my understanding of the situation is continuing to evolve. i've isolated the proper components, it's just a question of getting them in the right order.

the reinstall with the registry run removed eliminated all bleeding, but brought me back to the point where the highs are turning off and on. but, i've learned that this is not random, as i previously thought. rather, it's connected to the streaming proxy service - the broken clock.

when this service is launched, i get the full spectrum. when it's not, i get reduced highs. and, when it turns off [as it does], i get those annoying cut-outs.

but, the service doesn't launch through foobar - it only launches through cubase. again, this is explanatory, as i was noticing that cubase sounds differently than foobar. the service will sometimes stay on after i close cubase, at which point the foobar out will keep the highs - until it stops, when the highs drop. further, whether it launches with cubase or not is sporadic.

the firmware flash is no longer modifying the output, which indicates that the issue was in fact in the registry. but, it's also made it more difficult to get back to the sweet spot. the flash doesn't always work.

i strongly suspect that the point i'm at right now was the starting point; the sound is acceptable, and probably defines the differences i was noticing previously between the different hardware, and just thought was hardware dependent. it's relatively mild. but, now that i know it's not clean, i have to fix it.

the basic problem seems to be that the service is no longer connected to the devices.

but, i know that if i connect the service to the devices via the registry run on the install then i get fading.

i'm also noticing that the other card in the machine is maintaining consistency with the weak highs. in the past, i may have misinterpreted this - i may have taken the consistency as indicating both cards were working, and then concluded the output was solid, when in fact there seems to be a root problem that is affecting both cards.

there's two things i can try.

the first is that i can try a reinstall without breaking that first aspect of the clock. as mentioned before, it's only that first part that i'm certain i was reinstalling and only the first that windows is recognizing post-break. the other two, i'm just blurry about. i'll have to check to see what i get out of that - and i can do partial installs for this purpose.

if that creates the same basic issue, the next step is to put that part back in the registry run on the driver install.

if that brings me back to the bleeding, i can try and take out the entire clock break.

so, that means i'm now going beyond trying to get back to where i was and trying to fix a problem that was there the whole time but that i never noticed.

i don't think it will be much longer. i'm pretty sure i've got my head around this, now - i'm no longer taking guesses. the guesses have isolated the issue, and now i'm zeroing in on it.