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Watts, Chord, community and miscellany

Everything he said on this topic (153)

One-line summaries in our words, oldest first. Each link opens the original.

2014-04-03Watts jokes that his wife asks where the Bugatti is, laughing at the idea of making big money from high-end audio. Head-Fi, Apr 2014
2014-08-03Watts relays his family's answers (panda, duck, sloth) and picks a butterfly for its detailed symmetrical patterns, color variation and rapid, delicate movement. article, Aug 2014
2015-03-23Watts mentions a busy Far East trip and says he should add days to his trips so he can hear live music. Audiophile Style, Mar 2015
2015-05-20Watts asks what the big gate of Kiev is. needs context HIFICLUBE.NET JVH 6:23
2015-07-31Watts remarks that April for season 6 of Game of Thrones is a long time to wait. Head-Fi, Jul 2015
2015-09-25Watts says the F1 race in Singapore was amazing, followed by concerts from Pharrell Williams, Maroon 5 and Bon Jovi. Head-Fi, Sep 2015
2015-12-14Watts says his preferred bottle would be Crwr Blasus, a beer micro-brewed at a local village pub. Head-Fi, Dec 2015
2016-01-31Watts quotes Latin sayings on there being no accounting for taste, applying the point to sound quality. Head-Fi, Jan 2016
2016-08-07Watts says he is on holiday in Florida and could not resist something at the Lego shop his boys wanted to visit; the image is missing. Head-Fi, Aug 2016
2016-12-23Watts reflects on a busy year, says Davina progress lagged but he is back on it, thanks the Chord team, and describes buying a 5TB drive and classical box sets. Head-Fi, Dec 2016
2017-01-29Watts says the only digital-mode task Davina can do that Blu cannot is converting 768k down to 44.1k, and notes family members named David. Head-Fi, Jan 2017
2017-07-18Watts contrasts obvious progress in TV picture quality with audiophiles claiming expensive DACs are better, asks why audio assessment lacks objectivity, and jokes about his daughters. Head-Fi, Jul 2017
2017-10-13Watts apologizes for his dry voice, saying he has not slept and has a bad cold. miceblue425 18:40
2018-02-24Watts says it is a shame to be stuck indoors coding, but Wales versus Ireland rugby follows lunch. Head-Fi, Feb 2018
2018-04-01Watts says he has been busy, is in Cusco for the Machu Picchu trail on a family holiday, and will code Davina on return, with recordings some time off. Head-Fi, Apr 2018
2018-04-04Watts says Singapore has excellent food of all types and that what he remembers is chili crab. article, Apr 2018
2018-07-25Watts says an In Our Time program on bats was fascinating, especially bats running in passive mode, which he likens to how we locate sound objects. Head-Fi, Jul 2018
2018-12-13Watts says his music buying grew with the Hugo and more with the M Scaler, which is why he carries one on flights, then opens questions. Pursuit Perfect System 17:56
2020-06-25Watts says Curious George has pretty good music. Part-Time Audiophile 35:23
2020-10-27Watts comments that AMD buying Xilinx for $35 billion makes no financial sense given Xilinx's $3 billion annual revenue. Head-Fi, Oct 2020
2021-01-20Watts jokes about the signs of middle and old age, such as feeling good about remembering things. Head-Fi, Jan 2021
2021-02-13Watts asks why life is chiral, noting proteins are left handed and their mirror images do not work. Head-Fi, Feb 2021
2021-03-31Watts says CD player differences may be RF pickup via power amps, 2GHz ferrites or cutting loops fix M scaler to TT2 noise, notes a migraine; ADC work continues. Head-Fi, Mar 2021
2021-04-16Watts says people are out enjoying sunshine and new freedom to travel under Welsh Covid rules. Head-Fi, Apr 2021
2021-08-09Watts lists regions barred from US entry, expects more Covid restrictions as Delta spreads, and says Chord's US distributor will attend. Head-Fi, Aug 2021
2021-10-06Watts names his best dinner, a 25-course meal in Bangkok, and says all his DACs' RCA outputs are wired directly to the headphone contacts from the same outputs. Head-Fi, Oct 2021
2021-12-24Watts says vinyl sounds soft and distorted next to his system, describes his family's guitars and new piano, and says new pulse array ADC prototypes arrived Christmas Eve. Head-Fi, Dec 2021
2021-12-31Watts says he likes Arvo Pärt, his son has played piano for a year, and he plans to record it as a repeatable live-versus-reproduced reference. Head-Fi, Dec 2021
2022-01-31Watts jokes that it is dull for everybody else but not for him. Darko.Audio 51:33
2022-03-19Watts says it is fantastic to be at CanJam again after two years stuck at home in the UK, and apologizes in advance for being out of practice. MFG Audio Reviews 27
2022-04-29Watts says amateur musicians deserve encouragement, notes music teaching is declining in UK schools, and mentions that his sister, a qualified music teacher, teaches maths and English. Head-Fi, Apr 2022
2022-06-29Watts says he will order or borrow an unnamed device to try on Mojo 2, and that a Norway cruise clashes with CanJam London but he will attend CanJam SoCal. Head-Fi, Jun 2022
2022-07-02Watts notes Geirangerfjord, agrees St Martins in the Fields needs no sound reinforcement, says he will attend next year's CanJam, and jokes about Florida versus a Welsh summer. Head-Fi, Jul 2022
2022-09-18Watts says his flight was good but fully booked, and that business travel has not dropped after COVID. The Source AV 1:17
2022-09-18Watts says travel is worse than ever because people want to get on planes and do something interesting after COVID. The Source AV 1:34
2022-09-18Watts says that when not working he watches his home theater, for example Game of Thrones. The Source AV 2:41
2022-09-18Watts says he is a big fan of Game of Thrones. The Source AV 2:48
2022-09-18Watts says he is watching it and recalls buying what looked like a new Game of Thrones book in 2004 in a store. The Source AV 2:50
2022-09-18Watts says the book was only a new cover on one he had read, readers waited until 2012 for the next, and urges George R. R. Martin to get on. The Source AV 3:16
2022-09-18Watts says the first five or six seasons were superb in script, cinematography, acting and music, and he listens to some of its music tracks. The Source AV 4:00
2022-10-21Watts says he is loving it and jokes that everyone will soon be sending much more money to the government via HMRC. Head-Fi, Oct 2022
2022-10-25Watts says the Ultima DAC and Choral scaler take much of his time, notes he hears to 15kHz at 62, and says HF hearing loss does not affect transient-timing perception. Head-Fi, Oct 2022
2022-11-24Watts describes upgrading to a Sony XW5000ES 4K laser projector and from 38Mbps to 500Mbps internet, enough for 13 uncompressed 768k/24b audio channels. Head-Fi, Nov 2022
2022-12-03Watts admires a machine by A A Michelson and argues the fixed speed of light comes from the Michelson-Morley experiment rather than from Einstein. Head-Fi, Dec 2022
2023-02-05Watts says this is his first time in Romania and Bucharest. Soundnews 18
2023-02-05Watts says Japan is very different from the rest of the world. Soundnews 7:03
2023-02-05Watts jokes that the interviewer does not look old enough. Soundnews 19:51
2023-02-05Watts says he prefers golden ales; he likes Guinness but one pint is enough, and IPA is too citric for him. Soundnews 56:20
2023-03-26Watts says his son studies Tonmeister sound recording at Surrey and plays guitar, hears pitch errors at once, and is trained to describe separation, depth and detail in Watts's terms. Eric's Hi-Fi 35:38
2023-03-26Watts says choosing A-level electronics over further maths sent him to Cardiff rather than Southampton University, which he imagines would have kept him in academia. Eric's Hi-Fi 44:23
2023-03-26Watts says self-belief needs real abilities behind it; he and Chord are now successful, but he spent 20 or 30 years in poverty pursuing better sound. Eric's Hi-Fi 46:06
2023-03-26Watts says he likes chili crab and chicken rice in Singapore, where any cuisine is available, including a Persian restaurant near his hotel. Eric's Hi-Fi 47:58
2023-03-26Watts says he always enjoys coming to Singapore. Eric's Hi-Fi 48:44
2023-03-26Watts says he thinks he is drinking too much beer. Eric's Hi-Fi 48:51
2023-03-26Watts says he has not been, drinks Tiger beer, seeks out microbreweries in the US, where beer was foul twenty or thirty years ago. Eric's Hi-Fi 49:06
2023-03-26Watts says he is not keen on IPA and likes golden ales. Eric's Hi-Fi 49:38
2023-03-26Watts says he is not keen on beers that are too citric. Eric's Hi-Fi 49:43
2023-03-29Watts advises entrepreneurs to believe in themselves and have complete passion, saying that although he is not a natural salesperson, his passion persuades people to buy his gear. microwirenews 52
2023-03-29Watts adds that belief is not enough without abilities and determination, and that there will be lows, particularly when starting a business with no money. microwirenews 1:36
2023-03-29Watts says enthusiasts still care about enjoying music, but the internet changed communication; in the 1980s it meant shows and reviews, with sales rising about nine months later. microwirenews 2:16
2023-03-29Watts says he can now talk to someone 6,000 miles away who buys the next day and posts responses online, and that the internet has fundamentally changed everything. microwirenews 3:03
2023-03-29Watts says he has no free time planned: after the show he will be doing design work on his computer to wrap up some projects. microwirenews 4:45
2023-03-29Watts, now 62, says he has made more money than expected but is driven by doing new things, and is still discovering things that improve sound quality. microwirenews 5:06
2023-10-01Watts says he was in Singapore for Formula One. The Source AV 42:09
2023-10-01Watts says at the race you see little but smell the rubber and hear the cars. The Source AV 42:16
2023-10-01Watts says live Formula One sounds unlike TV even on a high-end system, and Singapore has great concerts afterwards, including Robbie Williams and a Japanese girl group. The Source AV 42:30
2023-10-01Watts says Singapore offers two or three hours of great music then a short trip back to the hotel, like a music festival. The Source AV 43:28
2023-10-01Watts says it is a festival without the drugs, being Singapore, and with a five-star hotel instead of a tent. The Source AV 43:40
2024-05-16Watts says when asked which music tracks he likes, his mind goes blank and he looks like an idiot. ConvinceMeAudio 12:42
2024-06-29Watts joins an off-topic thread on coating the Earth in gold, saying a 1-atom layer would be transparent and it needs 50 to 100 atoms to look like gold. Head-Fi, Jun 2024
2024-09-25Watts says a holiday and Quartet work kept him away, and he is traveling from Singapore via London to CanJam SoCal for his seminars. Head-Fi, Sep 2024
2024-09-29Watts says his son, a Tonmeister student at Surrey on a recording-studio placement in Belgium, built the tool in weeks, removing the 300 dB limit of Windows 64-bit floating point. The Source AV 8:10
2024-09-29Watts says he was on three continents in two days: Singapore for Formula One and more listening tests with his friend, Vietnam, then London overnight. The Source AV 17:45
2024-09-29Watts says he cannot have caffeine because he gets migraines. The Source AV 18:30
2024-09-29Watts mentions flashing lights and says caffeine definitely triggers them. needs context The Source AV 18:34
2024-09-29Watts says he is not denigrating defense. The Source AV 23:10
2024-09-29Watts says there are very bad people on this planet. The Source AV 23:17
2024-09-29Watts says it is easier to see people happy from the result of your work, though people are happy to be properly defended with proper deterrence. The Source AV 23:21
2024-09-29Watts says he is actually on holiday. The Source AV 31:00
2024-09-29Watts says he and his wife were on a cruise for a week, and next is CanJam Dallas. The Source AV 31:05
2024-09-29Watts says he already creates too much carbon dioxide with his travel. The Source AV 31:41
2024-12-14Watts shares a video and poses a quiz about what links it, the 19th century and Chord Electronics today. Head-Fi, Dec 2024
2025-09-14Watts says he is great and apologizes that his voice is not good because he has a frog in his throat. The Source AV 26
2025-09-14Watts says he flew over on an A380 for the first time in a couple of years, since COVID, and cannot believe how quiet the plane is. The Source AV 1:11
2025-09-14Watts says the legacy can be taken over by family. The Source AV 4:24
2025-09-14Watts says they are cohesive, but sometimes he wants to push the envelope on features and his son says people do not do that. The Source AV 4:45
2025-09-14Watts says they then discuss it and he bows to his son's knowledge. The Source AV 4:55
2025-09-14Watts agrees and says his son is a bit more sociable than him and happy to talk to people. The Source AV 7:12
2026-03-17Watts says he turned 65 in September and never expected still to be discovering new things. ecoustics 1:27:36
2026-08-30Watts says it is his son's first time at the LA show (transcribed as 'LA Cam Channel'). The Source AV 1:15
2026-08-30Watts says his son now works full time in his design company. The Source AV 1:30
2026-08-30Watts says Daniel graduated as a Tonmeister recording engineer, preferred audio engineering, and joined because they are doing a lot of pro audio work. The Source AV 1:35
2026-08-30Watts says his son's mathematics is what he uses. The Source AV 2:01
2026-08-30Watts says he is now thinking not of five years then retirement but of what they will do in 40 years, because it is Daniel's future. The Source AV 11:13
2026-08-30Watts says it is not his future, and they are working on lots of other interesting projects. needs context The Source AV 11:25
2026-10-02Watts says Maidstone is about 250 miles from his home in Carmarthenshire, Wales. HiFi Buys 15:14
2026-10-02Watts says his parents had moved to Allington near Maidstone in the mid-eighties, and Franks said he used to own a house there. HiFi Buys 15:27
2026-10-02Watts says it turned out his parents had bought Franks's house. needs context HiFi Buys 15:46
2026-10-02Watts says he worked out the probability of meeting someone from the UK sharing that connection at about one in ten million. needs context HiFi Buys 15:54
2026-10-02Watts says he discussed this with his physiotherapist, as he does a lot of exercise. HiFi Buys 1:01:15
2026-10-02Watts recounts his physiotherapist saying the hot-touch reflex is decided in the spine, and arguing there must then be neurons in the spine. HiFi Buys 1:01:24
2026-10-02Watts says he looked it up: a spinal neuron short circuit drives the reflex, taking 250 milliseconds, with the brain monitoring it. HiFi Buys 1:02:03
2026-10-02Watts says there are collections of neurons acting as micro-brains, including about ten thousand in the stomach, behind 'gut feelings'. HiFi Buys 1:02:34
2026-10-02Watts says processing occurs in the stomach and spine, reflexes still take 250 milliseconds, and the fastest Formula One start reaction is 240 milliseconds. HiFi Buys 1:03:02
2026-10-02Watts agrees there is a time lag in perception. needs context HiFi Buys 1:03:48
2026-10-02Watts says neuroscientists do not know how neurons work. HiFi Buys 1:03:55
2026-10-02Watts says each neuron connects to ten thousand others, and it is unknown whether memory is internal or distributed; some propose each neuron is a quantum computer. HiFi Buys 1:04:05
2026-10-02Watts says Penrose proposed in the seventies that neurons are quantum computers, an idea dismissed for decades that has resurged. HiFi Buys 1:04:28
2026-10-02Watts says the brain has about eighty billion neurons. HiFi Buys 1:05:14
2026-10-02Watts says whether the brain is distributed memory, individual processors or quantum processes spans six orders of magnitude in processing power, and nobody knows. HiFi Buys 1:05:19
2026-10-02Watts says when you go unconscious, hearing is the last sense to disappear. HiFi Buys 2:00:05
2026-10-02Watts says he hiked Welsh mountains with his father every couple of months, but gained weight steadily over the years, reaching ninety seven kilograms. HiFi Buys 2:00:39
2026-10-02Watts says he was quite chubby, and in his forties had an important first meeting with the CEO of a major semiconductor company he was contracted to. HiFi Buys 2:01:21
2026-10-02Watts says he had a gigantic nosebleed during that meeting. needs context HiFi Buys 2:02:05
2026-10-02Watts says recurring nosebleeds revealed blood pressure of about 160 over 110 or 120, needing medication; after he started swimming they stopped. HiFi Buys 2:02:09
2026-10-02Watts says the scare pushed him to exercise, and his father was diagnosed with Alzheimer's at 63, entering a home within 15 years. HiFi Buys 2:02:56
2026-10-02Watts says diagnosis before sixty five suggests Alzheimer's may be genetic. HiFi Buys 2:03:41
2026-10-02Watts says Alzheimer's after sixty five is more environmental, and his reading showed exercise makes the biggest difference to the risk. HiFi Buys 2:03:56
2026-10-02Watts says a lot of exercise reduces the risk of Alzheimer's by 65%. HiFi Buys 2:04:20
2026-10-02Watts says losing weight lowers blood pressure; the first 10 kilograms was easy, and he set a target of his mid-twenties weight, a loss of twenty five kilograms. HiFi Buys 2:04:35
2026-10-02Watts says the next five kilograms was really hard, leaving ten kilograms to go. HiFi Buys 2:05:08
2026-10-02Watts says eating within eight hours helped but only much more exercise plus calorie restriction removed the last 10 kilograms, and he became a bit of a fanatic. HiFi Buys 2:05:22
2026-10-02Watts says hi-fi enthusiasts tend toward fanaticism, and he now walks 10 miles a day. HiFi Buys 2:05:45
2026-10-02Watts says he walks two and a half hours daily in rural Wales listening to podcasts, swims two kilometers in summer, and hit his weight target last September. HiFi Buys 2:05:57
2026-10-02Watts says he has put the weight back on. needs context HiFi Buys 2:06:31
2026-10-02Watts says every time he travels he gains one kilogram a week. HiFi Buys 2:06:37
2026-10-02Watts says at home he loses 0.6 kilograms a week and expects to lose the five kilograms he has gained over the summer. HiFi Buys 2:06:42
2026-10-02Watts says even with long swims and plain meals in five-star hotels he gains weight when traveling, and heavy exercise shifts his metabolism. HiFi Buys 2:07:00
2026-10-02Watts says unlike some people he gains weight easily, and starving makes the metabolism shut down. HiFi Buys 2:07:47
2026-10-02Watts says serious hiking has noticeably improved his mental sharpness, though he has always struggled with names and has blanked when asked his favorite music. HiFi Buys 2:08:03
2026-10-02Watts says his mother is very sharp, his great granny lived to 102 and his great-great granny to ninety-five, and he shares their mitochondrial DNA. HiFi Buys 2:08:43
2026-10-02Watts says mitochondrial DNA is linked to aging, and at sixty five he can hike 10 miles, swim two kilometers and sprint 100 meters without tiredness or joint issues. HiFi Buys 2:09:23
2026-10-02Watts says nonetheless nobody knows what will happen. HiFi Buys 2:10:05
2026-10-02Watts says a stranger on holiday asked about the book he was reading, which once would have been common since everyone read on the beach. HiFi Buys 2:11:52
2026-10-02Watts says people no longer read and use their mobile phones instead, which is not the same activity. HiFi Buys 2:12:18
2026-10-02Watts says he used to read science fiction, Jack Reacher and Bernard Cornwell's Sharpe series, and likes maritime fiction set in the eighteen hundreds. HiFi Buys 2:12:32
2026-10-02Watts struggles for the author's name, then recalls Patrick O'Brien. HiFi Buys 2:13:08
2026-10-02Watts says he owns all of Patrick O'Brien's books and rereads them every decade, and enjoys any well-written genre that transports him to another world. HiFi Buys 2:13:15
2026-10-02Watts says books uniquely convey people's thoughts and ideas, while film conveys emotion; he watches a lot of videos and movies with Quartet. HiFi Buys 2:14:01
2026-10-02Watts says perfect sync makes a big difference to the performance, but films lack the expression of ideas found in a good book. needs context HiFi Buys 2:14:58
2026-10-02Watts says over the last year he has become more critical: prose must be well constructed and grammatical. HiFi Buys 2:16:05
2026-10-02Watts says if the prose is beautiful he does not care what he is reading. needs context HiFi Buys 2:16:16
2026-10-02Watts says a book-loving friend who is a distributor in Singapore told him a fantasy series he saw on Prime Video had clunky prose, so he dropped it. HiFi Buys 2:16:22
2026-10-02Watts says Jack Reacher is well written and sometimes gives new information, such as a plot about counterfeit $100 bills. HiFi Buys 2:17:14
2026-10-02Watts says investigators could not understand how the counterfeiters got perfect paper. needs context HiFi Buys 2:17:39
2026-10-02Watts says they bleached $1 bills and reprinted them as $100 bills, possible because US notes are all the same size. HiFi Buys 2:17:43
2026-10-02Watts says such snippets of new information always blow his mind. HiFi Buys 2:18:11
2026-10-02Watts says at sixty five he is pleased his son has joined his business, bringing complementary pro-audio understanding and better math skills. HiFi Buys 2:34:51
2026-10-02Watts says his son coded a Fourier analysis from first principles in software in two weeks, which he himself could not have done. HiFi Buys 2:35:23
2026-10-02Watts says he could not have done that at twenty one when learning Fourier analysis. needs context HiFi Buys 2:36:01
2026-10-14Watts says he has his coconut water. Part-Time Audiophile 4:02
2026-10-14Watts says he had tea earlier and switches to coconut water after four o'clock. Part-Time Audiophile 4:10
2026-10-14Watts says he was born in Dorset and has lived in Wales since coming to study electronics at university in Cardiff. Part-Time Audiophile 4:29