I'm not entirely sure about your question a). It seems that you are hearing this dry output even when Pod Farm is not running. I haven't tested this because I don't have a UX2, but I would assume it is normal behaviour. Similarly I can't test b), but certainly the wet signal is output, and in most cases will overpower the dry signal so that, even if it is present, it will be negligible.

My understanding is that Tone Direct monitoring applies only in a recording situation, when Pod Farm is being used as a plugin. You mau already have seen this description from the UX2 product description on the website:

What is ToneDirect™ monitoring?

Using exclusive Line 6 ToneDirect monitoring is a tremendous advantage of recording with POD Studio. ToneDirect monitoring allows you to:

	record and monitor a fully processed tone free of audible latency.
	monitor a processed tone while recording a dry signal which means you're free to audition tones until you're ready to mix.

Historically, traditional interfaces have forced guitarists to choose between monitoring a processed tone with a significant amount of latency and monitoring a dry signal. Both choices are unacceptable and leave recording guitarists irritated and uninspired.

My interpretation of the above is that Pod Farm sends the processed (wet) signal directly to the UX2 outputs as soon as it is available - before/as it processes it within the DAW, thereby minimizing latency because you don't have to wait for the DAW to process/record and echo back the recorded signal. It seems that, even though operating as a plugin, Pod Farm accesses the usb connection directly as if it were operating standalone. So you hear your processed signal without delay while it is being recorded, and your DAW doesn't need to echo it back. This applies even if/when you are recording the dry signal.

Sorry I'm not more clear on what happens with the dry signal when Pod Farm is not running, or when running standalone - but in those situations I believe the term Tone Direct does not apply.