Harman Kardon USB Soundsticks (1st Gen) Screeching/Static

After upgrading to 10.6/10.6.1, I now get periodic, short screeches/static on my USB Harman Kardon Soundsticks (the USB-only version), regardless of the source of sound. So playing music is definitely now intolerable.
Anyone else experiencing USB sound related issues?
This is the last straw for me in using USB-based speakers as I've they always "disconnected" and were no longer accessible when performing large file transfers with USB drives. Only a restart would make them accessible again. With this new issue in Snow Leopard, I'm ditching them for mini-plug based speakers.

Don't give up +so fast+. I'm trying to find a way to lower the USB SoundSticks' volume for years now without luck. But other than that, they still work fine with 10.6.1 over here!
I know of the static noise problem, but I only had that years ago with 10.3 and/or 10.4 and it was caused by my USB hub. Connecting them directly to my Mac worked fine and since using the following setup I never had a problem:
MacBook Pro (had several models and PowerBooks before) - Cinema Display - Belkin USB hub - SoundSticks
Yes, there's 2 hubs involved and it works fine. I use the somewhat older 30" Cinema Display and this Belkin hub: http://catalog.belkin.com/IWCatProductPage.process?Product_Id=158910
Björn

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