Anyone who thought interest in Michael Jackson would eventually fade might want to look at the 2026 box-office receipts.
Michael, the Antoine Fuqua-directed biopic starring Jackson’s nephew Jaafar Jackson, crossed $1 billion worldwide this summer and ultimately reached roughly $1.016 billion globally. That was hardly guaranteed. Bigger studios had reportedly considered the project too risky, while pre-release tracking pointed to a domestic opening around $65 million to $70 million. It opened to more than $97 million instead and became the first biopic in history to cross the billion-dollar mark.
So yes, almost four decades after BAD arrived in 1987, the appetite for the King of Pop remains rather substantial.
Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab is banking on some of that enthusiasm with new audiophile editions of BAD on UltraDisc One-Step vinyl and Hybrid SACD. The more interesting story, however, is how MoFi is making the vinyl.
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Digital Is Not a Dirty Word
MoFi explicitly lists the source chain for the $125 UltraDisc One-Step edition as Mitsubishi X-80 16-bit/48kHz digital master → analog console → lathe. The album is being mastered by Krieg Wunderlich, spread across two 180-gram LPs at 45 RPM, pressed at Fidelity Record Pressing, and limited to 6,000 numbered copies.
That disclosure deserves attention.
MoFi endured a very public backlash in 2022 after customers learned that numerous supposedly all-analog releases had incorporated an undisclosed DSD transfer. A subsequent class-action case covered 124 Original Master Recording and UltraDisc One-Step titles. MoFi denied wrongdoing, and a federal judge granted final approval to the settlement on December 26, 2023.
The company’s response since then has been considerably more transparent. Current product pages identify the mastering chain, including when digital technology is involved. That is exactly what buyers of expensive audiophile records should expect.
And a digital master does not automatically make a bad record.
MoFi’s Thriller One-Step, for example, uses a 1/2-inch 30 IPS analog master transferred to DSD256 before the signal reaches the analog console and cutting lathe. Current One-Step releases also include Rush’s A Farewell to Kings and Television’s Marquee Moon, both sourced from analog tape through DSD256, while Donald Fagen’s Kamakiriad comes from a PCM digital master.
In other words, MoFi is no longer asking customers to guess.
Why One Step?
MoFi’s UltraDisc One-Step process eliminates the traditional father and mother stages used when creating record stampers. A stamper is instead produced directly from each lacquer, reducing generations in the manufacturing chain but requiring additional lacquers for larger production runs. MoFi says the process can lower noise and preserve more detail and dynamics.
The 45 RPM format also provides more groove real estate than the 33 1/3 RPM Thriller One-Step, although it means getting up to flip records more often. Consider it audiophile cardio.
The new edition also restores “Leave Me Alone,” which was not included on the original vinyl release.
Technical Specifications
- Album: Michael Jackson — BAD
- Vinyl: UltraDisc One-Step 180-gram 45 RPM 2LP
- Vinyl price: $125
- Catalog number: MFSL45UD1S2-062
- Vinyl mastering: Krieg Wunderlich
- Source: Mitsubishi X-80 16-bit/48kHz digital master
- Cutting chain: Digital master → analog console → lathe
- Pressing plant: Fidelity Record Pressing
- Vinyl production: 6,000 numbered copies
- Packaging: Deluxe slipcase with foil-stamped jacket
- SACD: Numbered Hybrid SACD
- SACD price: $34.99
- SACD catalog number: UDSACD2288
- SACD mastering: Rob LoVerde
- SACD packaging: Mini-LP-style gatefold
- Tracks: 11, including “Leave Me Alone”
The Bottom Line
MoFi describes both editions as presenting BAD in audiophile quality for the first time. The vinyl version is certainly unusual: a premium 45 RPM One-Step pressing sourced not from analog tape or modern high-resolution DSD, but from a 16-bit/48kHz digital master dating from the early digital era.
That might scare off listeners who believe expensive vinyl must be AAA to have value. I’m considerably more interested in hearing what Wunderlich can extract from the actual master available to him.
At least this time, nobody has to wonder what is in the chain.
Where to pre-order: $125 at MoFi (vinyl) or $34.99 at MoFI (SACD)
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