Tonal character as a diagnostic

Perception and sound character

Answers on this topic

Everything he said on this topic (209)

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

2014-05-13Watts lists ways RF noise enters, says many audiophile cables are RF-poor, some like noise floor modulation's brightness, and advises digital connections with good RF performance. Head-Fi, May 2014
2014-06-01Watts says higher rates improve timing but admit ADC noise-shaper HF noise causing noise floor modulation; Hugo's 26k-tap filter shrinks the timing gain; he considers a PCM HF filter. Head-Fi, Jun 2014
2014-08-21Watts says Hugo needs no external amp (HD800 reaches 115dB SPL before clipping), and cites an HMX demo showing added harmonic distortion softens sound but flattens staging. Head-Fi, Aug 2014
2014-10-12Watts says his Olimex tests used a noisy Dell, so an iPhone may need no isolation; smoother sound and better depth indicate lower RF and correlated noise. Head-Fi, Oct 2014
2014-10-22Watts describes his general and specific listening tests, three test tracks, single-blind checks, variation as the test of transparency, misleading noise bursts, and measuring before serious listening. Head-Fi, Oct 2014
2015-10-02Watts says a femto clock sounded brighter due to low-frequency jitter, and DAC architecture, logic stages and pulse array's fixed-noise response matter more than headline clock jitter. Head-Fi, Oct 2015
2015-10-30Watts says Dave's depth, about four times Hugo's, comes from small-signal accuracy of its -350 dB noise shapers; timing gains offset the darkness that reducing noise floor modulation brought. Head-Fi, Oct 2015
2016-01-18Watts explains that out-of-band RF noise intermodulates into noise floor modulation that sounds bright, so his DACs are limited to 50 or 60 kHz; Dave's HF filter targets DXD noise. Head-Fi, Jan 2016
2016-01-18Watts says Dave's filter targeted ADC noise shaper noise in 176.4 kHz and above recordings, yet audibly warms redbook; he suspects lower noise floor modulation and keeps it on. Head-Fi, Jan 2016
2016-01-29Watts says his noise shapers run and filter at 2048 times the sample rate (104 MHz) to keep the digital signal clean, which makes the sound smoother and darker. article, Jan 2016
2016-01-29Watts shows an APx555 plot with a -180 dB noise floor identical with no signal and at 2.5 V, and says noise floor modulation makes sound brighter and harder. article, Jan 2016
2016-04-22Watts preferred a $2 USB cable over a $200 one on DAVE until he separated the headphone cable, then heard no difference; he says AES input injects RF, sounding brighter. Head-Fi, Apr 2016
2016-05-13Watts gives four reasons jitter is a non-issue on DAVE, including the pulse array's jitter insensitivity, and says reducing RF noise sounds warmer and softer and is more transparent. Head-Fi, May 2016
2016-06-02Watts says DAVE sounded too dark and soft late in development until a 256FS WTA stage improved perception of note starts and stops and restored balance. Head-Fi, Jun 2016
2016-07-09Watts finds a new DAVE slightly brighter and more transparent than his pre-production unit, credits nitrogen production soldering, and says brain break-in outweighs physical break-in. Head-Fi, Jul 2016
2016-07-24Watts explains DAVE stands for Digital Analogue Veritas in Extremis, aiming for maximum transparency, and says so-called transparent products often sound hard and bright, giving an impression of detail. Hifistatement 0
2016-07-24Watts says his noise shapers run at 2048 times (104 MHz), digitally filtered to that rate for RF noise and noise floor modulation reasons, making the sound smoother and darker. Hifistatement 6:13
2016-07-24Watts says analog and noise shaper improvements made DAVE almost too rich and soft, lacking Hugo's immediacy, until improved WTA filters and other changes made it faster, tighter, more dynamic and more neutral. Hifistatement 11:45
2016-07-24Watts says DAVE's harmonics are below -150 dB and noise floor -180 dB, unchanged with no signal or 2.5 volts output; he says noise floor modulation sounds brighter and harder. Hifistatement 22
2016-09-07Watts says DAVE is very slightly microphonic, suggests vibration may add low-frequency jitter skirts that sound hard, and says femto clocks add skirts and brightness mistaken for transparency. Head-Fi, Sep 2016
2016-09-25Watts explains why DAVE uses his DPLL rather than the DAC64/QBD76 buffer, word clocks or an external master clock: PLLs add low-frequency jitter, causing FFT fringing and brightness. Head-Fi, Sep 2016
2016-10-28Watts says Chord's new remote works like the old one, and expects reversing the Schuko plug to make no difference as DAVE is transformer coupled; warmer would mean less RF. Head-Fi, Oct 2016
2017-04-07Watts says Hugo 2 with the white filter has a tonal balance like his DAVE and M scaler reference, avoids hardness, and the 16FS filter suits hard headphones. Head-Fi, Apr 2017
2017-04-07Watts says Hugo 2 is more incisive, transparent and refined than Hugo 1, crediting lower noise floor modulation, better noise shaping and truncation, and the 256FS WTA. Head-Fi, Apr 2017
2017-04-13Watts links 'strobing' impressions to hearing note starts and stops via the 256FS WTA, contrasting his son's live guitar with a soft CD playback, and wants both speed and warmth. Head-Fi, Apr 2017
2017-05-17Watts could not reliably hear optical versus USB on headphones with a mains laptop, but heard differences with a power-amp ground loop; brighter sound means more noise floor modulation. Head-Fi, May 2017
2017-06-18Watts says he did not tweak Hugo 2's frequency response, and that DAVE is a very big step up in clarity and sounds brighter overall due to its transparency. Head-Fi, Jun 2017
2017-07-19Watts explains how coupling capacitors, reference decoupling and LF distortion add bloom, why Hugo 2 avoids them by tackling noise floor modulation, and why its warmer filter options exist. Head-Fi, Jul 2017
2017-08-21Watts says only a sinc reconstructs correctly, short filters sound soft and warm, and he will post blind Davina files comparing FIR and IIR decimation filters with 300 dB attenuation. Head-Fi, Aug 2017
2017-10-13Watts says an improvement may just suit your system: noise floor modulation brightening a dull system can be indistinguishable from a real gain in transparency. miceblue425 47:43
2017-10-13Watts says a non-audiophile engineer compared 180 dB and 200 dB noise shapers: the 180 dB sounded harder and brighter from noise floor modulation; the 200 dB had better depth. miceblue425 55:42
2017-10-13Watts says DSD has amplitude-related timing errors: small transients take longer through the noise shaper than large ones, so DSD sounds soft. miceblue425 59:21
2017-11-04Watts says current ADCs measure poorly; bandwidth limiting removes HF noise that causes brightening noise floor modulation, but Davina's noise rises only above 500 kHz, and tests need careful evaluation. Head-Fi, Nov 2017
2017-11-29Watts says USB cables sound identical or, if audiophile, add RF, brightness and noise floor modulation; USB ferrites did nothing, but 2.5 GHz ferrites sounded marginally better on Blu Dave. Head-Fi, Nov 2017
2017-12-03Watts says his ferrite tests were on Blu 2 to DAVE, USB ferrites made no difference, and the warmer, smoother-sounding ferrite with better depth is the more transparent choice. Head-Fi, Dec 2017
2017-12-05Watts describes his method of finding errors and listening-testing each, says the best test is hearing no change, and warns brighter can mean transparency or slight noise floor modulation. RMAF 2:55
2017-12-05Watts says conventional DACs' noise rises with signal, minus 160 to minus 140 dB, Class D far worse, and that inaudible-to-measurement NFM is heard as lost refinement and smoothness. RMAF 10:38
2017-12-05Watts says mains cables change sound via RF noise intermodulating in analog electronics, so random noise pumps with the signal, confusing timbre perception and making dark instruments sound brighter. RMAF 11:24
2017-12-05Watts says he expected cutting eighth to tenth harmonic distortion from 130 to 160 dB to sound warmer, but DAVE sounded brighter and sharper with clearer small details. RMAF 14:59
2017-12-05Watts says DSD avoids resistor mismatch and higher-order harmonics, giving fairly good depth and refinement, while R2R's higher-order harmonics sound hard, forced, aggressive and flat to him. RMAF 35:56
2017-12-05Watts says DSD degrades small-signal timing, and transient timing errors blur transients so music sounds soft, which is why 2L DSD versions sound softer and warmer than DXD. RMAF 39:08
2017-12-25Watts says such devices could sound warmer by cutting RF or brighter by adding it; good RF USB cables all sound the same, and a 'tuned' one generated RF. needs context Head-Fi, Dec 2017
2018-01-08Watts says he heard no USB vs optical difference on Hugo 2 with a laptop and headphones, so his DPLL is sonically perfect, and the warmer source is better. Head-Fi, Jan 2018
2018-01-11Watts calls external clocks a disaster: the local PLL adds low-frequency jitter whose skirts sound like noise floor modulation, heard as brightness mistaken for transparency. Head-Fi, Jan 2018
2018-01-11Watts describes balancing warmth and transparency: DAVE sounded too dark until the 256FS WTA filter, cheaper products degrade evenly from BluDave, and Mojo was set warmer for cheaper headphones. Head-Fi, Jan 2018
2018-01-24Watts says RF noise from the Blu-ray player likely adds noise floor modulation, making it brighter, and whichever source sounds warmer is technically better. Head-Fi, Jan 2018
2018-03-08Watts says a proper mains RF filter needs Y capacitors, giving more leakage but a warmer sound, and that DAVE is relatively immune to mains quality. Head-Fi, Mar 2018
2018-03-11Watts says switchers beat linear regulators on Hugo 1 through lower RF noise, which causes noise floor modulation heard as brightness, and advises trying a USB battery bank first. Head-Fi, Mar 2018
2018-03-29Watts says active electronics add RF noise so sources should be simple and battery powered, Hugo 2 cuts out at 60 deg C, and thermal cycling, not warmth, harms reliability. Head-Fi, Mar 2018
2018-04-02Watts says adding a pre-amp always degrades sound through capacitor softness and 2nd harmonic bloom, and Hugo 2 can drive an EAR 534 power amp perfectly. Head-Fi, Apr 2018
2018-04-13Watts says the level is the same; the new filter sounds smoother and warmer with better flow, which may give an impression of being quieter. needs context Head-Fi, Apr 2018
2018-05-17Watts says servers sound brighter with an illusion of transparency, hallmarks of RF noise, mostly via RF-sensitive power amps; a laptop feeding only Dave's USB gives the lowest RF. Head-Fi, May 2018
2018-05-18Watts says the DPLL's buffered regenerated clock eliminates source jitter (Hugo 2 USB/optical tests showed no change), and explains why signal-related noise sounds brighter, audible even at -200 dB. Head-Fi, May 2018
2018-05-24Watts says the supplied PSU sounds as good as a battery in his setup, linear supplies often pass mains RF, and a hard bright sound signals RF-driven noise floor modulation. Head-Fi, May 2018
2018-07-01Watts says AAC, short filters, MQA, minimum phase, NOS and DSD sound soft and warm from transient timing uncertainty; turning off the incisive filter similarly sounds warmer. Head-Fi, Jul 2018
2018-07-29Watts says optical and USB sound the same on Hugo 2 with headphones but differ once grounded; coax lacks galvanic isolation, so RF raises noise floor modulation and sounds brighter. Head-Fi, Jul 2018
2018-07-30Watts says a 'fuller' coax sound, if brighter, is extra noise floor modulation mistaken for transparency, and coax can give flatter, wider staging with less depth. Head-Fi, Jul 2018
2018-09-01Watts says a wider soundstage often means truncated depth from correlated source noise, which optical prevents; the better source has more warmth and deeper depth. Head-Fi, Sep 2018
2018-09-16Watts says DSD sounds soft and warm because its delay depends on amplitude, by tens of uS; he advises against software PCM upsampling, and mentions F1 in Singapore. Head-Fi, Sep 2018
2018-09-21Watts says DAC designers can add perceived bass weight through distortion, but this suppresses variation and pitch definition. Head-Fi, Sep 2018
2018-09-25Watts says the warmth heard is softness from transients misaligned by crude upsampling versus Qutest's WTA filter, and advises a bit-perfect source with no upsampling. Head-Fi, Sep 2018
2018-10-25Watts says cables without dropouts are fine, and darker, warmer cables with better depth perform better technically, while brighter ones add RF. Head-Fi, Oct 2018
2018-11-01Watts says clip-on ferrites do not work with the Hugo M Scaler, sounding slightly brighter and flatter, probably because the gap interferes with its built-in filtering. Head-Fi, Nov 2018
2018-11-06Watts says servers bring no sound-quality gain, their perceived transparency being RF noise raising noise floor modulation and brightness, while the M scaler transforms musical performance. Head-Fi, Nov 2018
2018-11-07Watts says a warmer or smoother-sounding supply is always technically better for digital sources, indicating lower noise floor modulation from less RF noise. Head-Fi, Nov 2018
2018-11-22Watts says the M scaler PSU is deliberately ungrounded to avoid earth loops, grounded PSUs sound brighter, overvoltage failures void warranty, and 15 V is the maximum input. Head-Fi, Nov 2018
2018-12-11Watts says the supercaps are in TT2 and he wouldn't bother with another PSU, since disconnecting the supplied one is inaudible; linear PSUs sound falsely brighter and measure worse. Head-Fi, Dec 2018
2018-12-12Watts defines noise floor modulation as noise varying with signal, says all DACs have it, it is audible, and large amounts, as in Class D amplifiers, make treble grainy. Pursuit Perfect System 10:18
2018-12-12Watts says a Class D amplifier's noise floor moves from minus 115 dB at full output to about minus 130 dB; reducing NFM sounds warmer, and unmeasurable levels remain audible. Pursuit Perfect System 11:05
2018-12-12Watts says TT2's inexpensive supply was customized after trying four or five to match battery performance; batteries sound warmer because they lack mains RF noise, which creates NFM. Pursuit Perfect System 38:09
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 Class B crossover distortion creates audible, brightening high-frequency harmonics; his second-order analog noise shaper output stage removes it, a topology used in the new Etude and reference amplifiers. Pursuit Perfect System 42:45
2018-12-13Watts says he judges improvements by checking timbre, space, detail and separation separately, and that RF noise pumping with the signal sounds bright and etched, faking transparency. Pursuit Perfect System 25:00
2018-12-13Watts says if saxophones sound brighter, detail seems better but timbre variation is worse, a red flag, and that his listening tests usually target a known engineering variable. Pursuit Perfect System 25:55
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
2018-12-16Watts explains why a DAC's reference supply needs zero noise and impedance, says chip DACs hide poor references, and describes TT2's DAVE-standard discrete reference and its warmer sound. Head-Fi, Dec 2018
2019-03-04Watts says removing harmonic distortion while ignoring noise floor modulation sounds bright and analytical, while eliminating noise floor modulation restores warmth, and shares TT2 measurements. Head-Fi, Mar 2019
2019-03-04Watts explains white/green adds a WTA 16FS-to-256FS stage replacing an IIR filter, why sinc accuracy needs long taps, and says preferring orange suggests an overly bright system. Head-Fi, Mar 2019
2019-03-16Watts says USB VBUS powers the decoder on the isolator's source side, so only ground loops let sources matter, and added source complexity can sound like improvement while degrading timbre. Head-Fi, Mar 2019
2019-04-03Watts describes a nonlinear balance between transparency and refinement, recalls DAVE being too warm during development, and links soundstage width to depth and small-signal accuracy. Head-Fi, Apr 2019
2019-07-06Watts says a battery-powered optical-to-coax adaptor is no worry, but a mains-powered one can create ground loops, raising RF noise and making the sound brighter. Head-Fi, Jul 2019
2019-07-15Watts says NOS DACs do oversample, with a zero-order hold, the crudest filter possible, whose large timing and aliasing errors make music sound soft, flat and out of focus. Head-Fi, Jul 2019
2020-01-02Watts says noise rising with a saxophone's level cannot be separated from it by the brain, adding bright noise that makes a warm saxophone sound artificially bright. Passion for Sound 8:07
2020-01-02Watts says reducing measurable noise floor modulation makes timbre richer, smoother and warmer and separation more solid, and that all DACs other than his create measurable modulation. Passion for Sound 9:36
2020-01-02Watts says people like MQA or minimum phase because their huge transient errors put sound out of focus, warmer and smoother, taming a DAC made bright by noise floor modulation. Passion for Sound 20:31
2020-01-02Watts says the better approach is a DAC warm and free of noise floor modulation, reconstructing transients with a sinc function, giving sharp sounds without aggression and rich saxophone. Passion for Sound 21:23
2020-01-02Watts says people may prefer NOS, MQA or minimum-phase filters on inferior DACs because they artificially soften the sound. Passion for Sound 21:48
2020-01-10Watts advises against adding a USB-to-optical stage, saying reported gains are RF brightness mistaken for transparency, and a Dell laptop worsened his APx555 THD and noise by about 2dB. Head-Fi, Jan 2020
2020-01-28Watts says DSD adds softness because small-signal steps are delayed more than large ones, blurring transients, has poor depth from small-signal accuracy, and advises fixing hardness rather than using DSD. Head-Fi, Jan 2020
2020-04-01Watts says 55 kHz PSU noise is irrelevant to the M scaler; 2 pF isolation coupling at 2 GHz matters, the ungrounded supplied SMPS helps, and linear PSUs worsen it. Head-Fi, Apr 2020
2020-05-11Watts says 16FS and 256FS filters measure identically; Hugo 2's HF filter is about -1dB at 20kHz, but its warmer sound comes from less out-of-band noise and noise floor modulation. Head-Fi, May 2020
2020-06-06Watts says it signals more RF injected into the DAC, raising noise floor modulation that falsely seems more detailed and increases listening fatigue. needs context Head-Fi, Jun 2020
2020-06-25Watts says tracks with added second harmonic distortion sound samey, compressed, warmer and muddled, and some designers aim for a hard, analytical sound with artificial detail. Part-Time Audiophile 12:20
2020-06-25Watts says he personally prefers soft, warm sound, but a system must be hard and aggressive and also warm and refined at once, as live saxophone and trumpet are. Part-Time Audiophile 13:10
2020-06-25Watts says most designers make everything soft and out of focus or artificially sharp, whereas the aim is to reproduce both, giving more variation in the program material. Part-Time Audiophile 15:30
2020-06-25Watts explains noise floor modulation as noise rising and falling with the signal, which is measurable, substantially changes sound and makes warm-sounding instruments sound bright. Part-Time Audiophile 16:11
2020-06-25Watts says tubes innately suffer less noise floor modulation so sound warmer and smoother, but add distortion such as second harmonic, and transformers give high output impedance. Part-Time Audiophile 17:40
2020-06-25Watts says tubes' poorer damping factor adds low-frequency output and warmth, and semiconductor designs can avoid noise floor modulation with care over RF noise, open-loop nonlinearity, layout and decoupling. Part-Time Audiophile 18:22
2020-07-04Watts says linear PSUs do change TT2's sound but worse, adding hum and RF noise that sounds brighter, and notes TT2 sounds and measures the same with the PSU disconnected. Head-Fi, Jul 2020
2020-07-13Asked why a dCS Bartok sounds sibilant in videos, Watts answers: noise floor modulation. needs context Head-Fi, Jul 2020
2020-08-11Watts calls amps that short inputs reckless, and says his MSI laptop beat a server, which sounded bright with false transparency from RF-induced noise floor modulation. Head-Fi, Aug 2020
2021-01-25Watts says the treble extension and tighter bass heard with an Sbooster supply are noise floor modulation from more RF, and SMPS RF filters give softer, warmer, less fatiguing sound. Head-Fi, Jan 2021
2021-03-07Watts keeps music locally, says jitter is not a problem for his DACs but RF is, so keep sources simple, as extra boxes add RF heard as false brightness. Head-Fi, Mar 2021
2021-04-02Watts says clip-on ferrites made his Hugo M Scaler sound brighter with poorer depth, suspects resonance with its internal 2GHz chip ferrites, and recommends solid-core ferrites. Head-Fi, Apr 2021
2021-05-31Watts says Hugo 2's USB sensitivity depends on mains loops, advises optical and avoiding DDCs in mains systems, and explains RF-induced noise floor modulation as brightness. Head-Fi, May 2021
2021-06-26Watts says a linear PSU only degrades or matches TT2's stock unit, since random mains RF raises noise floor modulation and brightness, and regrets not adding more RF filtering. Head-Fi, Jun 2021
2021-06-27Watts agrees a review's 'align' and 'live' terms are undefined, says 'live' suggests brightness from noise floor modulation, and notes Audio Bacon takes no advertising. Head-Fi, Jun 2021
2021-10-04Watts describes SPICE RF filter work showing random RF noise, unlike switching noise, causes noise floor modulation audible to -350dB; linear PSUs pass it, SMPS and batteries do not. Head-Fi, Oct 2021
2021-10-18Watts covers phone RF loops with Mojo, USB cable dressing, 2G buzz, Netflix audio, USB galvanic isolators in desktop DACs and M Scaler, and why brighter cables mean more noise. Head-Fi, Oct 2021
2021-12-24Watts says solid-core cable both brightens tonal balance through transparency and warms it by reducing grain; with the more revealing Hugo 2 the warmth likely wins over Mojo. Head-Fi, Dec 2021
2022-01-31Watts defines noise floor modulation as noise rising with signal level, says the brain cannot separate it from the instruments, and says it makes the sound artificially bright. Darko.Audio 7:45
2022-01-31Watts says that test sounds harder, brighter and less deep despite flat response, because floating-point arithmetic creates very low but audible noise floor modulation, making conventional DSP sound bright. Darko.Audio 20:36
2022-01-31Watts says Mojo 2 replaces the coupling capacitor with Hugo 2's DC servo, losing Mojo's slightly soft, warm sound but becoming fundamentally more transparent. Darko.Audio 34:59
2022-01-31Watts says to adjust the shelf by a couple of dB and the 20 Hz filter by about 1 dB to make it sound warmer and softer. needs context Darko.Audio 43:03
2022-01-31Watts says yes; he needs no EQ for his speakers but would use it on headphones, which sound brighter than speakers, and live unamplified music sounds a lot warmer than speakers. Darko.Audio 46:24
2022-02-06Watts says he considered an M Scaler mode for DAVE/TT2, TT2's 7W beats DAVE plus power amp, NFM-free treble sounds natural, and he has not started a DAVE replacement. Head-Fi, Feb 2022
2022-02-09Watts says switching noise from DC-DC converters is easily filtered while random mains RF passes through linear supplies, so power banks are fine and linear PSU warmth is NFM. Head-Fi, Feb 2022
2022-02-12Watts says Mojo and Mojo 2 measure identically, but Mojo's warmth came from coupling-capacitor distortion removed by the DC servo; a bass shelf boost restores it. Head-Fi, Feb 2022
2022-03-10Watts says no Mojo 2 EQ setting replicates Mojo, whose warmth and bass coloration came from one coupling capacitor, not frequency response; a 125Hz boost adds warmth only. Head-Fi, Mar 2022
2022-03-19Watts says the brain fuses modulated noise with the instrument, so a warm saxophone sounds bright and hard, and noise from two instruments mixes and confuses the brain. MFG Audio Reviews 6:45
2022-03-19Watts says those filters lose the initial transient, a 100 microsecond timing error, so they sound soft, which some like because it hides the DAC's noise floor modulation. needs context MFG Audio Reviews 18:55
2022-03-19Watts says Chord wanted Mojo's coupling capacitor replaced by a DC servo as on Hugo 2, but the capacitor gave Mojo its warm, soft sound, so warmth needed restoring. MFG Audio Reviews 26:14
2022-03-19Watts says lower out-of-band noise makes Mojo 2 slightly warmer, existing DSP is not transparent, and proposes a test: each EQ band up 1 dB, volume down 1 dB. MFG Audio Reviews 29:18
2022-03-19Watts says a change that seems to improve sound may be a disturbance: blurring transients makes things softer, which hides noise floor modulation. MFG Audio Reviews 47:49
2022-03-19Watts says he has mistaken brighter for more transparent when it was more noise floor modulation; the real test is variation, bright instruments brighter and warm ones warmer. MFG Audio Reviews 48:09
2022-03-22Watts says the units have internal regulation and RF filtering, so better supplies make no difference or sound worse (brighter) from RF noise of big linear PSUs. article, Mar 2022
2022-03-29Watts explains why valve output or input stages would worsen noise floor modulation and RF decoupling, recounts a zero ohm resistor problem, and attributes valve warmth to distortions. Head-Fi, Mar 2022
2022-04-26Watts says MQA has 1% aliasing distortion that degrades transients, making bass soft, bloated and fat, which some mistake for better, so Chord does not support MQA. Audio Force 12:40
2022-06-15Watts says the M scaler regulates input to 5 V, 16 V could damage it, and he will try a Krisdonia at 9 V, preferring warmer sound to RF brightness. Head-Fi, Jun 2022
2022-08-19Watts says material recorded four meters away sounded two meters away, which he thinks is the ADC, and the bright church recording sounded warmer, with softer transients, on headphones and on his speakers (transcribed 'BMWs'). AVstore 47:20
2022-08-23Watts says external clocks increase jitter at conversion, any 'improvement' is brighter noise floor modulation from PLLs, and they are a marketing device to sell another box. Head-Fi, Aug 2022
2022-09-14Watts recounts RF filters warming the sound since the 1980s, and says a null result with Mojo 2's flat UHD DSP HF filter shows the effect is noise floor modulation. Head-Fi, Sep 2022
2022-09-18Watts says headphones are much brighter than loudspeakers, yet his recording on Stealth, DAVE and the scaler sounds darker, warmer and softer than the very bright reality. The Source AV 19:40
2022-09-18Watts says the sharp sounds of real live music are being softened. The Source AV 20:08
2022-09-18Watts says that, strangely, digital softens leading edges; at least with his chain it is not hard and bright but too soft and too warm. The Source AV 21:22
2022-09-18Watts says removing the coupling capacitor makes bass tighter, more extended and deeper, but the capacitor gave Mojo 1 its warmth. The Source AV 33:30
2022-09-18Watts says with too-bright headphones you want something to tame the sound down. needs context The Source AV 33:47
2022-09-18Watts says the filters remove noise above 20 kHz; old 96 and 192 kHz recordings have noise above 24 kHz, and filtering sounds warmer with less noise floor modulation. The Source AV 38:10
2022-09-18Watts says you should perceive sharpness properly, but if your system is too sharp you want to tame it down. needs context The Source AV 40:47
2022-10-03Watts says USB sounding different from optical on TT2 is RF noise through the isolator's 2pF coupling, causing brightness, and a £9.29 5m plastic optical cable equals his glass one. Head-Fi, Oct 2022
2023-02-04Watts says noise that pumps with the signal cannot be separated by the brain from the instrument, so a saxophone with modulated noise sounds brighter. Dusty Audio 32:28
2023-02-04Watts says some like MQA's sound because losing transients impairs pitch perception, making bass fat, flabby and less tuneful with a bloom some enjoy. Dusty Audio 58:14
2023-02-05Watts says the ADC has a softening sound and his ribbon microphones can sound a little warm depending on placement, yet he was amazed how accurate the reproduction was. Soundnews 4:25
2023-02-05Watts says in 2013 or 2014 he would have chosen linear supplies, since switching creates RF noise, which causes noise floor modulation and a brighter sound. Soundnews 24:50
2023-02-05Watts says portables must use switching regulators, and they surprisingly sounded warmer and smoother than linears, but switching regulators need RF filters. Soundnews 26:49
2023-02-05Watts says a brighter or more transparent change is a degradation and a warmer, smoother one a benefit; reports are mixed, and 'brighter' suggests people prefer distortion. Soundnews 43:45
2023-03-26Watts says switch mode supplies have RF filters on input and output while audio linear supplies lack them; RF makes sound brighter, an artificial illusion of transparency and detail. Eric's Hi-Fi 13:22
2023-03-26Watts says reducing RF noise makes sound warmer, softer and quieter, allowing louder playback, less impressive but more natural; audiophiles should use car batteries as a reference. Eric's Hi-Fi 14:07
2023-03-26Watts says residual unmeasurable noise floor modulation is audible as warmth and smoothness changes, explaining power supply differences and why USB cables or optical versus USB sound different. Eric's Hi-Fi 32:01
2023-03-28Watts says external clocks need a PLL that improves cycle-to-cycle jitter but degrades low-frequency jitter, a form of noise floor modulation that sounds brighter and so more impressive. The Headphone Show 6:12
2023-03-28Watts says R2R distortion rises as signal level falls, the opposite of the ear, harming soundstage and detail and sounding harder and brighter; he is not a fan. The Headphone Show 12:57
2023-03-28Watts says small DSD transients come through later than large ones, which is why DSD sounds soft and warm as the brain blurs transients; he also cites idle pattern noise. The Headphone Show 23:01
2023-03-28Watts says only true transparency achieves this; a sharper sound can fool the ear into seeming more transparent, and emotional involvement is the tell. The Headphone Show 36:47
2023-03-28Watts says noise floor modulation causes grainy treble or reduced smoothness and timbre variation even below measurable levels; pulse array, invented in 1995, aimed to match DSD256 without its problems. The Headphone Show 44:50
2023-04-03Watts says improving Mojo meant adding crossfeed, essential for headphones, and moving toward Hugo 2's sound by going DC coupled, dropping the coupling capacitor that gave Mojo its warmth. Amplify Audio 10:23
2023-05-20Watts says improving DAVE prototype harmonics from -120 dB to below -150 dB sounded brighter and more transparent; white volume cannot clip but deeper can, at ear-damaging levels. Head-Fi, May 2023
2023-05-27Watts says reducing RF noise lowers perceived volume by one or two dB, since noise floor modulation sounds brighter, and is convinced a linear supply on TT2 adds RF noise. Head-Fi, May 2023
2023-08-06Watts says Mojo 2 can sound peppy or rich, warm and leisurely depending on the music, headphones and EQ settings. Head-Fi, Aug 2023
2023-10-01Watts says he once thought the Stealths too bright next to his warmer B&W speakers, but they are closer to live unamplified sound with no loss of depth. The Source AV 25:35
2023-10-01Watts says warmth involves several factors including timbre variation: rich instruments such as a saxophone should sound rich and soft, bright ones should grab you. The Source AV 29:23
2023-10-01Watts says distortions can make sound harder or warmer, but removing them lets sounds be soft and warm or bright and fast as they really are; he aims for both. The Source AV 29:47
2023-10-01Watts says current technology can portray warmth correctly, so a saxophone sounds like a saxophone. The Source AV 30:24
2023-10-01Watts says long ago he designed a compression circuit whose variables could be set to create only second harmonic distortion and nothing else. The Source AV 31:41
2023-10-01Watts begins to qualify that tubes generate more than second harmonic. needs context The Source AV 32:01
2023-10-01Watts says it is possible to create perfect second harmonic distortion, positive or negative at an exact chosen level, but that is not what he is about. The Source AV 32:17
2023-10-01Watts says with tubes you naturally get warmth. The Source AV 33:11
2023-10-01Watts says you certainly lose them with super-warm ones, and that he wants super warmth, brightness, speed and depth at once. needs context The Source AV 33:21
2023-11-21Watts doubts grounding boxes, says star grounding is useless for RF, and that good ground sounds warmer while bright, artificially transparent sound means more RF noise. Head-Fi, Nov 2023
2024-02-15Watts says NFM sounds etched and brighter but degrades focus, the DPLL handles source PSU noise via optical, and battery plus optical on the M Scaler removes the ground loop. Head-Fi, Feb 2024
2024-02-22Watts says galvanic isolation fails at GHz via capacitance, optical breaks the link, and an LPS on TT2 would be a downgrade that sounds etched due to no RF filtering. Head-Fi, Feb 2024
2024-03-20Watts says noise floor modulation adds noise that tracks the saxophone, which the brain cannot separate from it, so the saxophone's timbre sounds brighter than it should. MFG Audio Reviews 10:02
2024-03-20Watts says reducing random RF noise improves separation and focus and sounds quite a lot warmer and softer; some prefer noise floor modulation because it sounds etched and artificially enhanced. MFG Audio Reviews 13:01
2024-03-20Watts says a live cello images slightly rounded, while noise floor modulation artificially sharpens imaging and sounds crystalline and brighter, mistaken for transparency; removing it allows louder listening. MFG Audio Reviews 13:57
2024-03-20Watts says adding a linear supply makes the sound brighter, crystalline and sharper-edged, fooling listeners into thinking it is better; separation, focus and listening fatigue reveal it is worse. MFG Audio Reviews 39:52
2024-04-15Watts shares CanJam slides: optical sounds warmer from less noise floor modulation, USB's etched sound is mistaken for transparency, and with isolated sources USB and BNC can match optical. Head-Fi, Apr 2024
2024-05-10Watts defines noise floor modulation as noise pumping with the signal, says it sounds artificially bright yet seems more transparent, is audible below measurable limits, and explains why digital cables sound different. Reactcore 0
2024-06-18Watts says Quartet will cost more than DAVE, and describes Spice-modeled 'pinch-off' RF filters in its separate supply and input, isolating DAVE from its noise and making the sound warmer and smoother. article, Jun 2024
2024-07-12Watts says NOS filters sound soft and warm because their transient errors reach 100 microseconds; better transient reconstruction sounds sharper and more focused, like a camera lens. HIFICLUB 29:50
2024-07-12Watts says transient errors blur everything, making NOS sound unnaturally warm and soft; digital improves with complexity unless it adds analog noise problems. HIFICLUB 30:32
2024-07-12Watts defines noise floor modulation as noise rising with signal and says noise pumping with a saxophone sounds bright, like off-channel FM hiss. HIFICLUB 32:03
2024-07-12Watts says DSD sounds unnaturally warm and soft from poor transients, and its full-scale 1-bit swing makes it very sensitive to clock jitter. HIFICLUB 39:15
2024-09-29Watts says that with recordings of unknown provenance, a change can offset one distortion with another, such as sharpening a too warm, soft system, which goes round in circles. The Source AV 24:37
2024-11-22Watts corrects himself: USB sounded brighter on 2Qute from noise floor modulation, not better clocking, as a later test found USB and optical identical; listening tests easily mislead. Head-Fi, Nov 2024
2025-02-17Watts says WTA variables were tuned by listening down to 10 parts per million, that many listeners wrongly hear brightness as accuracy, and that he aims for the original sound. audio-2G 8:13
2025-09-14Watts says more accurate transient reproduction does two things: things sound richer, warmer and softer, yet hard, sharp transients sound sharper, harder and faster. needs context The Source AV 16:14
2026-03-17Watts says NOS filters worsen timing errors so transients blur and the sound turns soft and warm, which can mask a hard, bright DAC with noise floor modulation. ecoustics 22:56
2026-03-17Watts says with the finished RF filter, solid-core and stranded mains cables sounded identical, proving RF noise caused the difference. ecoustics 57:16
2026-03-17Watts says his system sounded best at 2 a.m. and brighter and harder with a fluorescent light on, as plasma discharge injects RF noise up to gigahertz onto the mains. ecoustics 57:52
2026-03-17Watts says random RF intermodulates with the music in analog circuits, so the noise floor pumps up and down with the signal, and flat random noise sounds bright. ecoustics 58:44
2026-03-17Watts says noise tracking a saxophone makes it sound bright instead of rich and smooth, because the brain cannot separate the distortion from the instrument's timbre. ecoustics 59:38
2026-03-17Watts says analog components see that noise, creating noise floor modulation that makes the sound harder and brighter. ecoustics 1:08:06
2026-03-17Watts says warmer sound and better separation indicate less noise floor modulation and RF; mains won, which he traced to the battery's high RF impedance and poorer cables. ecoustics 1:11:58
2026-03-24Watts says noise floor modulation, noise pumping with the signal and caused by random RF noise, is subjectively huge: rich, dark instruments become brighter, so RF must be filtered. Audio Force 24:57
2026-05-03Watts says mains power brings RF noise, which creates noise floor modulation, noise rising with signal; this bright white noise pumping with a saxophone cannot be separated by the brain. Audio Force 10:37
2026-05-03Watts says the saxophone then sounds brighter and artificial; timbre is also upset by transient timing, a technically different problem from supply-induced noise floor modulation. Audio Force 11:27
2026-05-03Watts says noise floor modulation makes a saxophone brighter, and a saxophone and piano together create joint modulation noise, so the brain cannot separate the two instruments. Audio Force 13:05
2026-10-02Watts says R2R DACs are made to sound warm by using other distortions. HiFi Buys 41:30
2026-10-02Watts calls NOS a first-order hold with the biggest transient timing errors, so it sounds soft and warm, offsetting the hardness of high-frequency distortion. HiFi Buys 42:01
2026-10-02Watts says listening tests need great care, since warmth and bloom from low-frequency distortion masking hardness and brightness can win a simple test while making things worse. HiFi Buys 42:43
2026-10-02Watts says real improvement makes bright instruments brighter and dark ones darker, while noise floor modulation mistaken for transparency makes every instrument brighter, revealing a distortion. HiFi Buys 48:54
2026-10-02Watts says a saxophone should sound richer and smoother while bright instruments sound brighter, and distortions can create an artificial, analytical sense of transparency. HiFi Buys 49:43
2026-10-02Watts says background hiss is bright, so noise modulating with a saxophone is perceived as extra brightness, making a rich, smooth saxophone sound brighter. HiFi Buys 55:16
2026-10-02Watts says studies claiming no difference between a modern violin and a Stradivarius actually showed split preference, with half preferring the modern violin's bright sound over the Strad's warmth. HiFi Buys 1:34:09
2026-10-02Watts says Class D modulators switching at 250 kHz, 750 kHz or 1.5 MHz destroy transient timing, making Class D sound analytical, cold and unmusical with awful timbre variation. HiFi Buys 1:45:24
2026-10-11Watts says these baked-in errors make DSD sound unnaturally soft and flatter in depth than good PCM and cannot be recovered, which is why he opposes DSD. Distorsiuni Interioare 58:38
2026-10-11Watts says wider bandwidth such as 1 MHz adds distortion and noise, giving a brighter, more aggressive sound often mistaken for transparency. Distorsiuni Interioare 1:15:49
2026-10-14Watts says recordings have unknown provenance, so an apparent improvement may only balance another problem, e.g. distortion making a dull, warm system seem better. Part-Time Audiophile 6:40
2026-10-14Watts says the NOS filter used by R2R DACs is an oversampling first order hold filter, the worst for transient timing, making sound artificially soft, smooth and warm. Part-Time Audiophile 39:00
2026-10-14Watts says that warmth suits ladder DACs because a soft, bloated bass masks their high frequency distortion, one distortion covering another. Part-Time Audiophile 39:45