ubuntu 5.10 sound problem (internet radio only)

[Default User]

I am puzzled by a sound problem. Sound is okay from a music cd in the cd
drive, and the event sounds which install by default with Ubuntu play
fine also. But internet radio (Shoutcast) through xmms sounds like:

1) being under water
2) gravelly
3) like talking while gargling 

FWIW, in the Gnome menu System/Preferences/Multimedia Systems Selector,
sink is set at ESD and source is set at OSS. Trying all combinations in
the Multimedia Systems Selector did not solve the problem, and some just
plain locked up when clicking the test button. 

Setup: Ubuntu 5.10 on X86 with Creative labs Sound Blaster 16 PCI sound
card. Not a buffering issue, no buffering problem at all. 

Why would this only happen for internet radio?  Installing StreamTuner
made no difference.  Also note: Debian stable does not have this
problem, on the same system!  Even Damn Small Linux gets it right.  Why
not Ubuntu?