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SMSL SU-1 DAC Question/issue?

I think I understand what you mean. Just to mention that I tried this with two different Headphone amps and was surprised to find that either exhibited the 'scratchy pot' issue--again, only with the SU-1 DAC, but not with other audio sources. One headphone amp utilizes a discrete topology and the other is op-amp based. You can imagine my surprise to find this happened with both headphone amps and not with other audio sources. (Sorry for the repetition.) None-the-less I just tried shorting the inputs of each headphone amp while listening with headphones. I found that the discrete headphone amp exhibited a little 'scratchy pot' but after a period of time it stopped. The op-amp based headphone amp with shorted inputs amp did not exhibit any observable 'scratchy pot.'

Roland68 suggested that a loop current/ground loop issue may have something to do with this. Now knowing that I likely do not have a defective SU-1, and after much discussion, I'm OK where we landed. Would still be interesting to hear more from Roland68 about his theory, as well as from anyone who wants to add to this discussion. Thanks to all.
 
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