Since Rob doesn't do R2R Dacs, might be good to interview Schiit next since they do both delta sigma and and R2R

Finally it's making more sense to me. Thanks for sharing..

look forward to see part 2, good job on this one !

Love these interviews, keep em coming!🌟

Underrated channel, very good approach

Like your conclusion - more than one way to do things.

I like how he trashes R2R then admits he only heard 1.

This is really good video. Good job man.

Very interesting. Thanks!

Thank you very much for the great interview. My interpretation of the R2R vs DSD hit me that because its easier to design a R2R based unit I would think it has a distinct advantage at the low priced DACs like you have been using as opposed to the complexity of doing DSD its just not as competitive with the R2R at the lower price points. Thats how it came across to me so I think you were both right. None the less I really appreciate your terrific interview & the opportunity to listen to one of the truly great designers in the audio industry. I have a great deal of respect & admiration for Rob. Can't wait for part 2!!!!

Great interview!

Thanks for doing this, a lot of useful information. The next step like someone else has mentioned in the comments is to interview a company that specializes in R2R DACs and have them tell us how R2R DACs are better than Delta-Sigma... I find it interesting how he mentioned that DSD was a step back in that when listening to DSD audio files on iFi DSD DACs sounds leagues better than non-DSD audio files (even other people I let listen confirmed this), so I'm a bit confused if the DSD he is talking about is the DSD audio format or something completely different having to do with Delta-Sigma.

Great interview

7:39 love it! 😂

Hi friends, what was the term rob mentioned at 5.49? Something like girle (or gargle) tones.

I demoed a quetest and bought a Pontus 2 a week later. I think the r2r dacs have more going on, call it colouration if you will but to me it sounds better on everything

I agree with you that many DS DAC’s have a hard, analytical, edgy nature, whereas a good R-2R can be much more natural sounding. A well implemented AKM tends to have better characteristics than most Sabre’s, but it also depends on other design and related factors. Rob has a horse on thus race and the fact he rallies so hard against R-2R DAC’s is a function of the fact that so many audiophiles and high end reviewers put many of the best high-end DAC’s that are often R-2R against his FPGA, which forces Rob to feel he has fight that battle. Also, Rob has mostly listened to old, R-2R DAC’S back when it was a cost-savings or sheer necessity, and they were based on much lower tolerance resistors than we have today. The fact is that there are sooo many differences between his FPGA design and all of the typical Delta-Sigma’s that he really is enabling a bit of a false comparison. We have a range of DS, NOS and FPGA DAC’s in the studios and media lab here, and generally find all but the best (most expensive ) DS DAC’S to be more edgy and artifact laden, even though some measure better than a lower-end R-2R.

R2R DACs have a number of advantages over Delta Sigma - they have much less out of band noise (DS DACs chuck out lots of high frequency noise which requires much filtering to remove), R2R DACs are less sensitive to jitter and R2R have less noise modulation. Their lack of linearity can be compensated by various techniques, such as via DSP or co-linear architecture. Rob Watts is giving a very one sided view.

Much respect to Chord. Although, he says he has heard only one r2r dac in five years and doesn’t listen much to the competition. Hard to take the r2r argument seriously.

I wonder what rob would say about the Holo Audio May R2R DAC, an R2R dac that actually measures really well even compared with good measuring delta sigma stuff.

I think it is matter of what one belive in, or want to sell. This guy works fo Chord who don´t produce R2R dacs, period. In my listening , and technical opinion R2R i more natural way do convert PCM to analog. The only problem today is that semiconductor companies do not produce IC R2R dac chips anymore, so they must be done in "discrete" way which is problematic in terms of precision and stability. I listen to(own) DAC based on old AD1856 R2R and still sounds like best of digital, it sounds fluid, very dynamic, great sense of ambience , like you are there in recording you listen to. It sound more like analog source than digital one. All delta-sigma dacs I tried have tendency to sound artificially, gray sounding in one word, without real vitality in presentation .

The music intro is like a laser canon destroying my walls. Do I need some more Hifi equipment like a dual Crown tower 20.000 W to make it even more destructive ? Thx for advices folks.

I really enjoy your reviews and interviews. I am a Chord Mojo owner. One thing I never heard answered is why Chord decided on using USB to interface the Poly and Mojo, and Hugo and 2Go? Is the reason for versatility and support of the different streams that are supported using that interface? The reason for my question is I am reading from many Chord owners that Coax and Optical is superior in SQ. Supposedly Rob Watts has stated optical was better sounding than USB. Perhaps in the future you could evaluate a music streamer (Auralic Aries or similar) and compare the different input types and provide your thoughts as to which interface would provide the best SQ?

Mr. Rob Watts really knows about technical parts, but hearing that from someone who is a creator he doesn't listen to R2R or whatever kind of dacs in the past 5 years, it's incredible! Like when you push your head down into the ground and don't want to see and hear anything about your surroundings "because you believe" you're better. In my dictionary there is no such word as "believe". Try, do, make, probe, explore, but not believe. He is a professional creator, creates very well, he should be wide open for every kind of knowledge. He should know that his opinion is one opinion only, but there is no such opinion as best. Not on this planet for sure. Btw, I really, really love FPGA dacs, specially the AudioByte HydraVOX.

FPGAs are more powerful provided the designer knows what he's doing. The primary reason is upgradeability and cost savings.

It would be interesting to know what companies use what type .... DCS Vivaldi ? MSB Select? Meridian Ultra Dac, TAD 1000 . Some DAC'S are just Crazy expensive? Compare different DAC'S at different price points....What everyone is after is realism. How do you get there for the least expense.....

very interesting..

I suspect the main factor is the implementation. Aries Cerat claim that DAC chips present an inherent limitiation in hi-end possibilities which can only be surpassed by superb R2R. I suspect this is true for ultra hi-end but for more modest DACs implementation probably rules. I have ordered a Jay's Audio DAC2 Sig for £2698 which might be not as good in some ways as a Denafrips Terminator for £4500, but sure presents better vfm, and in some ways is supposed to better the Termi.. So Delta Sigmas present better value in general, as they are cheaper to make, especially from China!

It feels like there is some unknown factor which is yet to be considered to make Delta Sigma DACs sound like R2R.

Great interview! Actually R2R DACs can objectively outperform Sigma Delta DACs because they can be measured in the signal to noise ratio. If you watch the review Golden Sound did on the Holo May he shows that based on objective measurements that the R2R Holo May out performs the Chord Dave with M Scaler. He shows the graph for both and the Holo May, which has -145 db noise floor and can perfectly reproduce a sign wave with almost no distortion, where as the Chord Dave with M Scaler has a higher noise floor and can’t reproduce a perfect sign wave as well as the May can. You should talk to Tim Connor at Kitsume and get a demo model for testing and review.

That distortion in the opening sequence was super annoying. Really relevant video though.

FPGAs do have a role to play in R2R Dacs , from the likes of Rockna and Audio-DG (to name but a few) : www.audio-gd.com/R2R/R1/R1EN.htm

And one more thing about delta-sigma (name itself talk about principle) i strong feedback and time domain issues. They measure great on continuous predictable signals, but music is all than continuous signal. And also too much of needed processing i DS dacs. I have feeling that every process in digital domain push us as listeners away from music itself.

The R2R distortion sounds more musical to most people. I've had non-audiophiles listen through Topping E30 (sigma-delta) and Schiit modi multibit (R2R), every single time, every listener preferred R2R sound. Only one yound person chose Topping E30 since he liked brighter edgy details over smoothness and holographic sound of multibit

Rob has DAC'd my entire world...all Chorded up...

He only listen to 1 r2r dac and he say r2r dacs are bad compare to my dacs . this is big mistake tbh

Rob sounded annoyed by some of the questions :) I believe both Schiit and Chord are great DACs. The rest is individual taste and how they fit in given system. I'm big fan of Schiit Yggy though. Amazing stuff for the money

of course he defended his company. he works for them.

🐍🛢️

It is only a shame that you have to spend your few months salary to get the decent models of Chord. And there is nothing in between in their brand, Either spend a fortune for the desktop versions, or have nothing (the mobile versions I take out of the equasion, because they have batteries, and the qutest is just a extreme cutdown hugo) I know it is a personal opinion, but I really don't like brands that ask so so extreme amount of money for their devices, that normal people can't afford them anylonger (see the price of a dave or tt2, the lower models are quite a step down, and the qutest is just almost a hugo with removed amp section) And yes ofcourse I believe a M-scaler and tt2 sounds amazing, it better be for 12000 a pair, or Dave 13000, and then he has a qutest, fully cut down of any possible option and calls that a comparable midrange model?? There are way way more brands that don't go in such extreme pricings, brand like Chord make it a little niche market, where people love to show of, look what I have got, what you can't affort... I seriously think that it is sad in this hifi market. I worked in a shop when I was younger, there the margins where already extreme, our shops were forced to charge a specific minimum price for equipment, B&W for example had rules on prices, otherwise they would take away our dealership, margins of sometimes double the price. Brands like Pioneer, Yamaha, Sony for example were never that extreme back than. The British Brands were actually the most extreme with those rules, NAD, B&W, Chord (as well). And for example Canada 'Totem speakers', there we had to charge more than 13000 euro a pair (where the shops purchase price was half that! HALF!). And yes I understand you don't want to lay in the Wall Mart, a Big W, but prices are sometimes crazy in hifi, especially because I am aware what the average shop purchase prices were back then already (that hasn't changed) And it actually makes me sad for the people who love music and can't afford it because of that. because of people like Rob Watts that think that prices like this are okay. Burson have high end stuff, they don't even charge this kind of money, Violectric don't even go this far. Instead of letting 20 people enjoy it, because it is affordable (in the end making the same profit) Now only 1 can enjoy it, because the rest don't have that kind of money, oh well I made my point. My comment had nothing to do with you, but thanks for the video, always like your honest reviews!!, actually hoping you understand what I am trying to explain here

7:40，such a turn off from a closed-minded person. Some of the best measured DACs are R2R DAC from the likes of MSB, Sonnet, Holo. In fact, I just got the Sonnet Pasithea whose noise floor measures -160db. And I compared it to the Chord DAVE that I have and more than twice the price of the Sonnet, the Pasithea easily beats the DAVE in nearly all aspects. I sold the DAVE after the comparison.

What is chord doing in the last 3 years ? Not even checking the competition???

Rob Watts is all about measurements than listening. Sigma-delta goes for edginess, which was never how music instruments sound. R2R add distortions that make it sound more natural: the timbre of voices, those warmth of instruments, they all sound more real.

Shits all over r2r then says this 15:40

My ways right, everyone else is wrong mentality doesn't seem like the best business model. ONE R2R in five years. There's a reason people love Denafrips. I'll bet he's a measurement only guy that threw away his vinyl.