PS Audio NuWave DAC - Identifying and Fixing Hum or Buzz; Systematic Hum;Buzz Elimination Process

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Troubleshooting 7
®
Troubleshooting
©2012 PS Audio International Inc. All rights reserved.
Owner’s Reference NuWave DAC
1) Download the PS Audio USB Audio 2.0 Driver le located at http://updates.psaudio.com/
MarkIIUSBDriver/USB-2.0Driver-V1.22.0.zip
- Note that this driver will download as a zipped (compressed) folder that contains 15 individual les.
2) Once downloaded, unzip the folder. This is done by right-clicking the folder and selecting ‘extract
all’ from the list of options.
- This will create a new folder containing the uncompressed les you will need.
3) Open the new folder you just created and double-click the le called ‘Setup’. This will begin the
installation process.
- There are two les named ‘Setup’. The one that needs to be clicked has an icon that looks like a
computer with a black screen. It is the only le with this appearance.
4) After a couple of minutes, you will be prompted to connect the device you want to install. At this
time, connect your NWD to your computer. Shortly after, your USB driver installation will nish.
5) To complete the entire process and begin listening to music, click Start > Control Panel > Sound.
Select the speaker icon that says ‘PS Audio PerfectWave’ as its description. Now click ‘Set Default’
and check ‘Default Device’. Click OK. This driver was developed for the PerfectWave DAC and the
USB input on the NWD is identical to the PerfectWave DAC and thus named “PerfectWave”.
6) Next and while still in the Control Panel click on-> Speaker Properties so the window appears, click
the Advanced tab and select the highest resolution you will be playing over the USB connection and
click OK.
If you experience a hum through the speakers this can be caused by several things. The rst is the
source. If there is an excessive amount of buzz or noise from the loudspeaker, it may be caused by
a ground loop, a light dimmer in the home, poor AC power, or any number of causes. The quickest
way to determine where to start your search is to simply turn the preamplier, integrated, receiver or
Control Amplier off, disconnect the audio cables between it and the NWD, and see if the hum goes
away when you turn the preamplier, integrated, receiver or Control Amplier back on. If it does, it’s
most likely a ground loop or buzz from a dimmer.
If this doesn’t solve the problem, reconnect the NWD and follow these easy humbusting tips.
The easiest way to gure out where ground loop problems lie is by the process of elimination. You
need to determine where the hum or buzz is coming from within your system.
If the hum/buzz goes away when you remove the inputs to the power amp, your next step will be
to reconnect the amp and move further down the chain. If you were working with a receiver or an
integrated amplier, you will need to jump to step 4. If you have a preamp, or processor that is feeding
If you have hum
or buzz
Process of
elimination