System optimizations?

[Mullet]

Thanks @swizzle for the links. Looking at that Archimago article it looks like he's suggesting that there is no noise introduced by USB output of the Pi. I use a DAC called the Gamma2... https://www.amb.org/audio/gamma2/ via it's USB input. Any incoming signal is up-sampled and re-clocked to 24/96 automatically and I don't hear any discernible noise, etc.

Using top I'm only apparently using 1% with MPD tops. Looks like I can considerably lower the clock speed, etc. to see if it makes for a more euphonic experience.