Nasty digital bit-crush audio loss after random bounce

[bonehead88]

Hi All - happy new year, hope all is well.

i use a A&H QU32 - USB into a Win10 - running PT 2021.10.0 box and all is well.
except...
I have this re-occuring issue where, after i bounce a mix or two (its kinda random) and i stay in that same session and simply hit playback, i get the nasty bit-crusher audio.

To solve it, i need to restart ProTools only (not Windows, or my mixer/interface).

save session/exit session/relaunch PT/open session and alls well. Bounce a few more and then it happens again no matter if its a WAV bounce or i add mp3.

Anyone ever have this annoying issue? since no other hardware requires resetting, i gotta believe its a PT thing.

Thank you!