Major dropout in simple Banana setup

[LTEAK]

I had streaming audio (from VLC or a browser) running fine, but now I am getting major dropout, as shown in the first attachment. One second or so every five or ten seconds. This is with no mic input and no output other than my headset.

I have tried running everything at 24x48000, 24x41400 and 16x41400, and every buffer setting from very low to very high settings and a lot of tries in between. I have also tried shifting my A1, 2 & 3 inputs between WMD, KS & MME to the extent choices exist. Windows default input & output have been changed to VoiceMeeter VAIO, and all applications are set in Windows to "default" input & output. And of course I have rebooted. The sound is coming into the VAIO strip, as shown.

I have read online many articles & posts and watched Youtubes about dropout, statics, stuttering & choppy audio. I haven't seen dropout described that is as aggressive as what I show below. And I'm stumped.

Thoughts on what may be amiss, or what I should try?

[Vincent Burel]

you see the red 'R' beside MENU !?
it means you have activated the option "auto restart audio engine on all device" in Voicemeeter menu...

then will restart audio engine every 5 second if one of your devices is disconnected (shown in red)

[LTEAK]

Ah, I see. Thanks.

The auto restart feature is only mentioned in the Banana User Manual but not described. On p.28 it may be good to add to the mention of it there that it repeats every 5 seconds and causes a cutout and that it displays the "R" when active.

I was trying to find a way around plug-&-play problems with USB mics on my laptop. But I will start a new topic on that later and how I think a fix could potentially be made in a future version.

Thanks for your help. I never would have figured out the "R" thing otherwise.