Core Audio Server Ryan Mintz

Core,

Snow asked you a question. Can you please answer it?

Hi, Benjamin from Mojo Audio.

Hopefully I can clarify some of this.

Let me start by saying, "there are three sides to every story."

I was a founding partner in Core Audio Technology with Ryan Mintz. According to our partnership agreement I was in charge of R&D and manufacturing and Ryan was in charge of sales, marketing, and customer service.

Though there were months of set-up prior to the first power supply being sold, we were only manufacturing and selling products for less than six months before I gave Ryan my half controlling interest in Core Audio in exchange for half the inventory.

A large part of the reason I gave Ryan full control of Core Audio had to do with customer service issues such as the one Glory described.

During the time Ryan and I were business partners we manufactured roughly three dozen power supplies total. I ended up keeping roughly a dozen of those power supplies that I ended up rebranding with Mojo Audio face plates and selling with a full Mojo Audio warranty.

Not one of the customers I sold a rebranded Core Audio power supply to wanted to return it and not one of those power supplies has had any technical problems to date that I know of.

One of the few customers I ever spoke with while I was a partner in Core Audio was Glory - as I stated, Ryan was in charge of customer service.

The only reason I ended up speaking to Glory was that Ryan wanted to withhold a significant portion of the money he paid us due to damages to the products that were returned. Later I will describe these damages.

Glory may have forgotten to mention that I acted as a sort of "go between" with Ryan and Glory and talked Ryan into refunding roughly 1/3 of what he originally intended on keeping and that Glory agreed to the $500 as a reasonable compromise.

The components Glory returned were in the worsts condition and packed the worst of any that I have ever seen in the nearly 10 years that I've been professionally selling electronics.

They were wrapped in bubble wrap that was so dirty you could hit it with your hand and a cloud of dust would rise off of it and you could shake it and a pile of dirt would literally fall out of it.

One of the chassis was so badly scratched that it had to be replaced. A second was scratched enough that we had to resell it with a substantial discount. For those two items alone most companies would not have allowed the products to be returned.

As for the DAC, it is quite possible that a Core Audio employee used the wrong silicone, may have forgotten to fully screw in all the mounting bolts, and could have made other errors in assembly. Considering the indisputable condition of the two chassis, it was not far off for us to believe that Glory had tampered with the DAC.

In any event, the $500 Glory was charged for damages to the products he returned was more than reasonable even without considering the DAC.

I was no longer a partner in Core Audio as of early July, 2011. Any customer complaints or fraud alerts since then could have nothing to do with me or Mojo Audio.

I have had several Core Audio customers approach me during 2012 who had problems with Ryan and products he sold long after I was involved with the company. These people claim Ryan didn't honor his warrantees and Ryan claims he did and that these people tampered with his products..."three sides to every story" and all that.

All I can state with certainty is the poor condition and poor function of the products when they arrived.

I've done my best to help these disgruntled Core Audio customers to the point where I have repaired some of the products. I've been asked to resell them for these customers with a warranty from Mojo Audio. Some time in the near future you should expect to see these used Core Audio products for sale on Audiogon.

Just like anyone else with a computer can do, I've done searches on Ryan and Core Audio Technology and I've found several negative posting on forums and fraud alerts that all happened long after I was associated with the company in any way.

One thing you can be certain of is that you won't find any fraud alerts or disgruntled customer postings for Mojo Audio. If a customer has any problems we simply return their full payment minus shipping. Period.

Since we have never had a customer request to return any power supply or DAC for a refund, and since we have never had any of them burn out in use, and since I can count on one hand with fingers left over the number of our cable products that are returned each year, giving a full refund to the few customers that want one is a minor cost of doing business.

I had a brief lapse in judgement that made me a business partner of Ryan's for a few months roughly two years ago. During my time as a partner in Core Audio I was barely involved with customer service and barely spoke to any customers with the exception of Glory.

I hope that in making this posting my name and Mojo Audio would no longer be linked to Ryan or Core Audio.

~ Benjamin

Hi, Benjamin from Mojo Audio.

Hopefully I can clarify some of this.

Let me start by saying, "there are three sides to every story."

I was a founding partner in Core Audio Technology with Ryan Mintz. According to our partnership agreement I was in charge of R&D and manufacturing and Ryan was in charge of sales, marketing, and customer service.

Though there were months of set-up prior to the first power supply being sold, we were only manufacturing and selling products for less than six months before I gave Ryan my half controlling interest in Core Audio in exchange for half the inventory.

A large part of the reason I gave Ryan full control of Core Audio had to do with customer service issues such as the one Glory described.

During the time Ryan and I were business partners we manufactured roughly three dozen power supplies total. I ended up keeping roughly a dozen of those power supplies that I ended up rebranding with Mojo Audio face plates and selling with a full Mojo Audio warranty.

Not one of the customers I sold a rebranded Core Audio power supply to wanted to return it and not one of those power supplies has had any technical problems to date that I know of.

One of the few customers I ever spoke with while I was a partner in Core Audio was Glory - as I stated, Ryan was in charge of customer service.

The only reason I ended up speaking to Glory was that Ryan wanted to withhold a significant portion of the money he paid us due to damages to the products that were returned. Later I will describe these damages.

Glory may have forgotten to mention that I acted as a sort of "go between" with Ryan and Glory and talked Ryan into refunding roughly 1/3 of what he originally intended on keeping and that Glory agreed to the $500 as a reasonable compromise.

The components Glory returned were in the worsts condition and packed the worst of any that I have ever seen in the nearly 10 years that I've been professionally selling electronics.

They were wrapped in bubble wrap that was so dirty you could hit it with your hand and a cloud of dust would rise off of it and you could shake it and a pile of dirt would literally fall out of it.

One of the chassis was so badly scratched that it had to be replaced. A second was scratched enough that we had to resell it with a substantial discount. For those two items alone most companies would not have allowed the products to be returned.

As for the DAC, it is quite possible that a Core Audio employee used the wrong silicone, may have forgotten to fully screw in all the mounting bolts, and could have made other errors in assembly. Considering the indisputable condition of the two chassis, it was not far off for us to believe that Glory had tampered with the DAC.

In any event, the $500 Glory was charged for damages to the products he returned was more than reasonable even without considering the DAC.

I was no longer a partner in Core Audio as of early July, 2011. Any customer complaints or fraud alerts since then could have nothing to do with me or Mojo Audio.

I have had several Core Audio customers approach me during 2012 who had problems with Ryan and products he sold long after I was involved with the company. These people claim Ryan didn't honor his warrantees and Ryan claims he did and that these people tampered with his products..."three sides to every story" and all that.

All I can state with certainty is the poor condition and poor function of the products when they arrived.

I've done my best to help these disgruntled Core Audio customers to the point where I have repaired some of the products. I've been asked to resell them for these customers with a warranty from Mojo Audio. Some time in the near future you should expect to see these used Core Audio products for sale on Audiogon.

Just like anyone else with a computer can do, I've done searches on Ryan and Core Audio Technology and I've found several negative posting on forums and fraud alerts that all happened long after I was associated with the company in any way.

One thing you can be certain of is that you won't find any fraud alerts or disgruntled customer postings for Mojo Audio. If a customer has any problems we simply return their full payment minus shipping. Period.

Since we have never had a customer request to return any power supply or DAC for a refund, and since we have never had any of them burn out in use, and since I can count on one hand with fingers left over the number of our cable products that are returned each year, giving a full refund to the few customers that want one is a minor cost of doing business.

I had a brief lapse in judgement that made me a business partner of Ryan's for a few months roughly two years ago. During my time as a partner in Core Audio I was barely involved with customer service and barely spoke to any customers with the exception of Glory.

I hope that in making this posting my name and Mojo Audio would no longer be linked to Ryan or Core Audio.

~ Benjamin

Hello Benjamin.

If you were responsible for R&D of CORE Audio power supplies then I must inform you that one of these (sold by CORE, I believe) to fellow audiophile and it "burnt" within first few days and was returned ...but no refund was issued.

I think you bear partial responsibility for poor design...

I wish you the best in audio but perhaps MOJO Audio should stay away from power supplies design and manufacturing...

Musica Pristina Virtuoso server I bought a few months ago (also with external power supplies, I believed designed by highly respected Spectron Audio) did not give me a SINGLE problem - not in software not in hardware. NONE !!!

I feel rather upset that months ago, I was considering purchase of the server from you and Ryan and have corresponded with him and just by luck I escaped all these horrors that others describe here.

There are too many companies coming from who knows where without any roots, any reputation and they SELL !!!!

Hi Dob,

I only did the R&D for Core Audio Technology up until the spring of 2011.

Any power supply you purchased that has Core Audio on the faceplate after the spring of 2011 was not one that was shipped from my shop built to my specifications.

By the summer of 2011 Ryan and I had decided to split up the company but had not agreed on the terms of the partnership dissolution. I had nothing to do with the operation of Core Audio in any way by the summer of 2011.

I was no longer involved in any way with Core by the fall of 2011 when our partnership was legally dissolved.

Certainly if you had one of the PSUs I manufactured for Core Audio and later rebranded as Mojo Audio I could understand you linking me to the design and/or manufacture. If it doesn't say "Mojo Audio" on the face plate it likely didn't come from my shop.

When did you buy this PSU and from whom?

It certainly wasn't me - if you had you would have gotten a new one shipped out to you priority without delay.

Then again, I don't know of any Mojo Audio PSU that has ever burned out.

Does anybody have one?

Has ANYONE ever asked me, Benjamin Zwickel, owner of Mojo Audio, for a refund on ANY product and have been refused anything but 100% of the full price paid minus shipping?

I didn't think so...

I have a PILE of early Core Audio PSUs that are loosely based in my designs that were made by Ryan from the fall of 2011 well into the middle of 2012. They come from dissatisfied customers who claim Ryan never honored his warranties. These customers tell me they got PSU after PSU from Ryan that either didn't work or burned out after a short while.

Like wise men all know: "there are three sides to every story."

I can't speak for anything that went on between Ryan and these customers but what a bunch of @#$% these PSUs they sent me are.

Unless you purchased the PSU from me and/or it says "Mojo Audio" on it you can not associate that product with me or my company. There is no telling WHAT was done by Ryan to anything I built and he later sold.

~Benjamin Zwickel
Owner, Mojo Audio