Played it through Media Player, same problem. Also muted the mic, same problem. When I pause the music the crackle stops, then will come back when it starts again.

If it were me, I'd go with number 2, even though it has a smaller screen.
It has double the L2 cache, 4 GB RAM, and most importantly, an eSata port!
You can always plug in a bigger monitor![]()
That is what I was thinking of choosing. Same price, a lot better specs, only it has Vista 64.
Since my Gigaport HD drivers only support 32, if I use ASIO4ALL (which supports 64) would it be able to use all of the Gigaport's outputs?