Is Rob a Chord employee, and which Chord products (Poly, 2go, the amplifiers) did he not design?

Practical answer. Rob Watts says he is not a Chord employee. He describes himself as an independent design consultant who owns the intellectual property in his designs and supplies them to Chord Head-Fi, Jun 2014Head-Fi, Mar 2023. When owners have asked him about warranty repairs (2018), shipping dates (2017) or US pricing (2022), he has answered that he is independent of Chord and pointed to Chord, the dealer or the distributor Head-Fi, Oct 2018Head-Fi, May 2017Head-Fi, May 2022. He has said he was not involved in Poly or 2go/2yu, and that he does not design Chord's amplifiers article, Apr 2018Head-Fi, Sep 2020Head-Fi, Sep 2020.

Is he a Chord employee?

• 2014: "Just to be pedantic, Chord Electronics is John Franks' company. I am an independent design consultant, with Chord as one of my clients." Head-Fi, Jun 2014
• 2018: "I am an independent design consultant, and not employee of Chord." He added that he had worked with Chord since 1996 article, Mar 2018. In a podcast published June 2020 and again in an interview published October 2026 (neither recording date stated) he gave 1997 as the start Part-Time Audiophile 3:56HiFi Buys 2:01.
• 2020 (podcast published June 2020; recording date not stated): He said that from a commercial point of view it would be better if he were a Chord employee, but that he is not Chord Part-Time Audiophile 3:49.
• 2022: "Even though I'm not employed by Chord, I'm independent." Darko.Audio 48
• 2024: He wrote that "it is still a fact that I am completely independent of Chord." Head-Fi, Sep 2024
• 2026 (interview published October 2026; recording date not stated, though its transcript places the recording before May 2026): "So I'm an independent design consultant. So I don't work for Chord." HiFi Buys 26

Chord's founder said the same in 2015: "He is not a Chord employee but he earns a lot of money from Chord." article, Apr 2015 That is Franks speaking, not Watts.

How he is paid

In May 2024 he wrote that he is "not under contract with Chord" and only receives payments once products enter production Head-Fi, May 2024. In a September 2024 live stream he said he is not paid by Chord to do design work and gets a royalty when Chord ships a product The Source AV 29:57The Source AV 30:00. In an interview published in October 2026 he said he never charges Chord anything until they have a finished product HiFi Buys 2:01.

What he supplies and what Chord does

In 2023 he wrote that he writes all of the FPGA code and supplies Chord with a complete electronic design, PCB and FPGA code, and that he owns the IP of his designs Head-Fi, Mar 2023. In a podcast recorded in October 2025 (published March 2026) he said Chord gets the full electronic design, PCB layouts and FPGA work from him, and wraps the metalwork around his PCB ecoustics 1:23:48.

Products he says he did not design

Poly. In April 2018: "I was not involved in the Poly project" article, Apr 2018. In September 2020 he wrote that Poly was not his project and passed on a Chord staff member's reply about how Poly was designed Head-Fi, Sep 2020. He repeated this in August 2021 and February 2022 Head-Fi, Aug 2021Head-Fi, Feb 2022. At CanJam SoCal in 2023, asked about Poly, he said "That's not my project." The Source AV 28:55.

2go and 2yu. In February 2020: "No involvement with 2Go - it has the same developer as Poly." Head-Fi, Feb 2020 A follow-up the same day reads "Not 2yu too. There is no DAC in 2yu though." Head-Fi, Feb 2020, which in context appears to say 2yu was not his either. In September 2020: "I had no involvement at all in 2go or 2yu." Head-Fi, Sep 2020 In October 2021 he said 2go was not one of his projects, that he had not tried it, and suggested emailing Chord support Head-Fi, Oct 2021.

Amplifiers. In September 2020, asked about the outputs on Chord's Ultima mono blocks, he wrote "I don't design the amps - that's down to John Franks." Head-Fi, Sep 2020 In a recording published in October 2022 (recording date not stated) he said Franks does all the power amplifier design Upscale Audio 7:37. In December 2024, in the Hugo 2 thread, he said it was not one of his projects and that he has "no involvement with Chord analogue designs" Head-Fi, Dec 2024. In February 2024 he wrote that he had no involvement in Suzi Head-Fi, Feb 2024.

Where the line sits. He does discuss the output amplifier inside his DACs as part of his design: in May 2018 he said "The amp stage is identical to Hugo 2/Dave", only more powerful, with "the high power discrete OP stage", which he said in another post "comes from the power pulse array design", and later compared his TT2 output stage with "Chord's new Etude amp" Head-Fi, May 2018Head-Fi, May 2018Head-Fi, Sep 2018. In 2014 to 2016 he also described digital power amps as projects of his own Head-Fi, Oct 2014Head-Fi, Mar 2016. He has not said how these fit with his 2024 "no involvement with Chord analogue designs" remark Head-Fi, Dec 2024.

What he has not said: he has not given a complete list of Chord products he did and did not design. A 2026 article's author calls him the designer behind every Chord digital product article, Oct 2026; that is the author's wording, not his, and it sits against his own Poly and 2go/2yu statements Head-Fi, Sep 2020.

Quotes

“Just to be pedantic, Chord Electronics is John Franks' company. I am an independent design consultant, with Chord as one of my clients.”2014-06-08 Head-Fi, Jun 2014

“I was not involved in the Poly project”2018-04-04 article, Apr 2018

“I had no involvement at all in 2go or 2yu.”2020-09-20 Head-Fi, Sep 2020

“So I'm an independent design consultant. So I don't work for Chord.”2026-10 HiFi Buys 26

Dated positions

Caveats and open points

• This archive has no complete list of Chord products he did and did not design.
• He discusses the output amplifier inside his DACs (TT2, Hugo 2, Dave) as part of his design and described digital power amps as his own projects in 2014 to 2016, alongside his 2020 to 2024 statements that Franks designs the amps and that he has "no involvement with Chord analogue designs"; he has not reconciled these.
• The 2020 'I don't design the amps' remark answered a question about Chord's Ultima mono blocks.
• Start year of the Chord relationship varies: 1996 (2018), 1997 (podcast published June 2020; interview published October 2026), 'just over 25 years' (2023); Franks gave 1995 in 2015.
• Head-Fi, Feb 2020 is elliptical ('Not 2yu too') and is read in context.
• A 2026 article author's claim that he designed every Chord digital product is not his statement and sits against his Poly and 2go/2yu statements.
• What Suzi is, and which product Head-Fi, Dec 2024 answered about, is not stated in the cited posts.

Topics: Watts and Chord Electronics, Source devices, streamers and networks