Sound Quality Problem (v5.04)
 

Hello, thank you for taking the time to address my post.

I am experiencing crackling and distortion during mp3 playback and cannot find the solution in FAQs or previous posts.

I am currently running winamp v5.04 on a 1.5ghz, 256ram Dell with a SBLive! soundcard. I have updated the driver at the sb site and attempted to tweak settings under Preferences->DirectSoundOutput to n o avail. One suggestion I noticed was to select your soundcard from the pull-down menu under device. I am allowed this option except when I do select my soundcard, it reverts to "Primary Sound Driver" (after hitting apply and restarting playback and closing and re-opening the preferences menu). This could be the culprit, however I first noticed the change shortly after installing winamp modern skin and I do not remember exactly but I also might have upgraded the version to 5.03 (I have since upgraded to 5.04).

Basically, this is my girlfriend's computer and before the summer, mp3s played fine with little or no audible distortion. Since I have been using it, the performance has suffered and I feel very bad about it.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I do not believe it is the speakers or mp3 files themselves because I used SonicStage (media app that came with my mini-disc player) to play imported mp3s and they sounded fine. Winamp is my first choice player and I will be grateful for any help at all.

-stampy

ps- excuse the longwinded post, I guess I talk a lot. :igor:

Re: Sound Quality Problem (v5.04)
 

Are other settings not taking hold? While Winamp is not running…
1. Right click on the Winamp folder (usually C:\Program Files\Winamp)
2. select Properties
3. General tab
4. uncheck/unselect 'Read-only' > click Apply
5. If asked to confirm, select 'Apply changes to this folder, subfolders and files' > click OK
6. click OK

That should remove any arbitrary read-only settings in the Winamp folder and allow the configuration file(s) to be saved.

ps. after following JM's instructions, see this faq thread

try the kx project drivers, I have them and I love them.

I did a full uninstall and clean install and it fixed the problem. I am really sorry for not doing it sooner and wasting your time. Thank you all for the effort put into trying to help with my problem.

Thanks again! Finally I can listen to music again without cringing.

edit: wiped original message and replaced with the above. thank you all again, you have been very helpful.