“maybe if one day I can grasp one reason why those things work, I will.”
Here is one reason you stated in your first post, 2nd paragraph 😊
“I believe just about anything can affect sound.”
Ethernet Clocking
i had previously reported that adding an Antelope 10m rubidium clock to the Etherregen results in major tightening of soundstage and location of individual instruments. To my great surprise adding filtering on the BNC 75 Ohms connection between clock and Etherregen results in substantial additional benefits. The filter used is a Mini-Circuits BLP-10.7-75+ DCto11MHZ model.
We are only beginning to understand how to maintain clean clocking on digital connections, it is of paramount importance to SQ.