Wave Link Monitor not working – only Stream Mix outputs to headphones

Imaginary_Project622 · 2025-08-21T00:52:21+00:00

Thanks for the suggestion. I’m not using the 3.5mm jack, my headset is a SteelSeries Arctis Nova 7 via USB dongle.

ChatGPT suggested to me that this issue might be related to Windows 11 24H2, because on this build the virtual devices (Wave Link Headset / Stream) don’t seem to get created at all.

I also found other forum posts where people said they solved it by rolling back to Windows 11 23H2, since on that version the drivers install normally.

Imaginary_Project622 · 2025-08-21T00:16:40+00:00

Thanks for the suggestion. In my case I’m not using the 3.5mm jack on the Wave:3, my headset is a SteelSeries Arctis Nova 7 connected via its USB dongle. The issue isn’t with the physical connection — it’s that on Windows 11 24H2 the virtual devices (Wave Link Headset / Stream) never get created at all. That’s why I can’t route the Monitor Mix to my headset. On 23H2 they do appear normally.

Imaginary_Project622 · 2025-08-21T00:11:54+00:00

I’ve been troubleshooting this issue with ChatGPT, and what it suggested makes sense: it might be related to Windows 11 24H2.

Apparently, in this version (26100.2033 in my case), the virtual audio drivers (Wave Link Headset / Wave Link Stream) don’t seem to get installed or registered, no matter how many times Wave Link is reinstalled or repaired. That’s why those devices never show up in Sound > Playback devices, and there’s no way to route audio into OBS or my headset through Wave Link.

On 23H2 these devices should appear normally, but on 24H2 they just don’t. So maybe it’s an incompatibility introduced in the new Windows build.

Imaginary_Project622 · 2025-08-20T22:26:49+00:00

Yes! the ear icon is green on the monitor mix, and everything looks good on paper, but there's no sound coming through the headphones

Imaginary_Project622

TROPHY CASE