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Headphoneus Supremus
So based on that i have to assume the dude at chord (whose name escapes me at the moment) is some sort of DAC designing savant, and/or he/they are just ridiculously passionate about it? Interesting. So does that mean Chord makes the only FPGA DACs, and any more specific info on why nobody else makes/has made them? I mean, i get it its difficult, but so difficult that this the sole company that is or has ever been willing/able to produce them?
Rob Watts. He does seem to be some kind of programming savant and he and Chord both are ridiculously passionate about their work. It takes a lot of testing and tweaking with the finest measurement devices (over $100K) to get to where they are at. All of Chords DACs are based on an FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array, basically a blank slate chip) design as its the only way to implement his code. There are other manufacturers that use FPGA chips but in different ways, and none of them use Rob Watts / Chord's code (trade secret). It's damned expensive to spend that amount of time writing your own code which is why most companies don't do it. Rob Watts has spent over thirty years getting to the point he is at now with his FPGA code and WTA filter so it's basically his life work. Chord has been fortunate enough to have partnered with him.