Take your vinyl playback to the ultimate level with the new MoFi Masterdeck. This Allen Perkins-designed reference table has a brand-new 10” dual-pivot tonearm, sensor-regulated 3-speed motor with trim adjustment, and the build quality to last a lifetime!

Company History

Established in 1977, Mobile Fidelity Sound Labs came onto the scene to offer recordings that would take advantage of the ever-improving ability of audio reproduction systems. MoFi knew that with the advancements in the home audio world, the recordings would have to get better. Using technology and better practices, they have become one of the go-to leaders in recorded music today.

Starting in 2016, MoFi came out with their award-winning Studiodeck and Ultradeck turntables that, for a lot of people, presented the perfect balance of high-end build quality and sound but remained attainably priced for most music lovers. After years of customer requests and a passion for perfecting their designs, MoFi decided to put its best foot forward and design a turntable that represents a true reference product.

Design & Quailty Build

With the success of the great StudioDeck and UltraDeck, MoFi thought it was time to create a turntable representing a true reference product that would be the culmination of Chief Analog Designer Allen Perkins's design work.

Allen Perkins, being a master of his craft, wanted the MasterDeck to include all of the things he had learned over his long career in the field of turntable design. One of the first things he looked at when designing the MasterDeck was the tonearm.

This 10” carbon-fiber tonearm was designed with this material for the ultimate rigidity while remaining lightweight and agile. This is a departure from most tables in this price class, with a more standardized 9.3” tonearms. A 10” arm allows for better tracking performance, much like the esoteric 10-12” arms on the market. The only drawback to this is that setup is extremely critical, but with all the adjustments the Masterdeck’s tonearm has, this should not be an issue. Remember, we are always here to help with setup questions and can even set up your cartridge before the unit ships if you purchase them together from us. This tonearm allows the use of cartridges from 5g-14g in weight. This new tonearm has a unique dual-pivot design that uses a unipivot bearing for the lateral movement of the arm and a gimbal bearing for the vertical movement. This allows the tonearm to have both the friction-free movement that is the hallmark of a unipivot arm and the controlled vertical movement that gimbal bearings are known for. Allen designed this tonearm with two high-precision ruby bearings in the unipivot section for the utmost accuracy of movement. The gimbal section uses very high-speed bearings that are rated for thousands of RPMs, which a tonearm will never see. This level of overengineering is what gives this turntable its name, MasterDeck.

It is argued by many that detachable headshells add an unneeded connection point on the arm and cartridge wiring and could potentially reduce performance. While this may be true, it can’t be argued that having a removable headshell makes cartridge mounting a much easier job. Allen engineered this arm differently, Having a very secure removable headshell with a precision collar that holds the headshell much more securely than standard mounts. This mounting system also allows for easier azimuth adjustment by rotating the headshell itself instead of the whole arm. Even though the headshell is removable, the high-performing Cardas tonearm wires are still directly connected to the cartridge without any extra connection points for the best performance. This new tonearm also has all of the adjustments needed to mount practically any chosen cartridge on the MasterDeck, including Azimuth, Precision screw collar, VTA adjustment, overhang, and anti-skate.

Features & Technology

MoFi knows that having a high-performance turntable means nothing if you can’t enjoy your whole vinyl collection on it. With the MasterDeck, you can play your 33, 45, and 78 RPM records with settings for all three speeds and trim control. The removable headshell easily allows you to mount your 78 RPM cartridge. A straightforward dial speed setting makes using the MasterDeck much easier, as there are no belt changes or multiple pulleys. You just set the speed and play the record! The trim control is a very important option as it allows you to adjust for any speed anomalies that can happen when playing records.

The motor system in the MasterDeck is a sensor-regulated synchronized 3-phase brushless DC system that achieves and maintains perfect speed stability. This motor is also completely isolated from the plinth, allowing no interference with the delicate cartridge and tonearm of the MasterDeck. If there is one area that makes or breaks a turntable, it is speed and motor noise. You could have the best system in the world, but if your turntable has speed instability or motor noise, it will ruin the listening experience.

MoFi has always used Delrin® in their platters, seeing that it has a natural impedance match to the vinyl itself. With the MasterDeck, they took this a step further by incorporating an aluminum/Delrin® hybrid platter. With the Delrin® as the surface seeing the record and the aluminum with its mass, stability, and resonance-reducing characteristics, This added weight, especially to the outer edges of the platter, improves the flywheel effect, which adds speed stability. This high-tech and well-engineered platter is supported by an Encapsulated Spiral Groove inverted bearing that promises very tight tolerances for unparalleled precision and stability. A spiral groove bearing is a type of bearing with grooves machined into its face that will hydrodynamically “pump” oil throughout the bearing surface allowing much more precision and longer bearing life.This level of engineering should allow the MasterDeck to last a lifetime, providing reference-level performance.

To ensure that MasterDeck’s performance is not hindered by any outside forces, they went to specialists in Harmonic Resolution Systems for the best solution. These isolation feet provide 5.5 degrees of freedom and have a mechanism that “floats” within the foot, providing the plinth with total isolation wherever the MasterDeck is placed. Having this level of total isolation is generally only found in expensive aftermarket feet or isolation platforms.

Having all of this performance is great but many music lovers like to own something great to look at as well and MoFi knows this. For the MasterDeck, Mofi included a real wood framed plinth that allows you to choose between black ash as well as an elegant walnut finish. This takes MoFi’s MasterDeck to a new level of aesthetic value not found in the StudioDeck or UltraDeck. While there are turntables on the market today in all sorts of wild colors and exotic materials the MasterDeck stays with MoFi’s theme of an understated look that many will find appealing. With the variations in finish options seen on furniture today, we would have liked to see MoFi offer more than two finishes. But we do applaud their efforts here.

Performance

We were very excited when we got the MasterDeck as we loved the StudioDeck and UltraDeck's performance and value. Taking the unit out of the box we noticed the very good level of packaging quality and protection for the turntable in the box. Setting up the table was an easy affair with all of the parts easily found in the box and a picture-filled manual to tell us how to assemble. Our turntable experts at Audio Advice liked this detachable headshell as it made mounting the cartridge and dialing it in much easier(anyone who has ever fumbled around and lost the mounting screws for their cartridge trying to fit it on a fixed headshell knows what we mean!).

Compared to the StudioDeck and UltraDeck’s grub screw VTA adjustment the MasterDeck’s collar screw drive adjustment is much easier to set and more precise in its movement. All of these attributes will make mounting your favorite cartridge much easier than many tables on the market and allow you to get even more performance out of your favorite cartridges. After getting the cartridge perfectly aligned and mounted we were ready to do some listening. Remember if you purchase the MasterDeck and your favorite cartridge from us our Audio Advice Turntable Specialists will mount and perfectly dial in your new cartridge before the MasterDeck is shipped to you!

The first album we played was Oscar Peterson’s We Get Requests. This album, being the jazz masterpiece it is allowed us to test how the MasterDeck would transmit the instrument's tone and texture. With our favorite track “You Look Good To Me” we heard all of the details in the bowed stand-up bass while also keeping the emotion and musical feel in place. It is rare to find a source component that does both detail and musicality in one package but the MasterDeck showed us just that. The other instruments on these tracks had the same detail while keeping the emotion of each player intact. Imaging and soundstage were top-notch giving us layers of musical pleasure and allowing each player their own space to play. While there are much more expensive tables out there in the “cost is no object” territory that will perform better the MasterDeck performs well above its price point.

The Smiths Hatful of Hollow is an iconic 80s rock album and while the music on this album is great the recording itself can be troublesome for lesser components to reproduce and many times lead to a grating and sharp presentation. Playing this album in its entirety gave us an energetic presentation that a Smiths album deserves while also keeping the presentation all about the music and not any shortcomings of the playback. The Bass had very good detail and extension while the treble was smooth and lifelike. Again, we were left impressed with the MasterDeck's ability to sound technically detailed while keeping the musical enjoyment and passion alive. We played our favorite track “How Soon Is Now” several times being more and more surprised by the wide soundstage and detail. The Tremolo-boosted guitar work on this song sounded amazing and seemed to jump into the room with us as we listened. This level of realism is truly hard to find and is well-appreciated when it is. The MasterDeck is a turntable that is truly designed to get out of the way and let your chosen cartridge have the sound it is designed to have.

Overall Recommendation

The MoFi MasterDeck is a true reference turntable in all the measurable ways from which turntables are measured. With its speed options and trim control, new Dual-pivot tonearm, and hybrid platter all of the metrics are in place for a table that will last a lifetime and present your favorite music with a realism found only in reference quality turntables. Feed this table into a quality phono stage like MoFi’s upcoming MasterPhono or one of our other quality phono stages and your vinyl collection will take on a sound that will make any music lover happy! There are turntables on the market that offer multiple tonearm mounts and offer the ability to change components to customize the table, this is not one of those tables. The MasterDeck is for someone looking for a table that offers reference quality sound, easy setup, and does not require you to choose a tonearm or any other components to make it work. If you are looking for a turntable in this price class the MasterDeck is a great option and is fully recommended by us at Audio Advice.

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