I have been experiencing this same problem, and have come up with a temporary fix, which works but is highly impractical...

I am running a firepod off of an iBook G4, 933 MHz, with 640 MB RAM. I am using Digital Performer 4.52 and Tiger OS X 10.4.2.

When routing the output options in DP with the firepod hooked up, I could only monitor through the Cue Mix outs or the Master outs. It wouldnt let me use my laptop speakers or the built in audio of my computer.

When I played back more than 8 tracks at a time (all of my drum tracks), I had tremendous fuzz, pops, clicks, dropouts, and distortion. The problem was only augmented as I recorded more tracks over the drums. By the time i recorded vocals (over drums, dual stereo acoustic guitars, dual stereo electric guitars, and bass) I was monitoring almost nothing but fuzz, and using the changes in pitch of the fuzz to know where in the song I was. Pain in the ass, it was...

I sent Presonus an email at their firepod specialized support center, which has proven to be worthless (this issue and one regarding the OEM disc of Cubase were never addressed), and slowly forgot about my issues, as I hadnt been recording in quite some time.

Two nights ago, I got to thinking (dangerous! :lol:) and I thought it might have been an issue of too many un-used (outtakes) tracks in my project folder. I created a new project using only the tracks in the final mix. This helped some.

I still had the issue, and tried using another laptop (Powerbook G4, 15", 1.33GHz, 512 MB). I didnt have DP on that computer so I daisy-chained my iBook in Terminal mode and ran it on the PB as if my iBook were an external HD.

Well it worked like a charm. Absolutely no pops, no clicks, no dropout, and no distortion.

The issue is the processor load, I believe, as both computers were running the same OS, and with comparable amounts of memory. PreSonus has told me nothing about this, most likely because I am running DP, which they do not currently support for use with the Firepod.

This is the closest thing to a solution I have been able to think of.
The easiest solution would be if I could find a way to monitor using the Built In Audio of my iBook while using the Firepod to record, but that has been an unsuccessful quest, and another example of the worthlessness of the FirePod's tech support center (They never answered me on that query, either...).

I do not mean to sound like I am bashing Presonus, because the Firepod is an excellent product. My recordings sound pristine. Monitoring was (is?) my only issue with their Firepod.

Hope this helps, sorry its so long...
Alex

firepod withD.P. & other known issues

There are known issues with DP and the firepod. It is worth reading the FAQ on the website. There is information regarding running external drives in series with the pod (through fw port 2 on the pod) as opposed to in parallel with another port on your computer. series good parallel bad. Had to find this stuff out the hard way. This should have been in the manual and on the box (re. DP) imo. That said, phone support at Presonus is amazingly good. You will get a factory present live tech who knowns his stuff -- without holding a long time or pushing menu buttons with a robot operator.
There is a firmware upgrader that should not be downloaded if you are useing the spdif in's. It disables the spdif !!

http://www.presonus.com/compatibility.html

** Digital Performer - We curenlty do not recommend using Digital Performer with the FIREPOD/FIREBOX. We are in the process of certifying this software application.

-noam