SMSL SU-9 not showing up in Windows 11 even though it's showing 44.1kHz

[Jinster]

Hi everyone. My SMSL SU-9 (the original, not 9n, not pro, not ultra) worked fine on a Windows 10 machine. I recently added a new Windows 11 machine. The SU-9 is not showing up at all, despite installing (the one and only) USB DAC driver from SMSL's official website.

I know the device is plugged in and powered on properly. The DAC itself actually displays "44.1kHz" under the USB symbol when the USB cord is plugged in. When unplugged, it says "no signal". So it's definitely connected and doing something.

But in the XMOS USB DAC Driver Control Panel, under USB Audio Devices it says "no devices connected".

Naturally without it being an actual present audio device, I cannot get any program to direct sound through it...

 

[Vincent Kars]

Why don't you try using the standard Windows USB audio drivers?

 

[Jinster]

Why don't you try using the standard Windows USB audio drivers?

Not quite sure what you mean. I would have thought if the standard driver picked up the SMSL SU-9, it would have been automatically installed and the SU9 would show up as an audio output device in Windows 11.

It doesn't show up as an audio device. So the standard driver didn't install.

Do you mean the standard driver requires manual install somehow? Doesn't sound like Windows 11.

 

[Vincent Kars]

In the past Win didn't support UAC2 (USB Audio Class 2) hence one needed to install a third party driver to use UAC2.
Today Windows is fully UAC2 compatible.

despite installing (the one and only) USB DAC driver from SMSL's official website.

I read the OP as that you have installed the driver from SMSL first. If so, de-install and try standard Win drivers.
You might try the Device Manager, locate the USB DAC and check if there is an error reported.

The Well-Tempered Computer

 

[DVDdoug]

Does it show-up under audio settings?

If it shows-up make sure it's enabled and check your Privacy Settings.

Is it showing-up in Windows Device Manage under Universal Serial Bus Controllers? If you're not sure which one it is, try unplugging and re-plugging to identify it. Sometimes right-clicking and uninstalling and then re-plugging will run an automatic driver re-install and clear-up problems.

 

[Jinster]

No. I waited for Windows 11 to install the standard driver, but it never did. SU9 doesn't show up as an audio device and there is no USB device in Device Manager with a question mark to suggest Windows even picked "something" up at all.

That's why I installed the factory SMSL driver, which didn't work either.

The weird thing about all this is, the DAC itself knows it's connected to a source - because the LCD window on the DAC says: "44.1kHz" when it's plugged into the PC, and that message disappears when disconnected.

So the DAC knows it's plugged in to a PC, but the PC (Windows 11) doesn't recognise it as anything. Weird.

It still works perfectly fine when I swapped it back to my Windows 10 machine...