By: Leela Xie

On July 14th, Mike Esposito, the proprietor of In Groove Record Shop in Phoenix, released a video on his record shop’s YouTube channel saying that MoFi (Mobile Fidelity), the Sebastopol, Calif.-based firm that has prided itself on using original master tapes for its costly reissues, had been using digital files in its manufacturing chain.

Because audiophiles want to get as close to the original recording of an album as possible, digital is regarded practically a sin. The most serious sin a manufacturer can commit is to use digital while claiming not to. Esposito’s video drew quick criticism, including from some of the audio community’s biggest heavyweights.

Despite Esposito’s claims of getting the information from “quite [a] reputable source,” many individuals remained doubtful. Shane Buetter, the proprietor of another reissue firm, Intervention Records, defended MoFi (Mobile Fidelity) on a prominent discussion board run by master engineer Steve Hoffman. He recalls meeting one of the company’s engineers while working on a master tape at a recording studio. “I’m familiar with their procedure, and its legit,” he stated.

However, the dean of audiophile writing, Michael Freme was less measured. He criticized Esposito for irresponsibly spreading rumors and claimed that his anonymous source told him the record store owner was wrong. “Will speculative click-bate YouTube videos claiming otherwise be taken down after reading this?” he wrote on Twitter.

But John Wood at MoFi’s headquarters in Sebastopol understood the truth. As he saw Esposito’s video, the company’s senior vice president of product development felt shattered. He has been with the firm for almost 26 years and, like most of his colleagues, has advocated for its much-lauded direct-from-master chain. Wood could sense the sadness when Esposito mentioned that several of MoFi’s albums were among his favorites when presenting his report.

So, Wood picked up the phone, contacted Esposito, and recommended he go to California for a tour. It’s an invitation he came to regret. That visit resulted in a second film, released on July 20, in which MoFi’s engineers acknowledged, with an odd casualness, that Esposito’s statements were true. The corporation that built its reputation on authenticity has lied about its business methods. The incident is part of a situation that MoFi now admits was mishandled.

“It’s the biggest debacle I’ve ever seen in the vinyl realm,” says Kevin Gray, a mastering engineer who hasn’t worked with MoFi but has worked on reissues for artists like John Coltrane and Marvin Gaye.

“They were completely deceitful,” recalls Richard Drutman, a 50-year-old New York City filmmaker who has bought more than 50 MoFi recordings over the years. “I never would have ordered a single Mobile Fidelity product if I had known it was sourced from a digital master.”