Hum for SE yes. That's more expected. I remember you were talking about some high pitched sound right? I believe those are the usb noise.No, there was RCA noise without the USB cable connected. With the SKW RCA interconnect pair + SKW XLR pair or RCA only there was noise. When I reconnected the USB cable that added crackling noise. Then if I added a GPU load it got really noisy.
Now there is no noise in RCA only in L / M Gain at 100% volume. In H Gain there is some very low level hum starting at 75% Gain, which I'll never hit anyway. In XLR only there is no noise or hum in H Gain 100% volume.
I'll try some cable wrapping on ferrite cores or at least clip on ferrite jackets to see if I can kill the last of that hum. I'd never heard the hum before - the rest of the noises were drowning it out. With the other noises gone now I hear that very faint low level hum at 75% Volume in H Gain.
Now I can try RCA to AMP / Speakers, probably with WBC Mogami 2534 cable - but I'll test the Mogami 2549 based cables first before deciding which to use for the longer run.
Thanks for your help and patience John
Anyway, impressive.