All change again hi..Strange goings on with my sdr set up on the lap-top. Firtsly the SDR Console sound gave up so I switched to HDSDR. That ran ok for a bit, then I began to lose sound on the higher frequencies ie 27 mhz up.  Pretty soon after I lost all sound and got an error message on Windows (8) sound card out of reach?.. 

At first I thought my dongle was going boobs up, but reverting to the original set up on the old XP machine proved it was still working ok.  I left the dongle/HDSDR set up as it was and wondered what to do about the lap-top.  I ended up digging out my old PCR-1000 and loaded up ham Radio Deluxe 4.1, which I had on disc.  This version would not run on Windows 8, though the original PCR-1000 software from Icom did.  Found HRD version  5.2 on line and installed that and It runs perfectly (using a usb/serial converter by the way). So I'm now listening to CRI on the PCR-1000 at this time (see screenshot).  Unfortunately I failed to check that the lap top had a mic socket. It does not *sigh*, so I've taken the radio audio direct to my hi fi speaakers. This means I can't decode onboard, or record the sound. The Akai usb sound card is being used by the XP set up where I can run decoder software in tandem with the dongle. That's the state of play at the moment. Maybe I'll get another usb card for this lappy. Thinks!