A panadapter shot settles it: answering an S5 station, the replayed recording
goes out several times wider and taller than the station being answered — in WAV
as well as MP3, so this is not the encoder.
One setting served two sources that have nothing in common. A voice-keyer
message is a microphone at speaking distance and legitimately wants 195%; a QSO
recording is a receiver's line output, which is far hotter. The same 195% put it
into the transmitter flat out, ALC pinned, noise and voice alike.
The QSO playback now has its own level, defaulting to 100%. The voice keyer
keeps the setting it had, so nobody's F-key messages change.