W3J sound through headphone jack

I've had my W3J since September...it's the older model with the 2.0Ghz Core Duo. I originally was running XP Pro and have since upgraded to Vista Home Premium. I've noticed this problem with both OSs. I have the latest audio drivers from Asus's website installed.

I have a pair of Etymotic ER-6i earphones, which are pretty sensitive. They are almost unusable with my W3J because whenever I have them plugged in I hear a high pitched whine. It's not noticeable over music, but I don't want to have to be constantly playing music. It will go away if the mouse cursor is in motion, which is really weird. Doesn't matter if it's the touchpad or my Logitech G7.

The W3J has an Express Card slot, so picking up a Creative Audigy 2 laptop card is out. Sans buying a USB sound card, do I have any other options?

 

mine is a newer version and i have the exact same problem. i'm using sony earphones and was planning on getting a new pair... oddly i don't hear any noise when i plug in external speakers.

 

I don't notice any problems through external speakers either. I'm guessing this is due to headphones being much more sensitive.

 

yup its all normal, most notable through IEMs though..i can hear it through my UE 5pros..but my its not noticeable at all through my koss 75's

 

Yeah, I hear the same noise as you guys are mentioning and I have the C2D refresh version. The sound my laptop generates isn't more of a whine, but like very quiet and intermitten electronic garble. Its probably because so many electronic parts are together that it is causing distortions to the signal.

Ironically, I have the same issue with my desktop if I plug in earphones through the front of the case when it is connected to my built-in soundcard. But it is much, much worse, so I not I use a different sound card connected to a receiver to which I can plug my headphones to and its absolutely silent when nothing is playing.

 

Unfortunately this is very common on both laptops and desktops. The cleanest ones are the dedicated sound cards. I have a pair of Shure E3 and I have to use an attenuator on many sources to lower the noise and bring volume back to a reasonable level.

 

I have Shure E2's but an ear infection so I'm hesitant to check mine. In the past, I don't remember hearing anything particularly annoying even with the volume fairly high. I'm on a CD2 W3J.

~ Brett

 

yeah that works for me too with my UE 5pros..even with the attenuator i have the wave set at the very first setting and just use volume to adjust

 

Had that problem with my Klipsch Promedia 2.1 and Sennheiser PX100s. Only heard it when there was no sound playing (the issue came up after I had closed off WMP11) and a restart of my computer fixed the problem.

 

My Shure EC3s and Boss headphones do the same on my W3J .. just pump up the volume and it'll go away

Cheers.

 

This is what I use. I turn this thing way down and turn up the source.

http://www.shure.com/PersonalAudio/Products/Accessories/CasesAdapters/us_pa_pa235_level_attenuator