strange audio issue on sonoma with UAD volt sound card

I had an apollo twin x before I downgraded to a volt just 3 weeks ago but I DID NOT have this problem on the twin x

So I bought a volt 1, I'm having this strange issue where if im previewing an mp3 of wav file by hitting the space bar, or if im watching a youtube video in any browser, when I adjust the volume up and down, I hear a crackling sound through my speakers....the weird thing is that this ONLY happens when audio is playing, when no audio is playing the volume knob is smooth and silent when turned up or down. I deleted all old and useless audio drivers from the HAL folder I tried contact cleaner but this problem persists.

Usually this crackling sound happens regardless of if there is sound playing or not, due to aging hardware, but this volt is brand new and it only happens when audio is playing

This problem constantly happens with wav and mp3 previews but eventually goes away (then comes back) when watching youtube videos

I'm running an m1 mac mini with sonoma