Whoa man you're confusing issues here. 128kbps is the "norm" when it comes to mp3 and wma files. The "speed" it's referring to when playing a wave comes from:
16bits * 44100 samples/second = 705600 bits per second. So it's normal and means that your sample rate and bit depth settings are correct.
Sources of hiss:
1) Extra things turned on in the volume control. Go into the recording properties control and mute just about everything but Line In. Especially mute CD Audio as it can be VERY noisy. So noisy in fact that I unplugged my CDROM from the soundcard just to be safe
2) You're plugged into the mic port instead of the line in port. You never did say if you're doing this. You CAN'T. You didn't mention a preamp so I'm thinking this might be what you're doing.
3) You have the line in volume in the recording control set too low. Signal to noise ratio...the more signal, the better. I leave it pretty well cranked.
4) If you're only getting hiss when recording, welcome to the world of Soundblaster. The SB16, SB32, and SB64 cards are not truely full duplex and will only playback 8bit audio while you're recording 16bit audio. This is not really a problem, just an annoyance. I have heard of ONE case where this was reversed and a guy was recording 8bit audio while playing back 16bit. Weird fluke.
5) You've got noise before the machine somewhere. You'll have to track it down.
You should be able to monitor the sound coming in with headphones. Does it sound fine when you're monitoring but bad when it's recording?
Slackmaster 2000
