Can't maintain Mac settings

I am using a three year old Macbook Air as my server for Roon…it has El Capitan 10.11.2 and I am using the latest version of Roon.
This is connected by USB to a PS Audio Directstream Dac; I have a hard drive attached to the Air containing about 600 of my favorite CD rips.
I set the Mac preferences the sound output of the DAC which shows up on the preferences panel, and the Audio Midi Utility is also set to 352, as per the maximum out put of the DAC.
I utilize the system output of Roon.
The problem is simply this: the Mac settings aren’t stable and frequently change to other choices in sound preferences and Midi…this of course ruins the whole experience as I constantly have to reset.
HELP! (Please)

Hi,

Using the computers audio system typically leads to a poor experience, that’s why most of us avoid it.
Are you not able to select the PS Audio Directstream DAC directly in Roon?

Hey @Carl_Chernoffgive this a read.

I think you’ll do much better with things configured as described there than you will using the system output.

Yes; I started using that and have had stability in the past; but last night, it was jumping all over the place and so I switched to system output which seemed steadier. Indeed, it played for quite some time without interruption after I switched. When I went to turn the system off for the night, I noticed that here too, the system had wandered, yet it didn’t seem to affect the playback.

I just went to Settings; although the PS Audio is shown as a choice, you cannot select it, or click on an “Enable” setting…the only thing that seems to work is System Output.

Please see below…I cannot select PS Audio

Any other software open? HQPlayer? Something else taking control of the DirectStream?

I assume you’ve rebooted both the DirectStream and the Macbook Air?

No other programs open on PS Audio
I just did a reboot and am playing something on TIDAL
So far so good

Keeps on disconnecting today…could it be that the Jitterbug I am using with the USB cable is interfering?
As an experiment, I took the Jitterbug out and am now playing…five minutes…so far, so good…

Interesting. We haven’t heard of many issues with the Jitterbug, but let me know how it goes @Carl_Chernoff.

So far, so good…

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