I have this card and I'm about to swap it back for my sblive *UNTIL* there are better winxp drivers.
 
My solution for the crackling was to turn off windows sounds so it's silent. Aside from that there are no fixes for it apart from waiting for new drivers or ms to possibly fix it.
 
The crackling is the least of your problems, anachronox in winxp with the acoustic edge is a nightmare, check this out:
 
win2k & Anachronox(which absolutely rocks)
 
eax sound = crashing occasionally, usually between level loads
a3d = didn't play long enough with it on as the sounds seemed too loud and out of place
no 3d sound = barely crashes and works good
 
When I say crash I refer to Anano.exe generating errors
 
WinXP + Anachronox
eax = crash on load or 2 seconds in or 20 minutes in, competely random
a3d = didn't bother
no 3d sound = didn't seem to change much in terms of randomly crashing.
 
I'll be swapping my sblive back in tonight and i'm sure that will make the game stop crashing in winXP.
 
If not i'll come back here and post otherwise.
 
But aside from that I haven't really had any issues with dvd playback, ripping, mp3, games or divx audio.
 
Here's hoping philips isn't lazy *** with their drivers.

thanks for the post man... i'm starting to think that maybe i should switch my live value back if i continue using xp.. i mean it's not THAT big of a deal, but i'm with ya on the last thing you said.. i hope philips isn't lazy about their drivers.. i hope they continue to update and support the acoustic edge.. i hear that they are real committed to that card, all i know is that the sound quality absolutely ownz the sb live value

Ok well Anachronox issue wasn't the Philips card as it does the same with the live but at least there are no odd noises =)

Wuhoo Turtle beach has come out with SantaCruz Drivers for XP. No more sound problems for me. Hopefully some people will come out with drivers for their cards now that RC1 is out.