You can see in the screenshots that the DSD log is rife with errors. To troubleshoot, I recorded raw IQ files and played them back at various settings, and can't get it perfect even though I know its possible to do better. SDR gain in software is also set to roughly 14 dB. SNR during broadcast is around 40 dB, so one would think I'm okay there.

I am the cheap dipole which came with the RTL-SDR, with the elements more or less the right size (target freq is ~861 MHz). In summary: I am running an RTL-SDR v3 (USB), tuned to a known voice channel in SDR#, through VB Cable to the DSD+ plug-in on SDR#, and then out through my computer speakers. I have taken screenshots (attached, and via imgur link) to explain my current configuration. To be honest, in looking at the settings which still get me semi-intelligible speech, I don't even understand why those settings work at all (especially as they relate to VB cable settings). I have driven myself nuts tweaking DSD+ settings, VB cable settings, Windows sound settings, and SDRSharp settings (not to mention antenna fun) to try and get it going again. There was a brief moment where I had it perfectly intelligible, and something changed. Kindly request expert advice to optimize my decoding of local P25 voice comms.

Virtual audio cable lite