Driver might be a good direction.
But, I would check this out. From your "START" menu, click "RUN" type in "DXDIAG" when that screen comes up, select the "SOUND" tab and confirm that you acceleration is basic or below. I know that with many of the MTU products they don't work well with much if any acceleration. I know that I play games on my PCs where I have MTU products and I am constantly switching back and forth between the two.
Make sure that you have the current drivers for your sound card. What type of card is it? Do you use windows automatic update? Have you updated any drivers lately? How about you DirectX? What version are you on? (you will be able to tell on the system page when you run dxdiag).
What version of Hoster are you using? Make sure that it is the most current. (I think 2.014 is the most current, click help in Hoster and then about for the version)
Do you have a virus check program or anything else running in the system tray? gduns may have a good point about something conflicting. What else do you use this system for? Is this windows XP pro or Home?
How old is the PC? Which ASPI drivers are you using? Have you ever used NERO on this PC. (gosh this seems to be common to my inquiries).
As far as the compression, I use the least I can because HDDs are so inexpensive these days and through my system, I can sometimes notice slight differences between various compression levels (keep in mind that I have 1400 Watts to two mains and another 500 watts to subs and monitors. Our line levels are +4dB, not the typical -10dB associated with home systems. I have over 560 CDG (new disks every week) and I am more than willing to make the investment
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