Tacit

Ahem, so where are the subtitles?…

Ross Wars! Episode II: The Mold strikes back.

Yeah; well, overgaining is also bad, if you have sound clipping in loud segments. And we all know Ross likes to scream at things

Ahem. This is likely a HW problem, but there is a way to prove it, if you can 1) test DAC on another PC, where you'd be allowed to install drivers for it (even a tablet or a smartphone would do, if there are Android or iOS drivers), or 2) switch back to Xonar (just for testing, not using actually). As for now this seems to be a bug in the DAC's analog circuit controlling amp gain — some sort of loose wire or a component having bad contact with the PCB. You can open the DAC, clean it from dust and look for anything loose. Another cause — volume/gain knob (a variable resistor) on the front wears out, if you move it often (or never). There are two on this model (mike and instrument), so you can try second one with a mike having a 1/4" jack and no phantom power. If you've found a faulty knob, slowly turn it around target value a few times — it may enhance the contact (temporarily). Anyway, other audio devices (like motherboard audio) should work fine with the same set of microphones.

I'm eager to see Magda's comment as well. Хоть на русском, przynajmniej po polsku «В общественном парижском туалетеЕсть надписи на русском языке!» ©В.Высоцкий.

Just a side-note: Судя по половине написанных тут комментов, вот это — «Ross' fan base consists mostly of Americans» — как миниммум неточно, а то и совершенно неверно Но для Росса это даже хорошо. Росс и Магда — держитесь, вам помогут где угодно!

While it's certainly not my «bzzness», but if moving out of Poland is still on the desk, and saving money on food and services is the primary criterion (while still having a decent life quality and assured internet connection) — there is a better choice than Ukraine, Crimea, Bulgaria, etc. It's Belarus. Food prices are about the same as Russia's (and cheaper, than Poland's), and services are way cheaper than just about anywhere else. See the comparison between neighboring countries: https://noi.md/ru/news_id/209137 (will require translation from Russian). Leaving Gdansk, one can save 100-200 $/month for house heating alone. Total services for a 50 sq.m. flat in Minsk is just about 15-25 $/month An obvious drawback (for any such movings) — at least one of you (since you're with a lady) have to overcome the language barrier. Learning Belorussian may be a bit easy for a native Polish speaker, but learning Russian (which is omnipresent in Belarus and acts as a second official language) is more far-sighted: it's easy to find a good teacher for, you'd have to learn Cyrillic letters anyway, and there are much more Russian media and speakers to choose from. So if either of you would like to do that — start before moving. Otherwise you're left with relocation within Poland only, which wouldn't bring on much savings. But here a tip anyway: don't rent a flat on a first nor last floor in a multi-store building. It'll be either cold and-or mouldy, or expensive.