Alright so, here's an update. The focusrite I got wasn't even the right model, the only way to change the sample rate was to go into the actual folder on my pc, find the ASIO control .exe and use a drag down box in it to manually select the desired sample rate. And there was no way to know about this on ANY of the packaging that came with it. It would randomly become heavily distorted, a friend with a focusrite (not even the same model) was having the same issue as well as someone on the Amazon product page where I had bought it. We'd have to completely unplug the device and replug it. I sent it back and got the DBX 286S preamp and it's all I need. The cloudlift is sitting in my box of excess goodies. No more distortion, just clear goodness. But then came this interference when playing games that would appear through my mic, and in silence I could hear it in my headphones without any playback option selected. It was completely based on frame rate, the higher it was, the higher the pitch. The lower the frame rate, the lower the pitch. Got to reading a now closed thread here about that issue. Even though it was based on speakers for the most part, there was still useful information. The DBX was plugged into the same power outlet as my computer. Interference was traveling through the power outlet from my computer to the preamp all I had to do was plug it into another outlet. And for this slight buzzing in the background of my mic in CSGO(online fps which tends to amplify microphones due to the crappy VOIP) I spaced any power chords from mic cables and straightened the power chord to my DBX out, there was a kink in it or something that was also causing some background noise. This has been quite the learning experience lol