Sourced from the original analog tapes, housed in a Stoughton gatefold jacket, and improving upon the label's critically acclaimed out-of-print 180g LP pressing, Mobile Fidelity's numbered-edition 180g SuperVinyl LP teems with information, clarity, textures, and colors. The result: Spacious, airy, and you-are-there sonics that further benefit from the characteristics of MoFi SuperVinyl: an ultra-low noise floor, superior groove definition, and dead-quiet surfaces.
Experience Abraxas the way it is meant to be heard, with the instruments and musicians placed in the proper channels. This collectible version captures the full tonal range of Santana’s guitar and nuances of his distinctive touch. Passages and notes are brought to the forefront and properly scaled, enhancing your emotional connection to this iconic record.
Filled with celebratory vibes, bluesy jams, mellow vocals, and hip-shaking grooves, Abraxas picks up on the momentum of Santana's self-titled 1969 debut. Drifting into more versatile territory, Santana reimagines what’s possible in melding various disciplines and styles. Mysticism and spirituality abound amid performances featuring a thrilling assembly of purring organs, conga beats, and fluid bass lines. And that says nothing of the bandleader’s extraordinary guitar playing.
Wild, free, and loose, the group conjures the feeling of mountains and rivers on the opening instrumental “Singing Winds, Crying Beasts,” leads a salsa parade on a definitive version of Tito Puente’s “Oye Como Va,” and explores its sensual side on “Samba Pa Ti,” a track indicative of the album’s Latin vibes and percussion. Sonically, Abraxas takes advantage of then-advanced studio techniques such as cross-fading and state-of-the-art mixing. As The Mojo Collection explains: “Dissatisfied with the sound of their debut, the group brought in as a co-producer veteran jazz engineer Fred Catero, whose skills proved invaluable in balancing the new range of musical flavors Santana [was] bringing into its sound: the result was a giant step on from [the band’s] debut.”
Like the group’s debut, Abraxas long laid claim to one of the biggest production gaffes in music history. Until Mobile Fidelity corrected the error with its 2008 LP and gold CD reissues, Abraxas had never been heard correctly. For nearly four decades, copies were produced with the left and right channels reversed. So, in addition to showcasing reach-out-and-touch it sound, this SuperVinyl edition gets all the specifications right.
Please note: The provenance information printed on the back cover of the initial pressings of Mobile Fidelity's Abraxas SuperVinyl reissue mistakenly lists “DSD 256” instead of the correct “DSD 64” rate. The sticker affixed to the outer plastic sleeve/bag of the initial pressings of this LP reflects this correction. The complete correct provenance is: 1/4" / 15 IPS analog master to DSD 64 to analog console to lathe. Subsequent pressings will have the correct provenance printed on the back cover of the jacket.
MoFi UltraDisc One-Step
Instead of utilizing the industry-standard three-step lacquer process, Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab's new UltraDisc One-Step (UD1S) uses only one step, bypassing two processes of generational loss. While three-step processing is designed for optimum yield and efficiency, UD1S is created for the ultimate in sound quality. Just as Mobile Fidelity pioneered the Ultra High-Quality Record (UHQR) with JVC in the 1980s, UD1S again represents another state-of-the-art advance in the record-manufacturing process. MFSL engineers begin with the original master recordings, painstakingly transfer them to DSD 256, and meticulously cut a set of lacquers. These lacquers are used to create a very fragile, pristine UD1S stamper called a "convert." Delicate "converts" are then formed into the actual record stampers, producing a final product that literally and figuratively brings you closer to the music. By skipping the additional steps of pulling another positive and an additional negative, as done in the three-step process used in standard pressings, UD1S produces a final LP with the lowest noise floor possible today. The removal of the additional two steps of generational loss in the plating process reveals tremendous amounts of extra musical detail and dynamics, which are otherwise lost due to the standard copying process. Every conceivable aspect of vinyl production is optimized to produce the most perfect record album available today.
UltraDisc One-Step: The Future of Hi-Fi
Everything begins with the meticulous cutting of a set of lacquers for a strict number of records to be pressed. After being cleaned with a proprietary chemical, the lacquers are rinsed in de-ionized water and dipped in stannous chloride, enabling pure silver to adhere to the surface. This leaves a pristine, extremely intricate silver layer. The lacquer is then mounted onto a conductive copper bar and immersed into a tank with nickel anodes at 98 degrees. As electricity is applied to the silvered lacquer, the nickel begins to deposit onto the lacquer, while preserving the integrity of the grooves. The nickel-plated silvered lacquer is then placed into a high-speed rotary tank at 120 degrees and spun at 88RPM to ensure the even application of a nickel layer. Once the desired thickness of .012" is achieved, the disc is removed from the plating tank and the nickel convert is separated from the lacquer. At this point, the convert is formed into a single-use record stamper. This first-generation convert is used to make the pinnacle of audiophile vinyl that literally and figuratively brings listeners closer to the music.