I recently moved from XP 32-bits to Vista x64 SP1. With XP I had crackling problems until I found the correct (old) drivers for my Chaintech AV-710 sound card. Now I'm having the same problems with Vista x64, but the only drivers available seem to be in beta stage. I'm quite happy with Vista overall, so I wish to keep it for now. So I have some questions:

1. Anyone using this card in Vista x64 and (not) having this issue? Which drivers do you use? I could only find the official VIA drivers, perhaps I could force install drivers from another brand?
2. I have a spare Sound Blaster Live! 5.1 PCI (model SB0100, chipset reads EMU-10K1-SFF). Anyone using this with Vista x64? Would you recommend it for general music listening and seldom gaming?
3. Which is the cheapest card recommended for music listening right now? I will be plugging the analog output to my NAD amp (no digital input), as I do now using the HQ output of the AV-710's Wolfson DAC (not that I would dream of hearing a damn difference between cards, but I sleep better at night following general consensus in that matter)

I think my nForce4 motherboard has some kind of integrated audio chipset, but I think that is out of the question for now. Thanks and regards!

Maybe a USB DAC? http://thewelltemperedcomputer.com/HW/connect.html#USB

I don't know... Do I still need a sound card? Will it increase the CPU usage?

No, see it as it is, an outboard soundcard.
I have no reason to assume that is will differs much from an inbooard one as far as CPU is concerned

So essentialy an USB sound card is a DAC?

Yep, you need something to convert digital audio to analogue and that's exactly what a DAC does.
But you have to feed data (the audio) to the DAC so you need an interface. This might be PCI (in board) or USB (out board) or Firewire, etc.

I understand. But I'll be needing the inputs, too, as I use Skype quite a lot, and don't really want to spend 150+ € in an EMU interface, not because of a driver issue with my current card.

Thanks anyways!

In case anyone is interested, disabling AMD Cool 'n' Quiet in BIOS solved the crackling problem for me.

Regards.