Replacement for Presonus USB 96

[Sven]

I got this unit last year and it sounds fine with Sonar but it apparently has a design flaw whereby the input volume 'jumps' dramatically at around 3 o'clock.     One thread I read said that PreSonus called this a 'feature'.   It has this 'feature' whether I'm using a SM-58 or my AT-2035 with phantom power and has the same problem with both input channels.

I seem to always have to 'jump' to a volume just past 3 o'clock to have adequate input for vocals or acoustic guitar but then have no way to back off the volume a little if I want more proximity effect.

Another issue is that  I wish I had  bought a unit with input volume meters .  The logical replacement would seem to be the PreSonus Studio 24c USB-C  I guess.    Does anyone have any experience with this unit?   Does the input gain increase smoothly with no volume 'jump'?   Is there any other unit anyone would recommend for around this price range (<$200)?   Would a budget of $300 buy something much better?  I'm open to all idea...this is something I will be using for many years and would rather pay more for something I'm happy with.

Finally,  does any particular brand of audio box interface actually sound or work better with Bandlab?  Are they basically all the same as far as the sound quality you will hear in Bandlab?

Thanks.