Hi. I have the exact same problem. Distortion and dull when using a volume >-6dB but then it is to silent.
When I use headphones the sound is amazing but when I try to reproduce this sound in my room I fail.
The sound sometimes is dull and the volume far to low.
When I play classical music with the HS7 monitors the sound is crystal clear and has power.
It looks like it has nothing to do with the sound drivers or the operating system when I assume that r0entgen is using windows.
I also assume the ASIO drivers are necessary for windows? (I'm new to all those things)

Setup:
Max CPU load < 25%
Volume = -6dB
Dynamic range = 36 dB
Velocity curve =[9, 106; 0, 127] (I can't reach the 127 with my piano)
No audio interface (Built in)
Yamaha P-35
Yamaha HS 7 Monitor
Macbook air
Pianoteq 5.1
Logic Pro X

FWIW --

If the sound is dull and lifeless, increase the Dynamic Range.  I think that 40 dB is "stock" for most presets, but 50dB is still playable - and much more interesting.

Yamaha HS7 monitors should produce _loud_ sound in a normal room.  There is probably an "input gain" control on the HS7:

. . . keep the Pianoteq level at -6 db (don't overload the computer soundcard),
. . . and raise the HS7 input gain to make the sound louder.

.          Charles

.     Charles

Setup:
Max CPU load < 25%
Volume = -6dB
Dynamic range = 36
Velocity curve =[9, 106; 0, 127] (I can't reach the 127 with my piano)
No audio interface (Built in)
Yamaha P-35
Yamaha HS 7 Monitor
Macbook air
Pianoteq 5.1
Logic Pro X

Please check if your power plan is not throttling down your i7. I had a similar issue and resolved it by creating a power plan with the CPU always fixed at 100%. You could try some utils to check for bottlenecks:

http://www.resplendence.com/latencymon
http://www.thesycon.de/eng/latency_check.shtml

Regarding your Focusrite issue; please check if the ASIO drivers are correctly installed, that they are selected on Pianoteq/Options/Devices and that your headphones are connected to the output (or your Amp/speakers are correctly attached to the Focusrite Line Outputs) and check the frontal volume knob (when I got my external sound card I had a couple of seconds of high anxiety...).

Regarding your Gungnir unit: Did you tried to install C-Media software for the usb? In the ASIO drivers should be an entry like: "ASIO: ASIO for C-Media USB Device"
(please see http://yourfinalsystem.com/dac-reviews/ … dac-review ).
Try contacting the Schiit Audio guys, they should help you.

Right now, I have DAC connected to computer via USB, and subwoofer connected to DAC via TRS-TRS cables, and monitors connected to subwoofer via TRS-TRS cables.

Now, how does the audio interface fit into this equation? The guy at GUITAR center told me to connect the 2i2 to the DAC via TRS-RCA cable, but I'm getting no sound when I select 2i2 in Pianoteq...

EvilDragon, I don't have an audio interface. I have a subwoofer that plugs into a DAC (the DAC is plugged in to the computer via USB), and the two monitors plug into the subwoofer. I have a MIDI to USB cable connecting the computer to my keyboard.

I wondered about whether an audio interface would resolve this problem, and as such, I purchased a Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 to see if it'd resolve this problem, but I can't seem to get it to work properly and no sound is coming out of my speakers at the moment...

The way I work with Pianoteq, is I always put Volume to -6, or sometimes even -10, then find the right Dynamics slider value, and then I boost the output in the DAW if I really need it. However even when recording in a DAW, it's recommended not to record at the loudest possible level, but rather so that peaks hit around -18 dBFS.

I completely concur with you, Mr. Dragon: 

My Main Volume Slider's settings are always between -6 to -9dB, with corresponding adjustments to the dynamic range slider, usually around 36dB.  All of my demos for Pianoteq use this combination of settings.

Cheers,

Joe

.

Regarding the recording, as I said before, the clicking noises aren't there once I close out of Pianoteq and play the exported file with my regular media player. I've also attached the waveform (volume at -2dB just to force it to produce clicks, and dynamics slider at 40dB; there were clicks and pops throughout this short clip), which doesn't seem that the output is too high and doesn't seem to have clipping. Would you guys agree that is the case?

Yeah, It doesn't look like the wave forms are over driven enough for clipping, because usually they will be flat at the top.  All I can say is this is one of the many reasons I'm waiting for a highly portable piano with built in speakers that has the Pianoteq voice on board.  I'm just guessing that you have some sort of sound ampilfication issue where you find it necessary to overdrive the Pianoteq software, or perhaps it is in fact some sort of bug within the software.  It's strange to me that it would even be possible to produce wave form clipping within the software.  It seems as though it would have some form of self-limitation.  It's definitely not something you want, and a soft wimpy output is not desirable either.