I'd like to report my experience with this product given that I tried it last year when the super-caps version came out. It took a while to arrive and the manufacturer said the delay was related to issues with parts. I noticed that every time I pluged in the power plug I could hear a sound from the DAC, like something beating coming from the inside. Listening to it using my MacBook with Audirvana+ there was a clear crackling noise. From a Windows laptop the noise was much more reduced, some pops here and there, but still there. From the iMac in my office things were even worse. Every time I moved the mouse or a task was running I could hear noise, like a hum, coming from the DAC on top of the crackling. I had to insert back the galvanic isolator I normally use to get rid of the hum, but this didn't solve the crackling. We exchanged some emails to try to understand and fix the problem. He said that he had other customers reporting noises that were fixed by grounding the DAC. I tried several fix he suggested but nothing worked and I asked for a refund eventually. He offered to ship me a new one for free but I declined. When it was returned to him, he told me that after inspecting it was a faulty unit.
Anyway I don't want to draw conclusions from the tear down of a second hand device. I agree with those who say one can't know what happened to it. I never opened it, so I can't confirm the mess visible in the pictures. I just wanted to share my experience.