Audio stutters with live streams

[supernano]

I'm running xbian on my Pi and for a few of months now I've been having this issue with audio stuttering when I play live streams. The stutters consist of a fraction of a second gaps in audio every ~5 seconds. So it's not terrible but it's a bit annoying. It only happens with live streams (e.g. ccloud, sportsdevil); when I play vod streams (e.g. 1channel) the problem does not happen.
Just wondering if anyone out there has encountered a similar problem and knows how to fix it.
Thanks!