Hello all,
I am having trouble installing the latest WHQL_v2 USB driver for a Directstream DAC v1. I have tried rolling back the firmware to Windom, tried Windows 10 & Windows 11 machines but with no luck. The installation gets stuck at stage shown in the attached picture.
The older USB_ASIO driver works so I know it is not a connection problem.
Any insights into troubleshooting this?
TIA
SS
Welcome!
Are you trying to install from a USB drive? Have you tried another one and please also check to have the drive fat32 formated.
Edit:
Good luck!
Forgive my ignorance but why are you trying to install this driver, AFAIK the only thing that makes sense is to download a new firmware (such as Sunlight) onto an SD card and then into the dac.
You download the firmware via your computer into the root directory of a SD card. You then turn the Directstream dac off and insert the SD card (IIRC upside down) into the rear of the dac and when you power the dac on the blue light will flash whilst it reads the new firmware off of the SC card.
He appears to be trying to install the Windows drivers so he can play music from a Windows computer to his DAC. In that case talk about Windom etc is not relevant.
You need to have your DAC connected to the windows machine you are installing the PS Audio driver software. Use a decent USB cable. Have the DAC powered up and connected via USB. Then retry the driver installation program again.
If you have done these things and you are still stuck in the same spot you may need to call support at PS Audio. Asking for help here gets responses that are less than helpful.
One thing you might try is not plugging the USB cable into the computer until you see that message. It will be looking for the next USB item that is plugged in. I think that may be the secret.
As others have mentioned, ‘Windom’ is a version of firmware, software designed to execute on the DAC’s internal computer module. The USB/ASIO driver also provided by PS Audio is designed to run on the (Windows) computer to which you connect your DAC. They are separate and independant pieces of software.
As @aangen mentioned above, taking the well-intentioned advice from forum members for issues like this is problematic in itself. However, if you have some experience using Windows drivers then there are some things you can try. If you have any doubt whatsoever then you should contact PS Audio support directly.
From what you’ve described, it looks like you may have a driver incompatibility issue, one which Windows will not allow the driver installation program to fix.
You can check the operation of the PS Audio driver by running on your Windows computer (even Windows 11) a legacy Control Panel applet called ‘Sound’ (mmsys.cpl). If you press the ‘Windows’ key and the ‘R’ key together, it will show a popup window allowing you to run a program. Enter ‘mmsys.cpl’ in the ‘Open’ field and press ‘Enter’. You should see a window pop up similar to this snip.
You should see an entry for the PS Audio ‘audio device’. If so, click on the ‘Properties’ button and a window will pop up similar to the following snip.
Click on the ‘Properties’ button in the ‘Controller Information’ box and a window will pop up showing the current status of the driver, similar to the following snip.
If all seems OK, you can view all the apps installed on your computer by running the Control Panet applet called ‘appwiz.cpl’. A window will appear showing a list of applications installed on your computer. Look through the list searching for the PS Audio USB driver. I would show you a screenshot of what’s installed on my PC but, since I started using the Matrix Audio ASIO driver, I no longer need the PS Audio driver. In fact, I think they’re mutually exclusive anyway, which may be why you are having an issue. Do you have installed another ASIO driver? Anyway, here’s a snip of the ‘appwiz’ entry for my Matrix Audio driver.
If you’re confident you’ve found the correct PS Audio driver, you can right-click on the entry which will give you the option to ‘uninstall’ the driver. At this point, as Al suggested above, it’s probably best to disconnect the USB cable to the DAC. If there are no issues with the uninstallation, you can try again to run the driver installation program. If no issues, try again to connect the DAC.
Hope this helps. 
Excellent post! Respect!
Thank you for your excellent post Michael. I was leaning towards driver incompatibility / dll conflict myself but did not know where to look under the hood. I will follow your suggestions and report back.
As I stated in my original post it is not a connection issue - I am able to use the older driver and playback music. I use Audirvana and the dac is identified as “Perfectwave” by the program. FWIW I have an original Directstream (with network bridge) not an upgraded Perfectwave.
Thank you all for your replies - I really appreciate it.
SS
Problem solved … for now!
Spoke again with PS Audio and it turns out that the new driver only works with Directstream DACs manufactured in 2022 or later.
Since mine is an older unit I will have to settle for the older driver - shows up as “Perfectwave” in Audirvana but that is the only option for now.
Thanks to all who read and responded to my post.
Thank you for the follow up.
