Default settings are just that, Default setting. You should always find the right driver settings for you. so,me projects may need more resources than others, so having one driver setting may not be optimal.
Just experiment and find what works for that project. more than likely, youll have to raise your ASIO buffers or move your WDM slider to the right.
For your pan question, you may have recorded a mono track on a stereo track or you may have an interleave set wrong or it could be a send or bus or one or all of the above
Cj