ALSA already is the better sound system as long as you don't need all your applications to have one extra redundant volume control or playing audio on a remote computer over the internet. However de-pulsifying a linux install correctly isn't easy.
I thought thats the point of pulseaudio and really wanted to try it.
How can I say... it FAILS at even that! I got it working with ssh and mpd faster than... oh dont make remember.
AFAIK (but I wasn't using linux at the time) the point of pulseaudio was that it was very easy for an application to lock your audio exclusively with ALSA or OSS (and still is unless ALSA is properly configured) and there were several competing "sound daemon" trying to solve this problem. Pulse audio was supposed to be the one true sound daemon, emulating everything else under the sun. Then it got sound mixing and networked audio bolted on because Poettering is the master of the kitchen sink.