Loud hissing sound from headphones (Inspiron 15 7000)

Hey all. My wife just got a brand new Inspiron 15 7000 (i7, 1080p, Best Buy). Everything about it is great, except when headphones are plugged in there is a variable hissing sound. We've tried using small Beats earbuds, as well as large noise-cancelling Toshiba headphones. The sound persists. I know there have been some similar issues that were fixed with putting electrical tape on system internals, but I'd hate to try to take this thing apart. Has anyone else used headphones on a 15 7000 and experienced this or know of a fix?

Thanks.

 

I recently purchased a 7537 and am experiencing a similar problem. There is noticeable noise on the headphones whenever the sound card is activated. I also find the volume slider to be scaled disproportionately. The headphones are quite loud with the volume adjusted to 10 (of 100). I wonder if these issues could be related?

I've contacted dell support about this and will update this thread with any new info.

 

Quick update from me.

Dell tech support played with my sound settings via remote access and didn't find anything that would fix it. They then arranged for a tech to come a replace the motherboard sometime next week.

In the meantime, we updated to Windows 8.1, which created a new slew of problems such as poor wifi stability and the screen not being able to turn back on from sleep. Then a row of bright pixels appeared. At first I thought we might have scratched the gorilla glass, but then I realized it was BEHIND the glass.

We took it back to Best Buy this morning and got an Envy Sleekbook M6. Built quality isn't quite as solid, but feels good and is a bit lighter. So far no problems. *fingers crossed*

Hope you have better luck with yours, disorder.

 

Okay, here's my update.

I returned the first 7537 based on the sound issue and a defective spacebar. I received my replacement yesterday. This time the keyboard works fine, but the sound problem persists.

After the holidays I'll probably be back on the phone with dell support, but after two notebooks with the same problem, I doubt that it will be resolved.

Ive since noticed while playing with the audio settings that switching audio bit rates and frequency will change the quality of the noise, though it doesnt improve it. In some cases it becomes worse, emitting a very noticeable high pitched noise.

I'm curious to know whether this problem is consistent in this model, or if I've just lucked out twice.

 

I'm interested in this as well. I have one coming tomorrow but I'd just return it without bothering with opening it if this is a common issue as the current laptop (which I'm looking to exchange for it) does not have this issue.

Otherwise I'd like to switch to the Dell for the larger screen, GDDR5 vs DDR3 GT 750m, more ram and better CPU (assuming the TDP isn't set incorrectly) for $80 more.