computer not sending signal to usb/spdif converter

Steve, one more thing. What baffles me is that my very first attempt at this was successful in showing "hiface". I went to System Preferences and it showed a bar for "hiface". I of course clicked that, highlighting it. I then went to Midi and again, it allowed me to choose "hiface" as the output. I simply didn't get any sound and the dac's display showed that it wasn't getting a signal. I then tried the 10.6 from M2tech and that's when the SHTF. From then on, "hiface" hasn't been shown as an available output.

Steve, thanks for the info.

Ok. First, I trashed everything I downloaded so I had a fresh start. I unplugged my usb per your instructions. From M2Tech's site, I downloaded 10.5. My computer is 10.5.8 so I guess this is the right one. I unzipped it, and opened the file. The "installer" screen came up and asked for my password which I entered. It read "Install Succeeded". My next move had two attempts. 1) After "Install Succeeded", I plugged in the usb interface, then restarted the computer per the programs instructions. 2) After "Install Succeeded", I restarted the computer THEN plugged in the usb interface. After both attempts the next move was to go to System Preferences and choose the "hiface" output. Both attempts were unsuccessful. Both times when I went to System Preferences my only option was the built in optical output. I went to Midi and again, it only showed built in output, It would not show any "hiface".

If I have a 10.5.8 OSX, then I think the 10.5 driver is the correct one??? I guess I can try downloading other drivers but they are 10.4 and 10.6. I can't imagine any of them being the correct one.

If I understand correctly, I think the new 2.0 interface from M2tech DOES NOT require downloading a driver. If so, that's what I'm going to do.

Once again, any help would be greatly appreciated.

You must use the correct OS driver. You must also install it correctly. First run the dmg file, which will unzip and execute creating a container. Then execute the container. It will ask for your computer password. When its done, then plug the USB cable. Then select the device in system preferences - audio/sound. Then if you are playing from iTunes, make sure that the sample-rate matches the rate in utilities - audio MIDI.

Steve N.
Empirical Audio