I can't update to newest version of wine due to bug introduced in 1.7.34 (or 35) - in every programs sound becomes garbled and start very loud clicking like Morse transmission. The sound becomes garbled when system load spikes, for example when I make heavy IO operation or heavy CPU usage. The sound can fix itself if such situation occurs ones more. I recreated this problem on 2 different computers, so this is not hardware issue.
It's not clear from your post whether you've tested 1.7.39. If you haven't, please do so. If the problem is still present, run a regression test and file a bug. http://wiki.winehq.org/RegressionTesting