I found a solution, from a another thread. It's a program called Equilizer APO, and I used it to set the preamp gain to +17dB, I think it was at -6dB. It has to be something in Windows that set the gain to -6dB, as this is a brand spanking new computer, with no additional sound managers or anything like that.
Maybe you can add a line of code to the HS70 drivers that automatically sets the gain to at least a positive setting?