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• How many taps and pulse array elements does each Chord DAC have?

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• 2014-09-13Watts confirms the new QBD has a remote and balanced outputs. Head-Fi, Sep 2014
• 2014-11-18Watts says the two sockets exist simply to allow other listeners, and crossfeed is most noticeable on older recordings panned hard left and right. Head-Fi, Nov 2014
• 2015-01-23Watts says Hugo's 51-bit volume is truncated at 16FS by noise shaping and dither, adding only fixed -180dB noise, and notes its output relay, 75 milliohm impedance and anodizing. Head-Fi, Jan 2015
• 2015-03-19Watts says 2Qute is a fixed-level output DAC only and will not drive headphones. Head-Fi, Mar 2015
• 2015-04-30Watts says maximum unclipped output is a little over 5V RMS into 300 ohms, the 37V figure is just a spreadsheet entry, and pressing crossfeed at power-up sets 3V RMS at 0 dBFS. Head-Fi, Apr 2015
• 2015-05-04Watts says there are two 4.2V batteries, giving an 8.4V supply. Head-Fi, May 2015
• 2015-05-19Watts says separate relays are used, so plugging in headphones disconnects the line outputs. needs context Head-Fi, May 2015
• 2015-05-20Watts says DAVE's FPGA is 10 times more complex than Hugo's, giving 164,000 taps, an enhanced WTA algorithm, FIR filtering to 256 times, then further filtering to 2048. HIFICLUBE.NET JVH 45
• 2015-06-06Watts says the unit is not class D: like Hugo, a single-stage amplifier drives line and headphone outputs, giving 6v RMS with the same 0.5A RMS current as Hugo. needs context Head-Fi, Jun 2015
• 2015-07-31Watts gives crosstalk of 120dB, distortion below -150dB and 21-bit noise, says such numbers do not show sound quality, and compares headphone drive with TT. Head-Fi, Jul 2015
• 2015-08-01Watts says Dave, like Hugo, uses the same output for headphones and line level; XLR gives up to 12v RMS but is not for headphones; RCA gives 6v RMS. Head-Fi, Aug 2015
• 2015-08-01Watts says, at 1% THD with full batteries, the unit actually gives 5.4v RMS into 300 ohms, and Dave will be rated above 6v at 1%. needs context Head-Fi, Aug 2015
• 2015-10-29Watts says it supports dual data mode, output impedance is the PCB tracking, and the phono and XLR outputs can be used together with fixed gain. needs context Head-Fi, Oct 2015
• 2015-11-13Watts says Dave gives 6.75 V RMS at 1% THD, suggests demoing it with Abyss headphones he has not tried, and says production code is close. Head-Fi, Nov 2015
• 2015-11-21Watts says 6.75 V is into 300 ohms with a 0.5A RMS current limit, final code is being tweaked, and he will tour Asia with a production Dave. Head-Fi, Nov 2015
• 2015-11-23Watts says USB is Dave's best input by a tiny margin, then optical, and gives measurements: 6.8v RMS at 1% THD into 300 and 33 ohms, 55 milliohm output impedance. Head-Fi, Nov 2015
• 2015-12-04Watts says using Dave's headphone socket shuts down RCA and XLR via relays, restores the last headphone volume and enables crossfeed. Head-Fi, Dec 2015
• 2016-03-07Watts says ordinary DAC ICs use 100 taps at 8x or 16x; the article gives DAVE 164,000 taps at 256fs on 166 DSPs, and DAC64 1,000, QBD76 18,000, Hugo 26,000 taps. article, Mar 2016
• 2016-07-13Watts says DAVE's handbook has a typo: output impedance is 0.055 ohms at the headphone output, though the damping factor is correct. Head-Fi, Jul 2016
• 2016-07-24Watts says the offset is below fifty microvolts and the headphone drive delivers 6 volts and half an amp of output current. Hifistatement 5:02
• 2016-07-24Watts lists DAVE's measured performance: distortion and noise 124 dB A-weighted at 5 volts, minus 127 dB at 2.5 volts, dynamic range minus 127 dB, distortion 0.000015%. Hifistatement 0
• 2016-08-10Watts confirms that 2Qute, Hugo TT and DAVE share the same USB decoder and galvanic isolation. Head-Fi, Aug 2016
• 2016-08-12Watts says the unit, like all Chord products, is hard anodized to ceramic-like hardness with no paint to chip, though cutting through it exposes bare aluminum. Head-Fi, Aug 2016
• 2016-08-28Watts compares DAVE and Mojo: 1% output into 300 ohms 6.8 V vs 5.4 V, THD+N at 3 V 0.00009% vs 0.00017%, THD at 2.5 V 0.000007% vs 0.0001%. Head-Fi, Aug 2016
• 2016-11-01Watts says he uses JRiver on his laptops, and that Blu Mk2 is CD only, using the same mechanism as the original Blu. Head-Fi, Nov 2016
• 2016-12-08Watts says the quoted figures are nonsense and begins to give Hugo's actual output, but the figures that followed are missing from the record. needs context Head-Fi, Dec 2016
• 2016-12-18Watts gives the output impedance as 0.055 ohm on the single-ended phono and headphone outputs and 33 ohms on XLR, saying lower impedance makes interconnect dielectric less audible. Head-Fi, Dec 2016
• 2017-03-15Watts confirms production code, says the RCA holes are very big, and says he cannot accept worse than -0.8 dB at 20 kHz. needs context Head-Fi, Mar 2017
• 2017-04-08Watts measures the RCA inset diameter at 13.0 mm and expects a WBT plug to fit. Head-Fi, Apr 2017
• 2017-05-19Watts confirms Blu 2 has a USB input and a BNC coax input. Head-Fi, May 2017
• 2017-06-12Watts points to the million-tap WTA M scaler, which uses 528 DSP cores in parallel on a 7A200T FPGA about 20 times more powerful. Head-Fi, Jun 2017
• 2017-11-15Watts says it will be voltage limited at 80 ohms, giving 350 mW. needs context Head-Fi, Nov 2017
• 2017-11-22Watts gives output figures of 5V RMS into 36 ohms and about 5.3V RMS into 80 ohms. needs context Head-Fi, Nov 2017
• 2017-12-26Watts says his WTA filters roll off very fast: 49,152 taps reach -1dB within 75Hz of FS/2, the M Scaler's 1M taps within 4Hz, matching ideal sinc beyond 16-bit accuracy. Audiophile Style, Dec 2017
• 2018-01-11Watts says Hugo 2 and Dave limit at 0.5A RMS, so Dave gives 2.1W and Hugo 2 1.05W into 8 ohms; the 50 mA limit is the balanced output only. Head-Fi, Jan 2018
• 2018-01-11Watts says Qutest is a fixed-level DAC, not a DX pre-amp: it has no DX outputs and will not decode volume on a DX input. Head-Fi, Jan 2018
• 2018-01-11Watts says only Dave has DX outputs. Head-Fi, Jan 2018
• 2018-01-18Watts says the 0.025 ohm output impedance figure is incorrect as it has not been measured; the 300 ohm load represents the worst-case amp input impedance. Head-Fi, Jan 2018
• 2018-01-18Watts says 300 ohms is the measurement load, not the minimum load impedance, and the output impedance is too small to matter. Head-Fi, Jan 2018
• 2018-01-19Watts reports measuring Qutest's output impedance at 0.042 ohms at the phono sockets at 1kHz and 20Hz, with no coupling capacitor thanks to the digital DC servo. Head-Fi, Jan 2018
• 2018-02-10Watts says the 3.5mm headphone output is stereo only and the 3.5mm SPDIF digital inputs are two-channel only. Head-Fi, Feb 2018
• 2018-02-22Watts says Chord announced at the Blu 2 launch that other M scaler units would come, but says no more; Qutest uses a 4-layer PCB of Hugo 2's spec. Head-Fi, Feb 2018
• 2018-03-06Watts says 2Qute outputs 3.0V RMS at 0dBFS, exactly the same as Qutest at its 3.0V setting. Head-Fi, Mar 2018
• 2018-03-16Watts says at -3 dB the balanced output is 6 V RMS across plus and minus, clipping is 13.6 V RMS, and output impedance is 33 ohms. Head-Fi, Mar 2018
• 2018-03-22Watts says Qutest has the same number and packaging of transistors as Mojo, and no power button because it consumes only a couple of Watts. Head-Fi, Mar 2018
• 2018-04-03Watts says the two headphone outputs and the RCA outputs are identical and tracked together, and suggests using the RCA outputs to drive speakers. Head-Fi, Apr 2018
• 2018-05-11Watts says TT2 is not wasted on easy-to-drive headphones, since it also brings improved noise shapers for better depth and 98k WTA taps. needs context Head-Fi, May 2018
• 2018-05-14Watts says TT2 has an FPGA 5 times as capable as the original TT's and twice Hugo 2's, a 98,000-tap WTA filter, a more advanced noise shaper, and 30 farads of supercaps. HIFICLUBE.NET JVH 7
• 2018-05-14Watts says the output delivers 18 watts, and 7 watts from the single-ended output, enough to drive efficient loudspeakers; modest 90 dB speakers will do (transcript partly garbled). HIFICLUBE.NET JVH 1:16
• 2018-05-18Watts says TT2's power consumption out of standby, excluding the PSU, is 13W with no outputs connected, pending official Chord figures. Head-Fi, May 2018
• 2018-06-24Watts says TT2 weighs 2.7 kg and travels well, its supplied PSU was chosen after much testing, and a linear PSU would almost certainly sound worse. Head-Fi, Jun 2018
• 2018-07-01Watts confirms TT2 mutes the rear RCA and XLR outputs when the headphone jack is in use. needs context Head-Fi, Jul 2018
• 2018-07-21Watts says the M Scaler's million-tap WTA core is identical to Blu's, lists isolated USB, BNC and optical inputs and dual BNC, BNC and optical outputs, adjustable rate and pass-through. c w 23:19
• 2018-07-22Watts gives typical 12W draw, manual and auto video modes (1M taps 0.63 S delay, 2/3M taps 0.1S), and says Hugo 2 gets full 1M taps at 768k. Head-Fi, Jul 2018
• 2018-07-30Watts confirms a summary but notes optical has an upper limit of 192 kHz, which gives 0.25M taps. needs context Head-Fi, Jul 2018
• 2018-08-09Watts gives Hugo M Scaler dimensions (40.5 mm tall, 235 mm wide, 236 mm deep), its PSU size (140x50x30 mm), and TT2's 51 mm height. Head-Fi, Aug 2018
• 2018-08-19Watts says none of his DACs send or receive volume control data over USB. Head-Fi, Aug 2018
• 2018-08-27Watts says the M scaler draws 13W, asks posters to keep Head-Fi life-affirming, and says MQA's first unfold belongs in the player but the original 44.1k is better. Head-Fi, Aug 2018
• 2018-08-29Watts says TT2's doubly isolated 15V 60W PSU works worldwide with a 2-pin mains input, and normal dissipation is 13W, more when driving speakers. Head-Fi, Aug 2018
• 2018-11-15Watts says TT2's supercaps take 200,000 hours for a 30% capacitance loss and 1,000,000 hours to halve; headphone and RCA outputs give 7W/8 ohms, XLR 18W/8 ohms. Head-Fi, Nov 2018
• 2018-11-30Watts says capacitive loads are fine, earthing it to TT2 sounds like a good idea, and the phono outputs disconnect only when a headphone jack is inserted. needs context Head-Fi, Nov 2018
• 2018-11-30Watts clarifies that TT2 will drive all capacitive loads from 0 pF to 1 uF. Head-Fi, Nov 2018
• 2018-12-12Watts says RF-induced NFM sounds brighter and is mistaken for transparency but becomes tiring within an hour; he then states TT2 gives 9.3 V RMS and five amps of current. Pursuit Perfect System 38:55
• 2018-12-12Watts says TT2's linear output current suits efficient speakers; it gives 7 W, or 18 W into 8 ohms balanced, and has a low-noise low gain mode for IEMs. Pursuit Perfect System 39:38
• 2018-12-13Watts says Mojo is described as having 500 times more processing power, gives its previously unpublished tap length as 38,000 taps, and credits that processing for a 400 pound device. Pursuit Perfect System 10:21
• 2018-12-13Watts says TT2 has 90,000 taps, then recounts studying electronics as a science degree and reading about the physiology of hearing in a nearby psychology lab. Pursuit Perfect System 10:56
• 2018-12-13Watts says the sinc function falls below 16 bits at about three quarters of a million taps, so the 1 million tap M Scaler reaches 16.7 bits. Pursuit Perfect System 13:16
• 2018-12-13Watts lists Hugo M Scaler features (pass-through, video and auto modes, remote, DX), says it runs from 9 to 15 volts, and that he uses it with a battery on flights. Pursuit Perfect System 14:11
• 2018-12-15Watts says TT2's 98,304 taps switch off with an M Scaler, and TT2 was not engineered to sound warm but expected warmer than DAVE and more refined than Hugo 2. Head-Fi, Dec 2018
• 2018-12-29Watts says Chord confirmed the BNC connector datasheet states 75 ohms, size differences come from dielectric constant, and 75 ohm cable is essential since M Scaler outputs are 75 ohms. Head-Fi, Dec 2018
• 2019-01-09Watts gives TT2 distortion figures, 0.042 ohm output impedance and low-gain voltages, notes no distortion above 3 kHz at 12 W, and says the FPGA sits die-down on the chassis. Head-Fi, Jan 2019
• 2019-01-12Watts says TT2's XLR output in low gain is slightly higher than Hugo 2's, 6.6 against 5.4 V RMS. Head-Fi, Jan 2019
• 2019-06-28Watts says TT2 typically draws 13 W as a DAC and the Hugo M Scaler 12 W when working. Head-Fi, Jun 2019
• 2019-07-21Watts quotes dCS headphone specs (1.4W into 33Ω, 33Ω minimum) as identical power to Dave, presumably balanced, and notes Dave's 8Ω minimum suggests more current. Head-Fi, Jul 2019
• 2019-09-19Watts says the USB decoder and isolation circuitry draw about 0.3 W, around 60 mA on VBUS. Head-Fi, Sep 2019
• 2019-10-17Watts guesses 1W for Hugo 2 and 0.75W for Mojo into 6 ohms, noting Hugo 2 measured 1.05W RMS into 8 ohms at 1% THD. Head-Fi, Oct 2019
• 2019-11-06Watts says the M scaler outputs 2.5v pp terminated, and that a Hugo 2 with integrated M scaler on one FPGA is many years, possibly decades, away. Head-Fi, Nov 2019
• 2019-11-17Watts confirms pulse array element counts are per channel. Head-Fi, Nov 2019
• 2019-12-31Watts corrects a poster's energy math: TT2's super caps store 375 Joules, its 60W PSU covers 7.3W into 8 ohms plus about 13W quiescent, with dynamic bursts from the caps. Head-Fi, Dec 2019
• 2020-08-08Asked the output into 42 ohms, Watts says just over two Watts from the headphone sockets. needs context Head-Fi, Aug 2020
• 2020-11-21Watts says latency is unavoidable as reconstruction must see the future; The Mandalorian sounds fantastic at 1M taps via Nvidia Shield; 12 W, just under 1 A at 15 V. Head-Fi, Nov 2020
• 2020-11-22Watts confirms that Mojo's 4e pulse array is noisier than Hugo 2's 10e. Head-Fi, Nov 2020
• 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
• 2022-01-31Watts says they were left with a single USB-C port. needs context Darko.Audio 3:07
• 2022-01-31Watts lists the EQ: 20 Hz and 20 kHz peak filters of +/-9 dB, a +/-9 dB bass shelf from 125 Hz to DC, and a 3-20 kHz treble shelf. Darko.Audio 39:52
• 2022-02-11Watts says his high-end M Scaler uses a Choral (DAVE) chassis and is not 4M taps, algorithm outweighs taps, and gives SINAD of 125dB (Mojo 2) and 127dB (TT2). Head-Fi, Feb 2022
• 2022-03-19Watts says Chord insisted only on the same size and Poly compatibility; Mojo 2 is DC coupled via a digital DC servo, and the original Mojo had 38,000 taps. MFG Audio Reviews 27:42
• 2022-03-19Watts says Mojo 2 has 40,960 taps, an updated WTA architecture and an improved noise shaper, and an improved 4 element pulse array; he was worried about a distortion bump near 70 to 200 kHz. MFG Audio Reviews 28:30
• 2022-03-19Watts gives measurements: 125 dB dynamic range and distortion much as on Mojo, but 118 dB stereo separation from better supply isolation, so the battery is isolated when running permanently. MFG Audio Reviews 44:22
• 2022-04-29Watts says Mojo was never double; the USB decoder draws 253 mW and the optical receiver 13 mW, giving about 15% more battery life on optical or coax. Head-Fi, Apr 2022
• 2022-06-13Watts says Hugo 2 handles pre-emphasis automatically via the SPDIF emphasis flag, and that very few 1980s CDs used emphasis. Head-Fi, Jun 2022
• 2022-10-12Watts says it runs from 44.1 to 768 kHz and has BNC, AES, optical and USB inputs. needs context Upscale Audio 6:27
• 2023-10-01Watts agrees and says the DSP core also performs the volume control and crossfeed. The Source AV 13:05
• 2023-10-01Watts says Chord could not afford to put a Pentaconn connector on the Mojo. The Source AV 38:59
• 2023-10-20Watts says Qutest is UAC2 compliant. Head-Fi, Oct 2023
• 2024-03-17Watts says Quartet will have 176.4/192 kHz toslink and coax outputs plus dual BNC at 705.6/768 kHz. Head-Fi, Mar 2024
• 2024-05-10Watts says this is 4 million taps, followed by an unclear phrase transcribed as 'there's like two million big'. Reactcore 18
• 2024-05-16Watts says Quartet M Scaler took 6 years, his most complex project, with five FPGAs (the same as Hugo M Scaler), two million lines of code and 2,500 discrete components. ConvinceMeAudio 42
• 2024-05-16Watts says Quartet has two sets of BNC outputs, so it can feed two different products anyway. ConvinceMeAudio 14:16
• 2024-05-16Watts says Quartet has that built in, with separate drivers and separate outputs for each. ConvinceMeAudio 14:33
• 2024-05-16Watts says the product is named Quartet because it has 4 million taps. The Speaker Shack 18
• 2024-05-16Watts lists five FPGAs, two million lines of code, 2,500 discrete components and a 75 amp supply of his own design, with RF filters from DC to 10 GHz. The Speaker Shack 4:00
• 2024-05-17Watts says the work involved much experimentation fine-tuning the algorithm, and that the device contains two and a half thousand discrete components. needs context AVstore 1:00
• 2024-05-17Watts answers 4 million taps. needs context AVstore 4:31
• 2024-05-17Watts says the four million taps are why it is being called Quartet. needs context AVstore 4:34
• 2024-05-17Watts says it already has this: the DSP EQ has 5 settings, off plus 4 settings the user can set. Head-Fi, May 2024
• 2024-05-29Watts shows a pre-production Quartet M Scaler prototype designed to match DAVE: 6 years of development, two million lines of code, 75 amp supply, five 200T FPGAs. HIFICLUBE.NET JVH 8
• 2024-05-29Watts states the tap count: 4 million taps. needs context HIFICLUBE.NET JVH 1:09
• 2024-05-29Asks (attribution uncertain) whether the product is called Quartet because it has 4 million taps. HIFICLUBE.NET JVH 1:22
• 2024-06-18Watts answers that it is named Quartet because it has four million taps. needs context article, Jun 2024
• 2024-07-25Watts says it is two boxes, with a separate supply, because its five large FPGAs need 75 amps; it has 4 million taps, 4 times the Hugo M Scaler. Hifi Pig TV 1:28
• 2024-07-25Watts says it takes 44.1 kHz input to 705 kHz and 48 kHz input to 768 kHz, and is really a big version of the (sentence unfinished). needs context Hifi Pig TV 3:12
• 2024-09-29Watts says this is 4 million taps. needs context The Source AV 4:56
• 2024-09-29Watts says it has five 200T FPGAs. needs context The Source AV 4:59
• 2024-09-29Watts says pre-production metalwork exists with a few tweaks left, and that it has a separate power supply. needs context The Source AV 16:54
• 2024-09-29Watts says it is a Choral range product with a separate power supply. needs context The Source AV 17:15
• 2026-03-24Watts says it is only for Quartet. needs context Audio Force 14:59
• 2026-03-24Watts begins answering by referring to the Pentaconn 4.4 mm connector that many IEMs now use. needs context Audio Force 32:24
• 2026-03-24Watts says the USB-C charging options required an FPGA change, but all of the audio parts are identical to the original Mojo and unchanged. Audio Force 34:28
• 2026-05-03Watts says Quartet has a fundamentally better interpolation filter, the Blackbird WTA filter, the new development shown at the show. Audio Force 7:39
• 2026-10-14Watts says his big project has been Quartet, the 4 million tap upsampler. Part-Time Audiophile 52:29
• 2026-10-17Watts says Quartet has an analog input. article, Oct 2026