Q Light Controller+

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Pretty much anything will work so long as your system recognizes it as an audio device. It will show up in the audio device tab in the in/out section of QLC. I've seen everything I've used so far show up there, so the sky is the limit, really.

Behringer has several low-cost options ($35~) that have TRS and XLR inputs, might be right up your alley. There are also RCA models for even cheaper, but you'd need a TRS adapter cable ($5-6).

As for the input gain, your guess is as good as mine. I've tried several virtual sound cards and haven't been able to make any progress. There's a few other threads about that same issue. It seems 'nux users have better results as they can get a bit more control over their hardware with third-party programs. Unfortunately, that type of support is somewhat lacking in the Windows world short of trying something like Waves.

I had my best results using a simple USB microphone, but the signal became too distorted at performance volumes so trying to use it with live music isn't really an option. I took that a step further by using a real microphone connected to a USB preamp, but it suffered from similar problems (distorted output rather than input from turning the gain up). I'd love to just pull the signal from the sub channel in my Driverack, but having to run that from the amp rack all the way back to the desk would eat up a channel in my snake which I'd like to avoid, and I'm not sure that only have the bass frequencies coming in would help matters. I still have a lot of testing to do to find a good solution, I'll be sure to post if I find anything.

I haven't tried this yet but... Read this thread and thought Id chime in with an idea. In theory Audinate's Danta Via, Rogue Amoeba's Airfoil; loopback,or soundflower may give the control needed to set audio stream/ Preamp going to QLC by routing audio through one of these programs and setting one stream to output to QLC and another to your physical audio output (local or networked) to allow independent control audio.