Here’s a tip. If you’re using KDE’s artsd sound daemon and ALSA, you need to choose Sound System -> Hardware and select a custom sampling rate from KDE’s Control Panel applet. You can choose the appropriate number based on output from dmesg.
intel8x0_measure_ac97_clock: measured 49346 usecs intel8x0: clocking to 48000
For instance, I selected 48000 and everything is just dandy now.