Help on Voicemeeter and VAC utilisation

[HerbéLePrudent]

Hi,
First of all i would like to thank Vincent and all the team for this great tool that's Voicemeeter.
I'm new in all of this, so sorry in advance for my noobness....

I'd would like to apply an EQ on my first input device (wich is my mic, plugged in Roland Quad Capture AI), but i figured out quickly that the EQ was going to be applied on all audio's sources from my computer.
Thats why i downloaded VAC, and taking my PC's audio directly in second input slot.

But facts are there are multiples plugins used, and then.. latency ! To explain quickly, I managed to reduce the latency to be very close, but here my question :
Am I able, through Asio patch strips, to directly grab the system's sound and to put it into my input number 2, in order to work with one and only one audio driver? https://ibb.co/HBPCKcy
(Dont pay attention to red A1 hardware input. I completly unistalled and reinstalled all audio components (VAC, Voicemeeter...) reading step by step your recommandations on others topics of this forum, and now its working. (I hope it will work!)
For the record I use my Asio Roland Quad Capture on A1, A2 input is WDM output VAC, and A2 hardware output is KS 1-2 (from my Roland)
https://ibb.co/S0yWjLG


I might know the answer, but as I said, i'm kinda noob.
In the case where its not possible, what are your advices to delete latency through the utilisation of 2 audio drivers ? You seem like to know your topic perfectly.

At the end, i've been told that some crackling sounds were in my signal on discord.
My AI is very old, and I didn't use it for a while ( Morever, the first input is damage so ... and its a 2011 AI. I guess there were a lot of changes between this time and now.) which includes potiental dust in it ect. Im up to going back to basics with a M4 from Motu.
Do you think, getting a brand new AI, changing the XLR câble to a better one, and refine your setting's set up are the best moves to avoid crackling sound ? Is there something else we could do more ?

Thats a lot of text, and I apologize for this in advance.
I'm in no rush! I wish all of you nice holidays and wish you the best in thoses dark times.

Take care !

Best regards