The Aardvark Direct Pro 2496 and LX6 outputs are very 'hot' compared to most other cards. Because of this, the low noise floor they have is also equally louder. Mackie ships the monitor speakers with the input sensitivity adjustment in 'normal' position, which is actually fairly high gain. To compensate for the Aardvark's high output, you should turn this screw adjustment down most of the way, probably even below the first tick mark. Note turning them to the 'off' position will turn the gain off and you will have no signal. But this combination will work fine.