Anyway, I dropped my interest and it appears some one else finally bid on them both (I never placed a bid and there were no other bidders) just before the auction ended. I hope whoever bought them post about it somewhere and it's documents online - it'd be funny if HB Bill bought it.

"It all very interesting but all I can really see is an increase of big brother. Everything from your travels, your stops, your speed, your home tv viewing habits, the websites you visit, where and when you spend your money.. etc etc etc.. it keeps going. Every aspect, every movement of your existence is can be retrieved by the powers that be  at any time.

Is it just me but does that all feel unnerving? But it is what it is and it's only going to increase."

I will never have a car with any tracker or anything sending information to anywhere.
Some new cars are coming with these trackers and youtube already has videos showing how to remove them. A step farther is this thing about 15 minute cities where you will be told you can't leave where you live, your freedom will be taken away
As for cars with this the tracker is transmitting to cell towers your info....speed, where you go and at what times, how far you go, miles/klilometers, and more.
This is a totalitarian state, plain and simple. It will be over my dead body. Never will anything be in my car tracking me, sending info to anyone. Nothing will be in my home tracking me like telling me how warm or cold it can be and how to live.
I  am thinking of a new car now while the cars I would buy don't yet have this(or maybe they do!) and it will last as long as I am driving. And the thing here is it's the billionaire corporations doing this not the government...yet. The insurance companies will pay for the information about you. Watch some youtube videos on this and how to remove the tracker. And you can't disable it by turning it off.....it has to be surgically removed!!
We fought wars to keep this stuff like totalitarionism away from here. I will never live in a regime where as you said we are headed. 
And you should think a bit about these smartphones that I will never have that are tracking you, but everyone's addiction to them makes people not care about this till it's too late. They don't have to implant you with a tracker as everyone willingly buys one.


https://youtu.be/5rHLodtOKm4

https://youtu.be/n4FkqJo4J3w

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/rN_RrJLqvJM?feature=share

Somewhere in my head I thought that cellphone transmissions operated under part 15, I guess I presumed that because it doesn't require a license to operate -- so wrong I am, it actually does require a license to operate under FCC Parts 22, 24, or 27 (Licensed Wireless Services), the service provider carries the licence which allows you to transmit without a individual licence..

The reason it even came to my mind was when I came across this recent 'United States V2x Communication Module Market 2026 Analysis and Forecast to 2035 Executive Summary' https://www.indexbox.io/store/united-states-v2x-communication-module-market-analysis-forecast-size-trends-and-insights/

Basically what it talks about how the V2X (Vehicle-to-Everything) module manufacturers are hindered by the FCCs restrictive Part 15 rules

"...certified hardware that passes the stringent US automotive electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) tests per SAE J2954 and FCC Part 15. Supplier qualification cycles are long—typically 18–24 months—creating high barriers to entry for smaller component makers..." "...In short, FCC Part 15 turns what looks like a simple tech product into a multi-million dollar, multi-year regulatory gamble..."

"For nearly two decades, the auto industry focused on DSRC (Dedicated Short-Range Communications), a Wi-Fi-like technology.
Because DSRC operated like Wi-Fi, the vehicle itself acted as an independent radio station.
Under the old rules, any custom Wi-Fi-like radio transmitter built into a car required extensive testing under FCC Part 15 rules to ensure its signals did not leak or disrupt nearby electronics.
This setup placed the entire burden of proof, design loops, and testing costs on the automotive supply chain, resulting in a 24-month bottleneck.
In short: Transitioning to cellular means automakers can stop treating V2X like an unpredictable, unlicensed walkie-talkie (Part 15) and start treating it like a standard, highly regulated cellular device, which slashes months off the qualification timeline. "

Since they found the FCC rules so restricted they opted instead to utilize the licenced cellular network for their "V2X modules" to communicate.

"...FCC Part 15 acts as a legal and financial roadblock for companies trying to enter the U.S. automotive market. It is not just a paperwork step; it is a major hurdle that eliminates many smaller competitors..."

Now this is where it gets interesting.. to me anyway because it seems to reveal something else. I got curious just exactly what these V2X (Vehicle-to-Everything) module do, and here's a general  rundown:

V2X  modules are small electronic components that allow a vehicle to wirelessly communicate in real time with its surrounding environment.

V2V (Vehicle-to-Vehicle): Cars broadcast speed and braking data to nearby cars to prevent crashes.

V2I (Vehicle-to-Infrastructure): Cars talk to traffic lights and road signs to optimize traffic flow.

V2P (Vehicle-to-Pedestrian): Cars detect smartphones carried by pedestrians or cyclists to avoid accidents.

V2N (Vehicle-to-Network): Cars connect to cellular networks for real-time navigation and weather updates.

Such components also allow cars to "see" around corners and through buildings where cameras and radar cannot, this is to prevent accidents, and also act for self-driving cars to coordinate, they reduce gridlock by letting vehicles sync with traffic management systems.

It all very interesting but all I can really see is an increase of big brother. Everything from your travels, your stops, your speed, your home tv viewing habits, the websites you visit, where and when you spend your money.. etc etc etc.. it keeps going. Every aspect, every movement of your existence is can be retrieved by the powers that be  at any time.

Is it just me but does that all feel unnerving? But it is what it is and it's only going to increase.

The DAC is powered via the USB too.. and that's something I've questioned in the past and came to find out that that method is a very common manufacture choice of a trade-off for sake of convenience, it's the configuration the average consumer would want, but higher end DACs usually utilize and external power source -- Yes, it does seem stupid to power the DAC with the laptop when a major advantage to using a DAC is to isolate it from any interference put off by the laptop. -- So that's where a USB data/power splitter cable comes in, they are basic and cheap and it allows you to power your DAC independently.

There's really no configuration involved with the computer, you just plug the DAC in, you might have to install a driver maybe (or not) but that's about it. It's pretty straightforward.

I wasn't insinuating that it does, in fact it actually does the opposite, it distorts it to make it a more suitable for what ever your preference or objective. But processing is not the topic, the topic is the insuring that a quality core source audio is present before it ever reaches any processing gear. The above DAC benchmarks suggest it far exceeds capabilities of most laptop chips for a clean digital to analog conversion, and for a lot cheaper than most any DAC in it's price range - I'm really considering purchasing one, I just don't like paying over $100 for a soundcard - because I agree, it's probably not going to make a $100 dollars worth of difference, certainly not to my ears, but at the same time it seems ridiculous to spend all that damn good money on quality transmitter and processing gear and accessories, but to skimp on the foundation (being the source audio) and trust the cheapest chipset laptop manufacturers can find that's nestled in the cramped amongst electrically noisy laptop circuitry.

I've always used quality soundcards in the past for my station, usually external DACs, I guess it just seems wrong to me not to use one now.