I came across this article recently - A very entertaining saga from the realms of audiofoolery… I mean audiophilery 
https://www.washingtonpost.com/music/2022/08/05/mofi-records-analog-digital-scandal/
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So the bottom line, digital technology works great, human beings not so much?
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Here’s the video they link to in the article. Interesting stuff, even weirder that he flashes around an album cover dominated by the Eye of Horus (Ancient Egyptian and also Freemason imagery) for the first part of the time-stamped video. I guess this is a full fledged revelation of the Audio Skeptics Society (A.S.S.) and the “confirmation bias” principle?
Some comments from the video:
So basically, MOFI just proved that all these guys who swore they could tell analog from digital were just full of crap!!
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This only proves one thing to me. That all of the audiophiles that claim they can hear the difference between digitized music and analog music are full of it, because they have been telling all of us how wonderful the MOFI records sound. I agree with them those records sound great.
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Maybe now people will realize there are LOTS of things we’ve been fooled about, beyond music. 
Question Everything! (at least both analog and digital recordings are “safe and effective” 
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I would have been surprised if they had a complete analog chain when re-issuing vinyl.
Companies like Sony are not going to give ‘Mo-Fi’ their original master tapes, they would give them a
high resolution digital copy of the master.
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Yep, audiofools tend to live in an echo chamber of confirmation bias.
Yes, the whole concept of “pure analogue chain” is nonsense… especially when you consider that one of the earliest uses of digital delay units (1970s) was to provide a “ look ahead” function on vinyl cutting lathes….so ironically, many of the original releases of the vinyl they are now re-releasing actually ran through a digital conversion stage!… and not hi fi digital either… we’re talking relatively primitive 12bit digital!
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I was selling midrange to audiophile audio when CDs and the concept of digital hit the market. The level of confusion about how it all worked was astounding.
At first, you had to buy CDs from audio stores. They were about $22 each, and many touted “Direct to Digital”. On a lot of them, that meant they used the vinyl cutting master, including all the eq adjustments for the lathe. Screeching cats sounded better, but “audiophiles” snapped them up because initially there was very little to play on your new $1500 to $3000 CD player.
Now, if you’re buying a Mobile Fidelity direct to vinyl version of Dark Side of the Moon, which master would you want to use to cut it? The master tape (or safety, since you can only use the tape a limited number of times before degrading it), or a digital copy of the master, which can only replicate the limitations of the original?
The real master tape, by the way, has been sitting in a box shedding for about 50 years, but if I’m an audiophile, that’s the one I want or I’m getting screwed.
Sheesh.
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Haha… I remember that era!… when consumer digital first arrived and it was the big audiophile “thing” of the moment… wow, haven’t they changed their tune? Digital went from the ultimate object of desire to some kind of leprous infection in the signal chain. 
… if only the audiophiles realised how much “inferior” digital conversion was happening in all the digital reverbs, delays and harmonisers being used in the productions they were listening to!
So true.
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Adding myself to this thread 
I’m loving this conversation!
The whole transition to digital broke a lot of hearts, but very few recording engineers. Just the editing advantages would outweigh any qualms about sound quality.
Engineers also have the distinct advantage now of plug ins that emulate analogue, so if they run into a client who thinks analogue is superior, they can just say “No problem, I can distort it for you, I have a plug for that”.
Seriously, there are a myriad of great analogue recordings. Engineers and musicians who knew how to properly work within the limitations of the format were rare, but got tremendous results. Digital has turned that mostly into nostalgia. If you know what you are doing you can produce great art without the format restricting you.
The audiophile movement can still exist; at some point you still have to move air accurately to hear something. The differences in great amps and speakers are still very pronounced and important. The method of delivery to the amp has just been improved to the point that a $7000 turntable is more of a museum piece than a music delivery system, but some beliefs die hard.
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LOL… yeah, I guess if you spend $7000 on a turntable you have to tell yourself it sounds superior, even if it really doesn’t. If you admit it doesn’t sound superior, then your wife crowns you with a frying pan. It’s all about self-preservation of one form or another.
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Or that old saw used by audiophiles: “Even my wife heard a difference from the kitchen”.
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I can’t tell you how many times a guy would come in and spend hours listening to great speakers, that were of course properly set up in a listening room. We would discuss imaging, soundstage, etc. The guy would love them.
Then he’d bring his wife in.
After going through everything with her, she’d agree that she’d never heard anything sound that good, and had never had the impression that she was listening to music the way these speakers portrayed it until now.
Then she’d say: “But I don’t want to see them”.
End of story.
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I guess that’s one version of the classic “That’s what she said!”
I wonder if there’s some psychological profiles of the audiophile archetype? Is it “Whoever dies with the most toys wins.” (?) Is it a simple case of G.A.S.? Conspicuous display of wealth? Status? Cool factor? Supplementing for inherent insecurities? Asking for a friend. 
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I honestly think most women love music, but don’t want to be aware of what is making it, and certainly don’t want it to be part of the decor.
My wife tolerates a pair of Martin Logans in the family room, but has only recently been adventurous enough to play music on them.
Before that, it was “Hey Siri, play The Moody Blues”. She was more comfortable playing tunes through a talking hockey puck.
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I don’t think there is any one profile that fits the audiophile. Human’s have always felt the need to feel special/unique over the unwashed masses. Maybe they justify all of the expensive equipment because their special hearing allows them to experience something that us ass scratching, nose picking plebeians will never have ?
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