Sorry that I have not responded until now....there was nothing to report until today as I finally received my 381 back from repair. Needless to say, I never heard back from Steve H. So much for that. So I turned to my only logical choice: I talked with Brett at Wadia and he took my 381 in for repair. Brett was of the opinion that the current conveyor modules were the source of my gremlins--so he installed the new modules (the repair order says "WS7i Swift Current). He also replaced the electronics associated with the front panel display to an updated, more reliable version (I was having sporadic issues with the unit not responding to remote or direct front panel button commands--the front panel repair is supposed to fix this annoyance). Finally, he secured a loose pad associated with the DAC that Steve had installed as part of his mod. ALL of Steve's mods were left in the unit--I guess that may be a good thing--or not--who knows. So far, no static sounds and or any of the previously noted extraneous and inappropriate noise--just a silent background--finally! It is too soon to say how my "new" 381 compares with the original modded unit before new current conveyors as far as improvements in sound quality--but so far so very, very good!!