Thanks,
And yes, I did just find Frode’ s post from 8-2014,
…and he attached photos from the DS DAC screen with the USB input …and it worked.
Yes, the DS USB input worked fine and stable with the Aries.
The Hydra Z is just to utilize the I2s input of the DS and has purely to do with sound quality.
Thanks to Frode post 14: After a night of complete shutdown and reboot of my DS and Aries, The USB connection was reconigized in the lighting app. I checked the USB 2 connection and am now up and running. Apologize for my previous rant re serious issues with DS and Aries USB connection. I’m a 67 year old newbie to this hobby and once in awhile experience frustration like back in the day with early PC windows. This Forum has been very insightful in increasing my knowledge and interest in the hobby.
Fixed!
Thanks to all in this great forum…reading and thinking about how to approach a problem by hearing other people’s experiences and their solutions is priceless…I certainly appreciate it!
You won’t believe this …but I tried a different USB cable, “wire world starlight USB 3.0” and it worked perfectly…no crashes no freezes.
I plugged it in, checked the software appeared as “PS AUDIO USB 2.0 Audio”
I wonder if the “USB 3.0 cable” is necessary… or if I just needed a different cable.
(I just happen to have this usb cable for ripping CDs from my computer, and thought I’d give it a try.)
Yes!
dcuscela, you won’t believe how many of the so called ‘Highend cable manufacturers’ that do not comply with the USB standard. A low cost stock cable is the one to try when you run into these problems. They normally comply with the USB standard and as do the DS DAC.
BWcm10;
Not to worry - been there, done that!
The guidelines are based on MY rants 
Excellent news.
Ranting is allowed. 
Well done, Frode!
+1