Some positive developments for my Pulse X:
1. Used to experience random dropouts. Installed LatencyMon and found that my gigabit network driver was causing USB latency issues. Updating my network driver seem to have eliminated the audio dropouts, but I now disable my gigabit network as this is a notebook on wireless network anyways. Now, audio dropout problem solved!
2. Used to have to power cycle my Pulse X to get my notebook to handshake with my Pulse X. Was on firmware 1v5. Contacted support and was provided 2v0 firmware, which eliminated the need for power cycling but broke DSD playback. Turned out support assumed my Pulse X was a X-Fi or X-Infinity and provided me with the wrong firmware (although I repeatedly mentioned my Pulse as "Pulse X" and provided my serial number). Support finally understood my Pulse is a "Pulse X-STD" and provided the correct 2v0 firmware. Now, no more power cycling and DSD playback works!
(Recommend all Pulse users to contact support to get latest 2v0 firmware if yours is not already on 2v0. Make sure you indicate clearly the model of your Pulse, e.g. Pulse X-STD, or X-Fi or X-Infinity)
3. Used not to have mu-metal shield, even though it was from 2013 crowdfunding batch. Obtained RMA to install mu-metal shield. Luckily there is a LHLabs service center in Singapore where I am located. Service center staff responded within an hour of contacting, dropped off my Pulse X in the evening and mu-metal shield was installed and ready for collection the next morning! Kudos to the Singapore service center for fast and friendly service!
Finally, my Pulse X is fully functioning and with all components as it should have 1.5 years after it was delivered to me. While I am disappointed by all the hoops I had to jump over to finally have a reliable product, I have to say LHLabs did provide support to resolve the issues I faced with my Pulse X.
I hope I will eventually see my Geek Wave delivered...