I also have the same crackling sound problem on a Dell Dimension 8100 (Cirrus Logic CS 4614/22/24/30 [CrystalClear SoundFusion Audio Accelerator]). It started when I upgraded to Karmic, though now I'm using a fresh install of Maverick. The problem, however, is still there in Ubuntu 10.10.
I also have the same crackling sound problem on a Dell Dimension 8100 (Cirrus Logic CS 4614/22/24/30 [CrystalClear SoundFusion Audio Accelerator]). It started when I upgraded to Karmic, though now I'm using a fresh install of Maverick. The problem, however, is still there in Ubuntu 10.10.