DCC vs. MFSL

[pmckeealaska]

For those that own the same albums on both the DCC and MFSL, how would they compare? Is one label consistently better than the other? I dont own any DCC gold discs so I'm just wondering if it's worth investing in some of their CD's as well. I see that Van Halen I on DCC is for sale on ebay right now.

[headrott]

I cannot think of any of the same title that I own of DCC and MFSL. But, I do own a fair number of each. In general, I would say MFSL masters are better than DCC. There are some exceptions of course. The DCC Cream "Wheels of Fire" is very good for example. I cannot think of any titles I own both the DCC and MFSL because if I own the title, it's usually MFSL unless the title was only available on DCC. (Of course this is my subjective opinion)

I bought the "Audio Fidelity" (which is an offshoot of DCC) master of Yes' 90125 CD and was very dissapointed in the mastering job done with it. It was even mastered by the same person that mastered the DCC Wheels of Fire CD(s) who was Steve Hoffman.

Greg

[Norm Apter]

I have a different take from Greg though I too don't have any CDs in both formats. I find that my DCCs are nearly universally excellent (can't think of a bad one in the bunch). I also have a few AF and while I haven't had any bad luck with those, I have heard rumblings of displeasure with some titles.

MFSLs can be great (Pink Floyd Meddle and Beck Sea Change, I'm looking at you), but sometimes they apply their smiley face EQ a little heavy handed. Thus I feel DCC are more consistently great on the whole (AF obviously would be a different discussion). Steve's technique is to expand the midrange, whereas MFSL may add more to the top and "modern" remasters add more to the top and the bottom, often screwing it all up in the process. In short, I'd go with DCC.

Norm

[pmckeealaska]

Ok...thanks for the insight. I think I'll put a bid in on the DCC Van Halen album then. If anyone has this DCC, I'd like to hear what they think about it!

[F1nut]

DCC and MFSL never released the same material. I own a boat load from both and both are very good to excellent. I also have a number of AF releases and have found them to be the same.