Thanks guys for the suggestions!
Here's what I did this morning, not to mention my three hour escapade last nite...
I have
never let windows update any driver, be it sound or video. I have always manually performed my updates, and recently I manually updated the sound drivers. However, since I was nearing the end of my rope so to say, I had windows search for an update driver, and voila,
AS OF right now, I am experiencing SHIV crackle free.
Hard to believe it was so simple. Maybe I'll let windows do some of my work from now on, since they seem to get it right...
Now to see if it lasts.