$ uname -a Linux richiter 2.6.31-16-generic #52-Ubuntu SMP Thu Dec 3 22:07:16 UTC 2009 x86_64 GNU/Linux $ lspci -v | grep -i audio 00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) HD Audio Controller (rev 03) 

Resources:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/DebuggingSoundProblems/KarmicCaveats
http://blog.paulbetts.org/index.php/2007/05/27/make-wine-and-pulseaudio-get-along/

So I did:

• padsp winecfg, and changed driver to oss: hardware acceleration as emulation, 44100, 16 bit, no driver emulation;
• I've installed newer backport of alsa for Karmic Koala;
• I'm now running Spotify with env WINEPREFIX="/home/dpc/.wine" padsp wine "C:\Program Files\Spotify\spotify.exe" and sound is perfect;

Hope that will help somebody.—

Edit:
I have now installed wine1.2 package in Ubuntu and sound works even better without any winecfg tweaks.