There is absolutely nothing irrational about being concerned with possible “tone suck.” We care about the same things. That being said, using modes like DSP or DSP+FX make up for impedance mismatches that may exist in a signal chain. This is usually the case, for example, when you have a guitar signal being routed to a low impedance input, like an audio interface or other. Such a mismatch causes “tone suck.” DSP and DSP+FX also come in handy if you’re running long cables. These modes essentially make the H9 act as a buffer and recondition your signal strength. One pitfall often discussed with these modes, and practically all digital pedals, is latency; however, the amount of latency added going in and out of our converters is negligible. The best thing for you to do is trust your own ears. Experiment with both modes and answer two questions for yourself: does it sound good and does it feel good? In closing, as already discussed, the pitfall with choosing Relay mode is not being able to have trails when you bypass the H9. Personally, I never take my Eventide pedals off DSP+FX mode.
