Drivers/Hardware :: Interesting Audio - Drops Out And Returns On Playing New Sound

I have homebuilt core i7 930 running an asus p5 premium. Whether I use onboard sound (realtek), sound blaster pcix titanium, or sound blaster omni usb, I get strange behavior where the sound will drop out while I'm watching a tv app (hdhomerun, or kodi as well), or listening to music.. at random times, could be 5 minutes, could be 45 minutes. To get the sound back, if I click the speaker icon and click the bar that plays the windows ding, it plays (a little crackly during the first few milliseconds, then clear, like it's waking up) and then sound plays normally until this happens again. So it's propagating through multiple different drivers. I read somewhere that audio devices can sleep (I suppose laptops mainly? Maybe I read it wrong).