An Abundance of Riches!  

Vinyl is having something of a resurgence, being pretty much the only category of physical media in the music industry currently showing growth.

Having previously reported on the sonic benefits available to those of us who spin the old fashioned vinyl LP, I would be remiss if I failed to call to your attention several of the titles which have been recently reissued on vinyl.

This past weekend I listened to a pair of albums each from Frank Sinatra (Nice 'n' Easy and Only the Lonely), Marvin Gaye (What's Going On and Let's Get It On) and Madeleine Peyroux (Careless Love and Half the Perfect World), each of which was affixed in audiophile-approved, 180-gram LPs emanating from Mobile Fidelity Sound Labs (MOFI). 

Each sounded fantastic, with deep, dark backgrounds, nary a click or pop and all of the life and emotion for which these three wonderful performers are renown.  

Of this half-dozen, my personal favorites are the two by Sinatra. Having owned and listened to dozens of the many Sinatra records and collections available on CD, these MOFI rereleases now stand head and shoulders above the rest in my collection.

There is a reason Frank was so revered, and those qualities are evident in spades on these two vinyl examples.

Mobile Fidelity Sound Labs has an enviable reputation when it comes to the records they release. 

Rather than focus on a single genre or era, theirs is a diverse collection of notable works which originally emerged through the decades (I'm particularly looking forward to their upcoming release of three from The Pixies:  Surfer Rosa, Doolittle and Bossanova). 

Constantly pushing the existing technology boundaries to provide better LPs and SACDs, MOFI always starts at the source – the original master tapes.  From those master tapes, MOFI now employs its GAIN 2 Ultra Analog system, which is described on the MOFI website as follows:

GAIN 2 Ultra Analog™ is a proprietary cutting system built and designed by legendary design genius Tim De Paravicini, with consultation from one of MFSL’s founding fathers – Stan Ricker, an audio engineer responsible for many of MFSL’s most heralded past releases. The GAIN 2 Ultra Analog™ system is comprised of a Studer™ tape machine with customized reproduction electronics* and handcrafted cutting amps that drive an Ortofon cutting head on a restored Neumann VMS-70 lathe.
 
(*It is worth noting that independent studies have confirmed that the GAIN 2 Ultra Analog™ system can unveil sonic information all the way up to 122kHz!)
 
First and foremost, we only utilize first generation original master recordings (when possible) as source material for our releases. We then play back master tapes at half speed enabling the GAIN 2 Ultra Analog™ system to fully extract the master’s sonic information. Our lacquers are then plated in a specialized process that protects transients in the musical signal. (Due to this process, there may be occasional pops or ticks inherent in initial play back, but as the disc is played more, a high quality stylus will actually polish the grooves and improve the sound). We further ensure optimum sound quality by strictly limiting the number of pressings printed for each release. These limited editions, in addition to being collectors’ items, ensure that the quality of the last pressing matches the quality of the first.
 
As you can imagine, all these efforts involve a tremendous amount of time, technology, cost and effort. The introduction of GAIN 2 Ultra Analog™ maintains Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab’s position as the world’s leading audiophile record label, where a passion for music with extraordinary sound quality matters most.

Whether due to the original master tapes, the proprietary process, the pressing itself, or all of the above, my weekend was rewarded with the results MOFI achieved. 

Happy listening, and I'll report back on more analog enjoyment soon.