Poor sound quality under linux?

[Martin Schwenke]

>>>>> "Doug" == Doug ABERDEEN <douglas.aberdeen at anu.edu.au> writes:

    Doug> I've noticed that sound quality under my Linux setup is
    Doug> generally poorer than Windows and I'm after some tips to
    Doug> make it sound better.

I've got 2 observations (and I'd like to say that xmms-osd-plugin rocks):

* On my laptop, if I:

  - Have xmms at max volume and use the mixer settings to limit the
    overall volume, I get some distortion.

  - Have the mixer settings at max volume and use xmms to adjust the
    "output" volume, I get crystal clear output.

    This is very annoying because it's a bit painful if some other app
    starts blurting out sound...  like an unexpected audio track that
    some goose has attached to a web page (if I want the full
    multimedia experience I'll watch a movie, not visit a web site :-).

* You're not using the "Extra Stereo Plugin" are you?  I tried that
  and got absolutely aweful sound.

peace & happiness,
martin