FiiO E7 Windows7 problem (works fine with XP)

[selectortone]

Hi, as the title says I'm having problems with my newly purchased FiiO E7.

I've bought it to use as an external sound card/headphone amp with my Compaq laptop. It's distorting very badly and there are crackles and pops in the background too.

The E7 works fine with an older Dell laptop running XP.

I've tried uninstalling the driver and letting Windows re-install it but that didn't help. The distortion is there when audio files are played via Windows Media Player or MediaMonkey. It doesn't make any difference how high or low the output level is in MediaMonkey and native Windows sounds are also distorting.

Just to further complicate the issue, I've tried an older Edirol UE1-EX with the Compaq and it almost works OK - I can detect a small amount of distortion but nowhere near as bad as the E7.

I'd really appreciate some help or pointers here, my music sounds great through the E7 on the XP PC, but it's the Win7 machine that I need it to work with.

[selectortone]

OK, I've got it working loud and clear by setting the Advanced Sound Properties in Control Panel to 16 bit, 32000Hz (FM Radio Quality).

Anybody have any idea why it won't work on the default 16 bit 44100Hz? Why does it make any difference? I mean it's just a bitstream going to the DAC right?