Steely Dan aja MFSL?
- Thread starter Ashevegas
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BayouTiger
Super Member
I have had the original MoFi for over 30 years and it's still awesome!
mhardy6647
Lunatic Member
I prefer the MFSL; I've had a copy since it came out.
Apparently the 21st Century perspective on it is that ol' "SR/2" Stan Riker tweaked the bass and treble to compensate for the shortcomings of 1970s massmarket hifi when he mastered this and the other classic titles for MFSL... I have, I think, graduated to considerably better stuff... but the MFSL half-speed mastered LPs still sound dang good to me (i.e., so, what do I know?).
Apparently the 21st Century perspective on it is that ol' "SR/2" Stan Riker tweaked the bass and treble to compensate for the shortcomings of 1970s massmarket hifi when he mastered this and the other classic titles for MFSL... I have, I think, graduated to considerably better stuff... but the MFSL half-speed mastered LPs still sound dang good to me (i.e., so, what do I know?).
MarkNC
Active Member
Have several MoFi's including Aja, and it definitely has the most tipped up highs of any of them. Sure, nice quiet vinyl but sound-quality-wise I prefer the original pressing. By the way, the late-nineties CD reissues of the Steely Dan catalog (very good, incidentally) have liner notes by Becker and Fagen that are just roll-on-the-floor hilarious.
-Mark
-Mark
mhardy6647
Lunatic Member
Yes, they do! Indeed, they're worth buying just for the liner notes! (I have a few of them - they sound pretty decent, too)
Ashevegas
Sonic Death Monkey
Mofi is hit and miss for me,for that very reason.
MarkNC
Active Member
Those liner notes make me wish the boys would write a book along those same lines.
-Mark
GreatTone
Super Member
When the Japanese reissue came out a few years ago, I really liked that one. But then I seriously upgraded my vinyl rig, and the original AB (not the later AA, though some AA's are really AB's -- google it) was revealed as king. I still like the Japanese version as it is more detailed, but the original has amazing warmth, presence and musicality, and a hugely 3D soundstage. Decent quiet vinyl too. I don't have the MoFi, but have never wanted one due to the many reports of the unnatural frequency boosts. I've heard enough other 70s MoFi's with the same issues to not feel curious. I've passed up expensive copies in favor of yet another NM original for a few bucks. Hard to beat it. Just make sure you have an original AB mastering, and you're set.
BTW, I was traveling a couple of years ago and had some time on my hands, so I found the local audiophile shop and stopped by. They had a serious system on display with $35K speakers and a $10K Clearaudio turntable and all AR tube gear. I asked for a demo and they said sure, did I bring any records with me. I told them I was traveling, so they pointed to a small stack on the floor. Of course they had an original Aja, so I asked to hear that. I was floored. The backup singers were placed several feet behind Fagan, and the drum kit was fully three dimensional, with each piece occupying a very specific space. There's way more on that original record than most of our systems are capable of revealing.
BTW, I was traveling a couple of years ago and had some time on my hands, so I found the local audiophile shop and stopped by. They had a serious system on display with $35K speakers and a $10K Clearaudio turntable and all AR tube gear. I asked for a demo and they said sure, did I bring any records with me. I told them I was traveling, so they pointed to a small stack on the floor. Of course they had an original Aja, so I asked to hear that. I was floored. The backup singers were placed several feet behind Fagan, and the drum kit was fully three dimensional, with each piece occupying a very specific space. There's way more on that original record than most of our systems are capable of revealing.
mdewire
Active Member
I have the original first pressing on ABC Records that still sounds great. Recently I acquired the Cisco release and I was very impressed with the sound quality.
I know what you mean about the liner notes on the remastered CDs. I like the way they jokingly describe the tape loop created for Show Biz Kids. Going to Los Vegas that sounds like Lost Wages.
I know what you mean about the liner notes on the remastered CDs. I like the way they jokingly describe the tape loop created for Show Biz Kids. Going to Los Vegas that sounds like Lost Wages.
My experience also. I listened to my MoFi Aja the other night for the first time in awhile, and afterwards I was thinking I really should do some digging and find my original pressing.
Klownschool
Mouth open = can't hear
Cisco
MoFi
ABC the (AB version) a distant third.
MoFi
ABC the (AB version) a distant third.
iLUVanalog
Addicted Member
I have both an ABC pressing and the MFSL pressing, and while the MFSL does have a little more sparkle in the highs, I prefer the overall sound of the MFSL.
MarkNC
Active Member
"We were using four-inch tape in those days, running at 180 ips, and to make a 32-bar loop at that tempo required the construction of a special apparatus to accommodate the 1200-plus feet of tape, which ran from one end of Studio A to the other, out the f***ing door into the hall, in the door into Ed Michel's space jazz production headquarters, back out into the hall, up the stairs and into the inner sanctum of studio manager Dick "Frosty" La Palm, down through the airshaft into the echo chamber of Studio B, back out into the reception area where Spooky, our favorite receptionist, was ordering grilled cheese and bacon sandwiches all around, into the shop where Ken Klinger sat hunched over his overloaded workbench, where it met up with a servostatic accelerometer, mounted on a turbodiesel forklift idler wheel.
All right.Two inch tape,30 ips, four bars, 30 feet, out into the hall and back, and that's all"
mhardy6647
Lunatic Member
That's classic!
nelsress
Super Member
mhardy6647
Lunatic Member
I just don't care for Gaucho - too much ennui; it always felt, to me, like the boys were just goin' through the motions to fulfill a contract or to make a few million more smackers... I never bought a copy (although I did find and adopt a copy on LP at the dump a few years back).
Sorry, just ruminating...
Sorry, just ruminating...
