Well, fact is, they tried hard (and pleasantly) twice to get this fixed and our service department failed them both times. When there was a no trouble found we should have know better and walked him through the driver install problem. I am just saddened that it took all this to get us to do what we should have done in the first place. We’re all learning.
Thanks to everyone for the help and I am so happy this got resolved.
Fully understandable.
My objection is to the approach and attitude. We all have problems with various products. It happens, especially with complex computer based toys. A bit of patience and perseverance is all it takes.
Under the present circumstances, there was no reason for a customer’s friend to go on the attack - especially not deliberately going out of his way to do so.
If you would, please ask Dave if there are any pointers he can pass on that would help the next person who may come upon this thread, especially if there was anything unique or surprising.
I suggest also updating/expanding the “How To” article on driver installation. It needs updating anyway to accommodate Windows 10, where the Control Panel is harder to find that it used to be. I wish everyone a happy 2016, free from computer problems (and all other gremlins).
The first pointer for better results I recommend is that if you are having unsatisfactory customer service from PS Audio, please know that it is due to miscommunication rather than incompetence or indifference. One of the most stressful parts of the job is to deal with understanding and correcting problems remotely. Sometimes they are easy, but often times they are not, and decisions get made with less than perfect clarity. There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t feel like we could have done something better, and I feel my entire group takes their performance personally, but this isn’t the first, or likely the last instance where we have fallen short.
Second pointer is to realize that computer audio is not as easy as it should be. Paul has a vision for how to make things much better, but advancing the state of the art doesn’t come easy. It will take awhile. Working with a customer as patient and helpful as Bill, makes it alot easier. No one should be concerned about asking for assistance to work through the arcane hoops the programmers make us jump through.
Thank you for the suggestion on improving our communication on driver installation. We are working on more outreach information for our customers. I will try to move this topic up the list.
Lastly, in case there is value in understanding the troubleshooting process, here is the sequence Bill and I went through:
Because the USB hardware was double checked, I had complete confidence that this wasn’t a circuit problem. So, there was a good thing associated with the ‘No Problem Found’ return to the factory.
The first step was to see if there was any recognition that a USB device had been connected to the computer. On my machine you hear a Boo-Boop noise when you plug something into the USB port. That was not the case with this machine, so we had to navigate through the control panel to the Device manager to see that there was a USB audio device connected in the Sound, Video and Game controller section. We verified this was due to the DAC by disconnecting the USB cable and noticing that the USB audio device went away, and came back when it was reinserted.
Because it just said it was a USB device and not a PS Audio USB device, it was clear that the driver was not in place. It could have been the case that the driver was there, and wasn’t functioning correctly. That is a much harder problem to solve, but in this case it just appeared to be missing entirely.
We downloaded, unzipped, and installed the driver without problem. Voila! Green lock light on the DAC.
Bill was using iTunes, and that doesn’t allow you to select where you direct the music output. At least I couldn’t see a way to do it, but unlike Paul, I avoid Apple products as much as possible, so there may be something you can do directly from the program. Anyway, we went back to the Control Panel to the manage audio devices section, and told the Windows 7 computer to use the PS Audio DAC as the default location for routing the sound output.
Went back to iTunes, selected a track, hit play, and smiled.
Thank you, Dave!
A great approach.
I am pleased to learn it was a straight forward driver issue and not any more complex than this. Many of us forget that what is routine for us is not necessarily for others.
I fully understand continuous self-criticism; my inner voice never goes quiet. And has plenty of material with which to work.