or so later, please leave release date blank if you are unsure.
First Gold Ultradisc™ CD: 1987-02
First Gold Ultradisc II™ (Made in USA) CD: 1992-09
Please add all branded labels to MFSL releases. A label logo=label.
Catalog (with dates) of MFSL releases on "Sites" section.
Items released commercially as numbered editions were frequently also released as unnumbered promotional copies. These promos should be entered separately from the numbered retail copies.
At least the releases from the first three years were limited editions throughout and wear a sticker with this information on the shrink.
In an email dated 17 December 2018, Mobile Fidelity Sound Labs Customer Service confirms that “all of [their] releases are remastered by [their] Sound Labs. No exceptions.” Please see https://www.discogs.com/forum/thread/782766 for full emails and discussion.
Only now they're showing the mastering specs AFTER the lawsuits - further proof that they were lying in the first place - a feast for the lawyers ! This whole country is gettin' sick of lying ! Well geez, I hope !
STEAL SHIPPING COST !!! If you order from Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab and not everything is available, you will still be charged for the entire shipping cost! Even after repeated requests to return the overpaid shipping costs, Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab refuse to pay them back !!! Absolutely avoid, in this company is cheated and lies !!! Unfortunately, PayPal is not much help either, because of course they make good money on MoFi ..............
In July 2022, three Mobile Fidelity mastering engineers were interviewed and admitted that ALL One Steps were transferred to DSD digital for mastering purposes, so the One Steps are not a One Step - They're all Two Step Digitals !!! Let the lawsuits prevail !!!
DO NOT BUY FROM THEIR WEBSITE! I know there has been a lot of drama around the mastering chain but it goes beyond that. I will never give these people my money ever again.
I ordered a normally priced $40 record from them and under the “Special Instructions” area I added a note asking them to please open the record and ship the vinyl out side the jacket or between the gatefold to avoid splits. This was ignored so you will never believe what happened next - the jacket got seam splits. Whoever is packing their record does not give a shit and is the one making them loose money.
I immediately contacted support for a return. The only way to contact MoFi support is through email. AFTER 3 DAYS I HEARD NOTHING! I called Music Direct support which was quick to answer and the guy on the phone told me that he could not help me with anything ordered from the Mobile Fidelity website but he knows who does support for them and could relay a message to them for me. I also found out Mobile Fidelity only has one person doing support. AFTER A WEEK I HEARD NOTHING!
The only thing I could do was call my bank and have them dispute the charges. That was the only thing I could do to get someone’s attention there. The return process was a pain and they didn’t want to credit me for the expedited shipping I paid extra for! They only wanted to credit me for the base cost of the item. It took several emails and weeks of time but I eventually got my money back.
Never again. I don’t care how good their records sound it is not worth the hassle. They can’t even do the basics that your average eBay or Discogs seller has figured out.
This really pains me to write, but here goes. Mobile Fidelity Sound Labs is, without a doubt, the worst company pressing records on the planet. The records sound good, but that's it. Their quality control is abhorrent. Their customer service is atrocious. And, the worst of all, they blatantly lie to their customer base about the sourcing of their music.
I was ready to forgive them over the lies and the quality control and the customer service and the plethora of other problems that are involved with doing business with this horrible company. But, recently, I received their remastering of Love "Forever Changes", and it came to me damaged.
Pretty much the final straw. They've done nothing to address quality control. They've done nothing to address customer service issues. And they've continued to obfuscate and censor people on social media. I requested that they ship the record outside of the jacket to avoid seem splits (a notorious problem with MOFI, I'm STILL waiting for my Jeff Beck replacement jacket from over a year ago after it arrived with huge seem splits), and it STILL had damage to it. You're damned if you do, and damned if you don't.
Avoid this company like the plague. They offer nothing but headaches and lies.
edit: after going through the rest of my order, they also screwed up and sent me two LP1 in the Count Basie release. Returning the entire package. How can they be THIS bad??
I genuinely love how, after learning about MoFi's deceptive behaviour and digital parts involved in the process, my urge to purchase all these rare & expensive MFSL boxes (mainly released in the past few years) has completely faded for good! :-) Like I no longer need Eric Clapton's Unplugged, Muddy Water's Folk Singer, Eagles - Eagles, etc. How much money I saved! MFSL single-handedly eased the itch.
I mean, even though they are charging premium prices, their recent pressings are often still plagued by pressing defects and shortcomings. That was something I always hated, but was willing to accept given the source and process of the material, and the sound after all. But now... why would I buy an overpriced album with digital sources and less-than-perfect pressings? I sure won't.
Now I can focus on purchasing older MFSL releases, especially 80's releases are tremendously good. Perfect pressings as well on Japanese super vinyl. While recent MFSL records sound very good as well, I always felt like there was something special about the older MFSL releases. Maybe because they weren't plagued by all the pressing issues, maybe because of their back-then truly all-analogue process. I don't know.
Certainly, though, I know MFSL have rendered themselves deceptive liars. Again, they weren't even close to perfect before, especially because of their inconsistent pressing quality (RTI issues), but all that now just makes them... Seem like a bunch of people you'd never want to buy records from again.
Guy below me reads like the average american "consoomer" with no self respect: "I will buy their products, I will get excited for new products, and I will be happy". What are you loyal to? Getting scammed? Like someone else said, you are using a strawman argument by claiming that people are angry about the fact that they were listening to a dsd file rather than an AAA cut, when its only a subset of them. In reality it's mainly about the fact that MoFi outright lied about their mastering sources and created artificial scarcity based on the fact that they had limited access to analogue tapes, all while charging premium. That's a terrible thing to do and shows that they do not care for their consumer base. Hopefully such scandal will also lead to every boutique and reissue label to start disclosing their mastering sources rather than be wishy-washy about it. Kevin Gray and Chris Bellman have stated multiple times that reissue labels tell them to never reveal such information, unless the hype sticker states it or otherwise. The vinyl community deserves better.
The fallout continues. The Washington Post article. Yet another Fremer video. Even now we see the devout followers of Fremer begin to engage in a new delusion. They will convince themselves that they knew all along that the One Steps were digital. They will convince themselves that they never really liked the records that they once loved. They will convince themselves that they could hear that it wasn't really analog. They will describe hearing "digititis" in the records they once loved. They will accept whatever their dear Svengali tells them as absolute gospel. Sadly, there might even be legal action taken. Mobile Fidelity might go under. This is just sad. I have and will continue to support MFSL and buy their products. They have made some of the best LPs I own. MFSL proved that even with the best equipment available, when done right, you can't tell the difference between analog and digital. Fremer, the man with the golden ears, was fooled for a decade, no matter what he says now. He has repeatedly praised MFSL. Now he backs way, but his praise of them is in the public record.
To all of the audiophiles complaining. You have been praising the One Steps for several years now. Years. Now that you know it's a 4 X DSD copy that all these are based on, you're mad? You liked it before! Seriously! You guys all loved it because it sounded great. Guess what? IT STILL SOUNDS GREAT! Sure they lied. With guys like Fremer out there beating it into our heads that digital is the devil, they had no choice but to lie if they were going to stay in business. If I knew it was digital, I would NOT have bought it either. Now that I know, I'm okay with it. If MFSL had come out and been upfront about it, they would have gone out of business. We saw Fremer and that German dude that slobbers on him have their "clutch the pearls" moment on Youtube, which was funny. Does it mean some of you will ditch you MFSL records? Does it mean I can buy the Marvin Gaye and Donald Fagen One Steps at a decent price? I'll be super happy if so. These One Steps sound fantastic! They are awesome. You guys need to lighten up. It's not the end of the world. I'd hate to see you guys when you were kids and found out that there was no Santa Claus. I'll bet you were inconsolable.
gsheputis
November 14, 2022