I had my Forte for over 1 year and also had this issue. I usually could close out of all running programs to fix it. A month ago it started making a really loud electronic noise randomly and killed one of me M-Audio monitors. I have sent the card to Auzentech for replacement (it "only" took them...
I completely agree. My forte just died after a little over one year and blew one of my 6 month old monitors. I created a RMA request but the ticket has not been touched in over one week so I don't have high hopes. Auzentech has great sounding cards but I would stay away because of the build...
FYI on the Forte you can change the output device to headphones and it will mute the speakers. Even with this option I would still not buy another one as there are serious issues with the card and there support is terrible. Mine just died after a little over one year old and blew one of my...