You are right. It’s been a long time since I hooked up a new RPi/DAC.
So, I just tested by turning off an already recognized DAC. That way it still shows in Settings==>Audio.
If I power on a Rpi without a DAC connected it won’t show up until the DAC is connected.
The DAC shows up when ‘Device Setup’ is entered.
BTW - I’m old at this, so length of time isn’t necessarily a factor. 
The was the problem, it was not plugged into my Bel Canto DAc 2.5, once I did that it was all up and running.
Thanks JDH
Glad you got it going.
Ive just been setting a pi4 up with Ropieee.
Had the same issue as the OP for the first three attempts - just a 4 flash repeat and no activity showing on the LAN port. Was starting to think I had a dodgy pi as had re-flashed the card 3 times.
Anyway, turns out it must have been a bad card (was a new card also).
Cracked open a different new card - formatted, flashed and Bingo!
Must say, Im amazed at how fast from inserting the power cable to having Ropieee ready for login was - super speedy.
Have a zen DAC plugged in / powerd via the USB at the moment and it sounds great pushing a pair of A2C.
Very nice indeed.
Great job @spockfish 
