John
It’s been two years since I last chatted with Chord Electronics DAC designer Rob Watts. The UK manufacturer introduced two new products at Munich High-End 2018: the Etude amplifier and the Watts-designed Hugo TT 2 desktop DAC / headphone amplifier. I sat front row at the press event to capture proceedings with a (now) gloriously low-resolution LG V30 smartphone camera. For the post-match interview, Watts was joined by (the then) Chord Electronics Managing Director John Franks. He has since handed the MD baton off to Matthew Bartlett.
In 2018, face masks were what the Japanese wore in public to protect others from catching their cold and flu germs. Masks were other and elsewhere. We now live in a different world. If Munich High-End 2022 goes ahead as planned in mid-May, it’ll be under significantly altered conditions: face masks will play a key role in keeping attendees as safe as possible. We will either be a) obliged to wear masks (Maskenpflicht) or b) invited to treat their use as a personal choice. If masks are deemed mandatory by the High-End Society (or German law), video interviews are off the table. Why? Masks steam up spectacles and muffle voices. If masks become optional, I can only point a camera at those who choose not to wear one.
Instead of waiting until this year’s Munich event to talk Mojo 2 with Rob Watts – and risk missing out on a video interview due to face masks – I spoke with him over Internet wires on the eve of its launch. Listen via SoundCloud, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, TuneIn or the embedded player below:
Further information: Chord Electronics
