I've been watching quite a bit of Olympics so far, the men's 4x100 relay last night was crazy. It's not everyday you see a world record get destroyed by 4 seconds.
The DA100 Signature looks interesting, and even has an i2s input for the matching transport that's available. Another option might be the PS Audio Digital Link III or if your willing to go used something like this: Meridian 566
Had a great time, listened to hardly anything, just the BHSE which is fantastic btw. Nice to finally meet vicki, mike and a few others and nice to see some familiar faces as well.
Sounds right, bad memory is one of the more common causes of crashes. Most memory comes with a lifetime warranty these days so you should try to RMA it with the manufacturer.
In your batch #1 photo, the 2nd tube from the left the sylvania with the green lettering. Looks like a 6sn7w short bottle to me, very nice tube one of my favorite 6sn7's actually.