I am totally sold on it at some point in it's price cycle, but my only concern is the combat.  I don't expect it to be Devil May Cry level, but I hope at least it's engaging enough to keep it interesting.  It certaintly looks good from the videos, but I'd like a hands on before I commit to a pre-purchase.

Try doing this

go to My Documents\Bioware\Mass Effect\Config and open BIOEngine.ini with notepad.

Find the section [ISACTAudio.ISACTAudioDevice]

It should look something like this:

[ISACTAudio.ISACTAudioDevice]
MaxChannels=64
TimeBetweenHWUpdates=15
MinOggVorbisDurationGame=20
MinOggVorbisDurationEditor=4
//DeviceName=Generic Software
DeviceName=Generic Software

Change it like this:

[ISACTAudio.ISACTAudioDevice]
MaxChannels=64
TotalAvailableChannels=62
TimeBetweenHWUpdates=15
MinOggVorbisDurationGame=20
MinOggVorbisDurationEditor=4
//DeviceName=Generic Software
DeviceName=Generic Software

..and save it.

So if you have something else than 64 in MaxChannels (especially if it is less than 64) change it to 64 and add the TotalAvailableChannels=62 -line in there.

Also make sure that you are NOT using hardware acceleration in audio.

It might help

bubble-wrap

Awesome! Just tested this fix, and it worked for my issues (as least, as far as I've noticed so far).