> Did it help your warble at all?

A little.

There's another interesting mode it gets into.  If I'm playing a file
locally, and simultaneously `ping -s 1400' the machine, the output
`slow downs'.  I suspect that the DMA controller is unable to keep up
with both the Ethernet and the ESS at full speed, but I'm not sure how
to verify this.

Anyway, that's not my problem.  B-)