FWIW, I'm on archlinux but experience the same issue (and I did so back when I used ubuntu).
I thought I'd share that I could fix the crackling noise by disabling realtime scheduling. Here's my daemon.conf which produces fine sound: $ cat ~/.config/pulse/daemon.conf default-sample-rate = 48000 alternate-sample-rate = 44100 default-sample-format = s16le realtime-scheduling = no -- You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu Bugs, which is subscribed to Ubuntu. https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1051665 Title: [USB-Audio - SB X-Fi Surround 5.1 Pro, playback] Underruns, dropouts or crackling sound To manage notifications about this bug go to: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/alsa-driver/+bug/1051665/+subscriptions -- ubuntu-bugs mailing list ubuntu-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-bugs
