Sound Advice

I find the sound system to be a totally disconfiguring maze of confusion.

Under Audio Output, there is Notifications, Music, Video etc.

Under each, there are entries called Default, Pulse Audio, Pulse Audio Sound 
Server, SB Standard PCM Playback, SB ADC Capture/Standard PCM Playback (faded 
out).

Hovering over Default, I learn that this option will try the default sound 
output (which one is that?).

Hovering over Pulse Audio tells me that this uses the xine audio output 
plugin.

Hovering over Pulse Audio Sound Server says it will use pulse.

Hovering over SB Standard PCM Playback says it uses either x-phonon (isn't 
that xine audio output from above?) or else plughw (must be ALSA).

And the final SB ADC Capture/Standard PCM Playback tells me it needs drivers or 
is unplugged, yet when I run audacity, I am able to select it, but not in KDE 
system settings, not that I necessarily want to.

Most often, pulse seems to crash (might be changed in kde 4.0.98 - too soon to 
tell) and the sound system reverts to SB Standard PCM Playback, which I 
presume is ALSA. The good thing is that there always is sound, but what is all 
this stuff supposed to be? And why doesn't pulse ever work, or seem to crash so 
often and revert to ALSA, which always works, and why the seeming duplication 
of all these pulse entries that all seem to be the same thing that don't ever 
work reliably?

Which order should I have these in? I have Default, Pulse Audio, Pulse Audio 
Sound Server and finally SB Standard PCM Playback, in the hope that it will use 
pulse, as it is supposed to the the great answer to all of the sound woes of 
ALSA (that I never experienced, AFAICT), next phonon with the xine backend, I 
guess, as this is supposed to be the great kde solution (didn't ALSA work 
previously? it did for me).

So, what am I to make of this? Any informed elucidations?

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