I think instead of 3 sound cards you client may have been more happy with something like the M-Audio Delta 1010LT http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/Delta1010LT-main.html as for the three Creative cards in vista try a different audio player like foobar2000 and ask around a bit @ http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/ sorry I cant help more PS shut off as much of the creative stuff as you can like the CMSS