Quote Originally Posted by Miwo View Post
I havn't heard any snap crackle popping yet. I had a similar issue as well with my XtremeMusic. If my Master Volume was set too high, I got very bad staticy sounds. My solution was to lower Master Volume to about 45%, but occasionally I would still get crackling/popping (it almost sounds like its clipping) in some games including the Bioshock demo at times where the volume would increase a lot (like during a scripted event).

Happy to say I have not come across any of these issues with the Prelude yet. I've left the Master Volume at 50%. No sound artifacts in Bioshock either
This crackling problem is my biggest issue with my x-fi XtremeMusic. I've got crackling with two different cards and on two different systems! (and I have tried EVERY solution out there...) This is a major problem for thousands of x-fi users and it is adressed in a sticky-thread at Creatives own forum, with over 900 posts:
http://forums.creative.com/creativel...ssage.id=71962

So needless to say, your review is VERY interesting - if this new Prelude card is free from crackle, I'm buying it a.s.a.p! The best way to see if the card does'nt crackle is to try it out with Battlefield 2142, gaming mode, Ultra High quality, CMSS 3D on, EAX on and enjoy the artillery falling from the sky - this is where most people get the problem - if it doesn't crackle then, it'll never crackle!