I have Hardy Heron 8.04 64 bit installed on my desktop. I have a custom built computer I made about 3 years back. The motherboard is an MSI K8N Neo4 Platinum. I am using onboard sound.
In VLC on Windows XP Pro on my desktop, if I play an mp3 through VLC player and crank the volume levels (on my stereo system, windows volume, and VLC volume) I hear a tiny bit of static. If I back off of the VLC volume a hair, it's clear.
In Ubuntu, VLC is like this but a bit worse. If I play the exact same mp3 (straight from my usb jumpdrive) in VLC on Ubuntu, if VLC's volume is up a bit (even much above 55-60%) I hear the staticy sound. Now, I noticed in general VLC seems to be a "louder" program, so even keeping VLC @ 50% volume is still loud. But, I question why I get the static in Ubuntu's VLC and not in WinXP's VLC. I thought maybe it was just the program... you know, sort of like car speakers. You crank it to 95% volume and you hear the crappy sounding audio. I figured these would be the same.
With Amarok, I got the same feedback as I did with VLC in Ubuntu. However, I couldn't compare it vs Windows because of Amarok being a Linux program.
Would getting a sound card help? I've considered it for a while, even like a 30 dollar PCI sound card. Would it be a boost? Or would I still have the same type of output?
Note - I'm using ALSA. All programs are set to use ALSA, as well as my sound preferences in Ubuntu. So nothing should be cross-interfering.
Ubuntu Hardy Heron - VLC + Amarok users. Tune in. Question. 
Linear Mode
