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Mobile Fidelity Sound Labs- Van Halen

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jszfunk
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Dont know a whole lot about MFSL.  I heard on a VH podcast they were releasing them on CD and Vinyl.  I have a brother in law who is big into that format.

https://mofi.com/collections/new-releases

Everyone has a plan, till you get punched in the face,

 
Posted : February 3, 2022 2:09 pm
nebish
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I didn't know they were still making Super Audio CDs.  I bought some a long time ago, seems I always just play the standard ones now.  I just have left right audio now, so if there is any surround experiences I don't get the benefit now.  Does anyone still make DVD Audio discs?

 
Posted : February 3, 2022 2:17 pm
jszfunk
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Posted by: @nebish

 Does anyone still make DVD Audio discs?

Hmm.... I am not sure if  I know what a DVD audio disc is. I have had blank dvd's where I wold put a ton of MP3 music files to store and to play on my dvd player through my stereo and thats about as far as I would know.

Looks cool...but out of my league.

https://mofi.com/products/mofi-electronics-fender-x-mofi-precisiondeck-limited-edition-turntable

MoFi Electronics - Fender x MoFi PrecisionDeck Limited Edition Turntable

image

U.S.A.-Made Turntable Features Iconic Sunburst Finish, Sounds Incredible, and Is Limited to Just 1,000 Numbered Units

Turntables will be offered to customers via email on the "Notify When Back In-Stock" list in order of request receipt. Please click the yellow "Email When In-Stock" button above to be added to the list.

There's nothing like hearing the gentle "thump" of a needle after it drops down on a vinyl record, waiting the few anticipatory seconds for the lead-in groove to rotate through, and then, seemingly out of nowhere, enjoying the warmth, detail, and glorious sounds of an LP. Now, imagine the magic of that beloved analog ritual with a turntable that authoritatively and accurately plays any kind of music, including the timeless albums recorded by many of the all-time greats – Jimi Hendrix, Bruce Springsteen, David Gilmour, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Pete Townshend, George Harrison, Mark Knopfler, Keith Richards, Robbie Robertson, Steve Cropper, Joe Strummer, Bill Frisell, Waylon Jennings, Muddy Waters, Donald "Duck" Dunn, Sting, Carol Kaye, Pino Palladino, and George Porter Jr. for starters – who played the very instruments that inspired its instantly recognizable design. The striking result of an unprecedented collaboration between two legendary American companies, and a creation whose genesis predates the ubiquitous Stratocaster, Telecaster, and Precision Bass, the Fender x MoFi PrecisionDeck turntable makes that priceless experience possible.

Devised, handcrafted, and manufactured in the U.S.A., the limited-edition component features trademark traits connected to both American companies. Visually, it touts the unmistakable and iconic tricolor sunburst pattern that stems from the early 1950s and mirrors the enduring look of Fender Precision Bass, Stratocaster, and Telecaster models. Sporting an exquisite urethane finish that ages extremely well and lends to exceptional durability, each PrecisionDeck undergoes the exact same hand-painting process Fender employs in its Custom Shop factory for its revered four- and six-string instruments. An instant collector's item limited to only 1,000 units, it comes individually numbered and badged, distinguished with a nameplate not unlike the metal serial-number plates found on Fender guitars. Sonically, PrecisionDeck exemplifies audiophile-grade through and through, with true-to-the-source vinyl playback that's exceptionally quiet and free of its own signature. Historically, it completes a narrative arc that began in Leo Fender's radio-repair shop and continued generations later.

Before the first full-production electric guitar ever left his factory, Leo Fender dreamed of designing a different instrument: a high-quality turntable that would fill people's homes with the sound of pure, detailed, natural, lively music. He even drew up blueprints, received a patent, and, in 1945, sold the rights for $5,000 in advance royalties. And he doubtlessly saw the parallels between the pickups on electric guitars and the pickups (a.k.a. cartridges) on turntables. Now, more than 75 years later, Mobile Fidelity Electronics and Fender Corporation are making the pioneering inventor's analog vision a striking reality.

Like any product worth celebrating and owning, PrecisionDeck has a story that runs deep. A Fender VP initially got the idea for the initiative between Fender and Mobile Fidelity Electronics when visiting an audio dealer and learning about Mobile Fidelity Electronics ‘tables. The executive soon contacted Fender Custom Shop Principal Master Builder Yuriy Shishkov – a wood expert and one of Fender's most prominent luthiers – about the project. Mr. Shishkov promptly worked late into the evenings crafting slabs of swamp ash wood – the very same blocks that are utilized to make Fender Precision Bass guitars – until he perfected them into the gorgeous shape that became the foundation of PrecisionDeck. Each exacting plinth on every PrecisionDeck is sourced, milled, and finished by Fender before it is sent to Mobile Fidelity Electronics' Michigan factory for incorporation into PrecisionDeck.

Of course, unlike Fender guitars, turntables cannot be allowed to resonate. To ensure no such problems would occur and disturb the otherwise beautiful design and sound, Mobile Fidelity Electronics turned to acoustics expert Mike Latvis at Harmonic Resolution Systems. His ingenious solution: Attachment points and resonance cuts on the bottom of the low-resonance plinth, performed to spec at the mill before getting sent to Fender. Those are just a few of the cutting-edge attributions that allow the 25.5-pound PrecisionDeck, based off of Mobile Fidelity Electronics' award-winning UltraDeck model, to stand apart.

True to its name, PrecisionDeck arrives meticulously built, with every part and function having gone through extensive testing to ensure optimal performance. Equipped with the equivalent of a guitar pickup – in the form of Mobile Fidelity's acclaimed MasterTracker cartridge – for easy setup and operation, PrecisionDeck is ready to go out of the box. Physically, it stands out via its super-sturdy, 1.3-inch, 6.8-pound Delrin platter that delivers deep-black backgrounds and a fantastically low noise floor. Delrin is chosen due to its natural impedance match with vinyl. Speaking of being made for LPs: A 300RPM isolated AC synchronous motor offers excellent speed stability for stellar pitch accuracy and rhythmic drive. It's just another way PrecisionDeck takes its purpose to the extreme. Ditto its use of ester-based bearing grease, which lends to the 'table's extreme quiet.

The engineering prowess extends to the custom-developed Ultra tonearm, a 10-inch straight aluminum gimbaled bearing design whose rigidity and tracking prowess translate into hyper-accurate information retrieval. Ultra tonearm also uses Cardas Audio wiring to maintain signal purity from the headshell leads all the way through the RCA connectors. Adjustable tracking force, VTA, azimuth, and enhanced anti-skate grant listeners simple fine-tuning options. A hardened-steel inverted bearing system complete with a sapphire thrust pad provides PrecisionDeck wonderfully smooth, rotational stability while anti-vibration feet – also co-developed with the engineering team at Harmonic Resolution Systems, the world leader in vibration isolation, specifically for the weight of PrecisionDeck – further shield the ‘table from disruptive resonances. Again, everything circles back to preserving the genuine sound locked in the grooves of LPs. It's why PrecisionDeck even comes with high-quality gold-plated connectors shielded by a copper foil box to prevent airborne RF noise and, as a bonus, includes a removable, hinged dust cover to guard against debris when the 'table isn't spinning records.

Just as importantly, PrecisionDeck carries on a distinctively American legacy Leo Fender started in his garage roughly eight decades ago and which Mobile Fidelity picked up on more than four decades ago with its first recordings. Fender and Mobile Fidelity Electronics are proud to continue this heritage. PrecisionDeck stands as an authentic collaboration between two industry leaders and innovators – and a connection between history, music, and the artists you love that is both deeply personal and personalized, a creation that Leo Fender himself would have cherished.

More About Mobile Fidelity Electronics' MasterTracker Cartridge

Fine-tuned by Allen Perkins and Mobile Fidelity, and hand-built in Japan with cartridge housing milled from solid aluminum billet in the USA, MasterTracker traces LP groove walls with surgical precision and stopwatch accuracy, giving you a purist-based picture of what was originally cut in the mastering studio. Equipped with pure Ohno continuous-cast copper coils and a trademarked Micro Linear diamond stylus – shaped just like a lathe's cutting head – this rarified instrument mines the seemingly limitless amounts of information embedded in vinyl's microscopic nooks and crannies, presenting music with grand-scale cinematic scope and three-dimensional detail. MasterTracker plays with degrees of openness, clarity, and dynamics normally attributed to moving-coil cartridges. And its well-damped billet aluminum body yields payoffs you'll immediately hear: Unshakable reproduction of supremely complex passages and taut, edge-free bass. To further ensure MasterTracker's addictive performance, countless hours were spent removing unwanted resonance and employing next-generation dampening materials to improve overall performance. Everything about MasterTracker serves the sound – and your music. Conceived in the same studio that produces Mobile Fidelity's world-famous Original Master Recordings, MasterTracker accomplishes what any flagship cartridge bearing the Mobile Fidelity name should: Faithful reproduction of the original master sound.

Specifications

Motor: 300 RPM AC Synchronous
Speeds: 33 1/3 RPM, 45.0 RPM
Platter: 6.8 lb Delrin
Wow & Flutter: 0.017% - 0.025%
Signal-To-Noise Ratio: 74dB
Power Supply Requirements: 120V 60Hz, 220-230V 50Hz, 100V 50Hz
Power Consumption: < 5W
Dimensions: 20.75" x 6" x 15.5"
Weight: 25.5 lbs.

Tonearm:
Type: 10" Straight Aluminum, Gimbaled Bearing
Overhang: 0.71" (18mm)
Offset Angle: 22.8˚ (+/- 2˚ adjustable)
Cartridge Weight Range: 5g - 10g

Everyone has a plan, till you get punched in the face,

 
Posted : February 3, 2022 3:19 pm
nebish
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Looks like the entry level type mobile fidelity turntables are just over $1000 and then they have a $2000 model.

I tried to get into vinyl a couple years ago.  I just like the convenience of the CD still.  I can put a couple to a few discs in the player, use the remote to move around.  Sound is good enough. 

DVD Audio was a competitor to the SACD.  DVD-A discs could contain music at 24 bits 96 khz.  I did a search.  They can still be bought.  Artist and titles are somewhat limited.

 
Posted : February 3, 2022 3:50 pm
Zambi
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I wonder if that's why AVH was seen with Don Landee last year at a studio.  There was some speculation it had to do with the EVH vaults, which WVH shot down, or possibly a live album.  But this makes more sense to me.

 

I just wish they'd release the Japanese remasters in the U.S., including the Hagar years (with bass and balanced mix/mastering on OU812).  The Japanese remasters are supposedly better than the more recent reissues in the U.S. of the DLR catalog from the ~2015 time frame.  Plus of course, they released remasters of the Hagar years in Japan also.

 

Re: DVD-A. Oteil released his second solo record with the Peacemakers on DVD-A back in the very early 2000s.  It was produced by John Snyder when he rebooted his Artist House label with deluxe packaging of all the albums he released, plus IIRC the artists also retained full ownership of the master recordings.  It came with 2 discs.  A straight CD with 2-channel stereo audio.  And then there were like 4 more different audio-only versions.  A 24-bit/96k 2-channel stereo mix; a surround sound mix; a straight stereo mix with the artists providing play-by-play and color commentary; a rather lengthy video from the studio of them recording the tunes; interviews of bandmembers; a bass lesson; and printable sheet music.  The whole package was a bit over the top, but terrific for a true fanatic-fan of the artist, and the cost wasn't all that much more compared to just run of the mill CDs issued at the time.  Was hoping at the time that it might be the way of the future for artist album releases, but alas we got mp3 instead.

 
Posted : February 3, 2022 6:04 pm
Lee
 Lee
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I have no idea about most of what you guys are posting. Way over my head. Thanks for posting that article though. Very interesting.

Although to jszfunk's question I might be able to answer that. I think a DVD audio disc is exactly that if I understand. On one side of a disc you get a standard CD. On the other side you get a DVD of whatever they put on it. Obviously video of course but could be anything I guess. I have a few and they show footage of the studio, the recording of the CD, the band talking, things like that. They are thicker than a regular CD or DVD but I think they play in both CD and DVD players. I think they are neat.

I believe this is what you are referring to.

I believe they were supposed to be a big thing about 20 years ago but I guess they never really took off. I haven't played one in years.

This post was modified 4 years ago by Lee

Everything in Moderation. Including Moderation.

 
Posted : February 3, 2022 6:14 pm
nebish
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SACD Titles:

https://www.sa-cd.net/titles/0/0/views/100/1

 

 

DVD-Audio Titles:

http://www.surrounddiscography.com/dvdaudio/dvdaudio.htm

 

I could use some Van Halen remasters or upgrades on CD as I think all of mine were bought in the 90s except I know I have a remastered Fair Warning from one year or another.

 
Posted : February 3, 2022 7:24 pm
jszfunk
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Posted by: @zambi

I wonder if that's why AVH was seen with Don Landee last year at a studio.  There was some speculation it had to do with the EVH vaults, which WVH shot down, or possibly a live album.  But this makes more sense to me.

 

I just wish they'd release the Japanese remasters in the U.S., including the Hagar years (with bass and balanced mix/mastering on OU812).  The Japanese remasters are supposedly better than the more recent reissues in the U.S. of the DLR catalog from the ~2015 time frame.  Plus of course, they released remasters of the Hagar years in Japan also.

 

 

I heard something about Al being in the studio with Don. I found this:

https://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/alex-van-halen-and-donn-landee-photographed-visiting-a-mastering-studio.1112200/

image

 

Alot of this audio stuff is waaayyyyy beyond me.  It would be interesting to hear what all of this stuff sounds like side by side. I am the farthest thing from an audiophile.

I am just dangerous enough to tamper with lows,mids,bass, inserting a cd, pushing play and dropping a needle. I just know I like it a 11!!! Cool Cool Cool Cool Cool Cool

 

 

See the source image

This post was modified 4 years ago by jszfunk

Everyone has a plan, till you get punched in the face,

 
Posted : February 4, 2022 9:08 am
Zambi
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Posted by: @lee

think a DVD audio disc is exactly that if I understand. On one side of a disc you get a standard CD. On the other side you get a DVD of whatever they put on it. Obviously video of course but could be anything I guess. I have a few and they show footage of the studio, the recording of the CD, the band talking, things like that. They are thicker than a regular CD or DVD but I think they play in both CD and DVD players. I think they are neat.

I've seen movies on DVD like this, where one version is on one side of the disc and another version of the same movie is on the other side. Maybe it was blu-ray with HD on one side and regular SD DVD on the other side for older DVD machines that cannot read blu-ray.  I don't doubt that DVD-A could do it the same way, where it's CD on one side and DVD-A on the other side.  But when I was referring to Oteil's release from 2003, it was 2 separate discs.  One disc was a regular CD that you could play in any CD player.  The other disc was the DVD-A that required a DVD player to play it, and it had all the different versions of the album and bonus features that I mentioned in my post up-thread.  It was a cool concept and it's too bad it didn't take off, but that was before the age of streaming.

 

 

Posted by: @jszfunk

Alot of this audio stuff is waaayyyyy beyond me.  It would be interesting to hear what all of this stuff sounds like side by side. I am the farthest thing from an audiophile.

I am just dangerous enough to tamper with lows,mids,bass, inserting a cd, pushing play and dropping a needle. I just know I like it a 11!!! Cool Cool Cool Cool Cool Cool

I'm more like you and not an audiophile by any stretch.  I think the easiest way to think about it is like DVDs and blu-ray.  A regular CD is standard definition DVD and the DVD-A is high definition like blu-ray.  I believe a CD is 16-bit/48kHz whereas a DVD can do 24-bit / 96kHz sampling.  But like with televisions where there is no sense in buying 4k or 8k movies if your screen cannot display it, there's no sense in the hi-res audio if your stereo system cannot play it.

If interested in what it all means scientifically or audiophile speak, you can try:

https://boomspeaker.com/24bit-96khz/

 

or 

 

https://boomspeaker.com/96khz-vs-48khz/

 

Otherwise, turn it up to 11 and enjoy!!

 
Posted : February 4, 2022 12:41 pm
jszfunk reacted
jszfunk
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@zambi  Thanks for the info!!

Everyone has a plan, till you get punched in the face,

 
Posted : February 4, 2022 1:36 pm
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