C'mon. Wouldn't you be at least a little bit curious?
Not really. It's just a liquid-cooled, middle of the line PC with a lot of technically useless (as others have noted above) eye and brain audiophile candy.
Most PCs are fairly good already with data integrity because they simply crash if a few bits are flipped now and then.
The
"custom Linux ultralow-latency real-time kernel operating system" is probably something like an Ubuntu low latency kernel, possibly with "preempt" set to on (or any equivalent distro with the same configuration options). Low latency, RT (real-time) kernels are nothing special. They are nice to have when you really need them (you don't here) but may have a significant performance impact because the kernel is constantly keeping an eye on and switching threads. The fact that you could dual boot Windows and hear no differences seems to confirm you don't really need a custom audiophile kernel btw, and the performance loss could of the low latency kernel probably explains why "
it is that the PF's very powerful Ryzen CPU isn't all-powerful."
I did find hilarious that somehow configuring the device led to this
"
While resolving them, I managed to corrupt the operating system. Remote support from the distributor was swift and thorough, but the damage I had wrought was so great that I had to ship the PF back to the manufacturer for repair. It was a good experience."
Such systems are intended to be used by users who are, on average, much less competent than you are and should be protected from such failures (for example by using a remote configuration interface that only allows safe operations). Even horribly trashing the OS shouldn't require more than local re-imaging, certainly not a round trip to the factory.
You are very unfair to yourself here and too kind with the device about managing to corrupt the OS!
This is the IT equivalent of those big power amplifiers that turned their big capacitors into fire-starters/smoke grenades...
What I did appreciate is how cleverly you managed to describe a wonderful listening experience...
"These are vibrant updates of these popular pieces and, in stereo via the Pink Faun, they bloomed like a colorful bouquet." but at the same time avoided a hard commitment "
there were moments when I felt I heard changes in the space between the instruments or the ambience during musical pauses, but the only enduring difference was a feeling"
Lastly, is this
I felt more relaxed when listening to the Pink Faun.
worth 20k?
Please, don't take this as a personal attack. My totally wild guess is that this review was allocated to you as the most technical guy (with JA) at Stereophile and you did your best, as a consummate professional, in the good sense of the term, to review the product positively while at the same time executing a difficult dance around the hysterical subjective traps that so often plague such reviews.