[Help] Trouble Shooting my Fiio E9

I just received my FiiO E7/E9 combo in the mail today and was pretty excited to try them out, only to be a bit frustrated with the ensuing situation.

When I hook the E9 amp up to my computer via USB, sound is not routed through the E9 but is instead played through my desktop speakers (essentially the computer is not detecting there is anything connected at the other end of the USB).  The E7 by itself works upon hooking directly up to the computer via USB.  The E7 when docked to the E9 prevents sounds from playing through the desktop speakers, but does not allow sound to be played through the headphones.  Essentially the computer is detecting now that there is a product on the other end of the USB, but sound is being blocked from playing through the headphones it seems.

Am I incorrectly hooking up the E9?  I have connected the power and the usb in the back.  The red light is on in the front when i turn on the dial.  I hope I'm doing something wrong because I really don't want to go through an RMA process! :(

Correct.  I get sound through the E7 by itself.  As soon as the E9 is introduced, either by itself or with the E7 docked, there is no sound being transmitted through the headphones.

I received a response from FiiO asking if the light on the E9 turned blue at all, it maintains a red light throughout the entire spectrum of the dial.  Is it normal for the front light on the E9 to be blue?

Yes, both the E7 and E9 are on when docked.  The computer recognizes there's something at the end of the USB cable when they're docked as it shuts down my desktop speakers, but no sound is played through the headphones.  I've been offered an RMA by FiiO.  Unfortunately I was planning on testing out a few headphones this weekend with this amplifier in hopes of determining a future purchase.  It doesn't seem likely that they would be able to send out a replacement in time if they require my defective unit to arrive before shipping the replacement. :(

Thanks for the tip, I just tried the line-in however and it too was not providing sound.  I guess I'll be heading to the post office tomorrow and hope for some lightning turn around on Micca's end.