Your shares have been wonderful fun. I particularly appreciate your willingness to try.
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Vmax has been in flames lately with all his various tweaks. And others who try report they hear same kind of changes. Way to go 
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No, not huge differences. Subtle changes, sometimes. It depends on the components involved. I run a variety of power cords but none are uber expensive because based on my experience they are not worth the expense. Nor do I run special Cat6e Ethernet cables of stupidly expensive audio switches. Again, neither have made cost effective difference in what I hear.
If all these “huge” changes were actually huge, the differences would be stark. They are not. They are subtle.
I was looking at the pink faun & medical isolation devices recently. If I’m only playing local files, is it still worth it as a noise barrier? Right now I have wifi disabled in bios and connect with a run of cat7 from my mesh. As is, I have a fairly clean build (though there’s still figurative and literal room for some of that sweet taiko-dc-atx-stylegrowth)
edit: I guess I could just unplug my ethernet cable and find out…
I had tried various power cables and audiophile fuses on this LPS. All sounded different some better some worse. I ended up running no audiophile fuses there. The BAV cord was a definite step change like some would be happy to hear in a component change. It was that large of a difference. Thus the huge adjective. The router can draw draws lots of current and had a 5 amp SMPS. Whether it was larger gauge or RF improvement. It was noticeably much fuller sound and Bass improved as well as better lower noise floor. The LPS is closest to wifi router perhaps the reason for such the profound effect The router in my system also is most sensitive to LPS change and the size of fuse whether a 3 amp for 220 V or 6 amp for 110 V changed sound profoundly on a Toroidal LPS supply that had wrong size fuse installed.
Caelin Gabriel from Shunyata recommends buying cords for RF dissipating Noise Reduction vs top of line cords everywhere or just one expensive cor on one piece. Sound advice in my experience. Take out RF and whole system steps up
Thus may explain your power cord experience and why wrapping my cheaper cords with RF antenna drain shields.has paid off.
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@speed-racer In addition the router is at front of the digital chain and was last one I addressed with noise reduction. Thus why it felt huge. To me it makes logical sense to me after thinking about it, given my progression addressing RF back up the signal chain to noise sources.
My experience to date leans toward subtle as well. The single most dramatic impact in kit upgrades was going from a CD player to the PSA DS Sr. DAC. That was a HUGE change for the better.
That said, as far as cabling goes, my most expensive endeavor thus far was to add second-hand PSA AC-12 power cables to most of my kit. Hardly, uber-expensive – but the system is none the worse for wear and it is currently humming along at its “best ever” performance level.
FWIW.
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When I first got in to “high end audio,” circa 19ish years old, EVERYTHING was dramatic (including my life). Much of the “drama” was because that’s how everyone else described the sound/changes/differences. Of course, science now knows at that stage of lfe, there are things going on in the brain that makes it that way (ie. why adolescents make great soldiers). I grew up in high end audio in the J Gordon Holt, Stereophile, Absolute Sound, versus Audio Critic (who took the everything sounds the same if it measures the same mantle from Julian Hirsch) days.
Now, being 60, everything is “subtle,” including differences in sound, etc - unless you’re talking Walmart ear buds versus my Maggie 1.6QRs, or my Amazon Echo versus my BHK.
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Agree with most here that the majority of changes are subtle. Some more obvious than others. Uptone’s EtherRegen, Innuos PhoenixUSB and Power Regenerators/Conditioners like the PSA Power Plants & Audioquest Niagara’s come to mind as examples that were clear/without a doubt upgrades (in my system).
However I think it is more the combination of improvements: A cable here. A fuse there. A piece of hardware. Add isolation. Software. Re-route cables. Add a clock. Etc
Everything matters and bundle 5-10 changes of these smaller changes together and it can be dramatic
I know my system is dramatically better now than it was 6 months ago. 12 months. 2 Years. Thanks to forums like these and all the people driven towards achieving better sound
Now of course the cost/benefit ratio of these upgrades is another subject entirely and totally subjective
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I’m a cheap@ss, so for me EVERYTHING gets weighed against cost whether I hear anything or not. I built my Pi4 to try i2s to the DS because it was a way to get direct i2s output without any type of USB bridge/DDC, and it was cheaper than getting a Pink Faun pcie bridge for my PC.
But like going to Costco for just a couple of things, it’s blown up to be a project that is now pretty close to the Pink Faun (but still cheaper). I added two external power supplies (a 3.3v is mandatory for the FifoPi because the power is isolated from the Pi - but I knew that ahead of time), external SSD, custom HDMI cable without pin 18 (not necessary though), casing for the Pi, SSD, and power supplies (and wiring/cables), etc., etc., etc.
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If anybody has an interest in the Mano Ultra I, I own a new one that has never been touched. I opened the box to make sure that all the items were delivered. The streamer was manufactured for voltage for the USA and Canada. It has a special A/C cable and Pink Faun LAN isolator that was mentioned in Hans’ article.
I agree that most changes, tweaks, cables, etc are subtle. Some extremely subtle at best. But the combined effects (sum of all parts) can be great. In my setup, adding an ER was very subtle (maybe even undetectable) in my all-fiber optic LAN. But after I added Finisar SM transceivers and a linear power supply, it became the largest improvement that I have ever experienced in my any system.
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Impressions…?
Why are you not keeping it in your system?
It does look interesting.
TIA.
@jazzbirder - it may well be “the one that got away”!
My Mano Ultra II arrived today and I set it up as soon as I got home. It’s only been playing a few hours so far, but in this short time it has very clearly beat my previous ( and very well run in) Matrix chain, and the Bridge II, both of which are now packed away.
I thought the Matrix was very detailed but this is more again. I thought I had heard every quiver in Melody Gardot’s voice before - nope, there’s more. Double bass (any bass for that matter) is amazing. You hear the instrument as a solo, such as in George Michael’s “Cowboys and Angels”. Lizz Wright’s “Barley” rocked. I double checked my subwoofer (wasn’t on). There’s more space between instruments and voices. It’s a more “live” presentation and presence. I’m hearing things I hadn’t noticed before, on recordings I’ve played over and over before.
@fdemello - thank you so much for this recommendation! I have a couple of hundred or more hours to burn the Mano Ultra II in, yet I’m absolutely thrilled with it, a few hours out of the box!
Roon Nuc+ > ER > AfterDark LAN > Mano Ultra II (SR Blue fuse) > AQ Dragon 48 (I2S) > DSD
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It’s not just detail… it’s micro-detail!! Wow, just wow 
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Great to hear Phillip. Your comments on the improvements from your prior chain are so similar to my observations
It is an outstanding product (especially at that price point). Glad you are enjoying it.
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It’s not a subtle upgrade, but rather a quantum jump to the point of being a different system altogether. There’s a difference even in a few hours of burn in, so I’m very excited. I’ve really got to get ready for bed, but “just one more song”…
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You want the below if Roon:
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I wondered what was better sounding or if the USB options might work better if I fed in my UltraRendu.
Does the unit give options to download other software or is USB just an output.
Anyone compare Aes output to i2s?