Two noob questions.
You may choose any audio output regardless if you have or do not have Maschine HW. Anyway, only Maschine MK3 and Maschine+ have audio interface, the rest of Maschine controllers do not have it.
If using Maschine 2 (SW) it is possible to do most things without NI controller. There might be few things, that are not possible without controller, but generally you can use Maschine 2 without controller.