Static/fuzz from T400 headphone out

I read a few old threads on here about this topic but I haven't been able to tell if anyone has found a fix for this.

When listening to music (not even bass heavy) through the headphone out jack I get a fuzzy static sound. This happens with multiple headphones (SF5 Pro, SE210, SR225) but is most noticeable with the more sensitive IEMs. Obviously sensitive headphones will be more revealing of sources but I'm really surprised and disappointed that the onboard DAC/amp on the T400 is terrible even in comparison to my iPod, and my old HP laptop (both of which don't have a good DAC/amp in the first place).

I'm pretty sure this is a hardware issue and there's nothing that can be done, but I was just wondering if by any chance someone found a way to fix the onboard sound.

 

you may ask Lenovo to change the motherboard and whether that fixes the issue. I have used some very good headphones (i.e. MZR-F1 Sony and HD600 that i borrowed from a friend) on the T400 and i don't notice the static sounds.........

 

Thanks for the suggestion. The Sony F1 and the Senn are very high impedance and my guess is that you probably didn't notice the defects since they are not very sensitive to low output amps.

The Grados I mentioned have an impedance of 32 ohms with a SPL @ 1 mW of 98 dB
The Ultimate Ears are 21 ohms impedance and 119 dB @ 1 mW
The Shures are 26 ohms and 114 dB @ 1 mW

Compare that to the Sennheisers that are 300 ohms and 97 dB @ 1 mW
and the Sonys that are 12 ohms and 100 dB @ 1 mW

Both the Senn and the Sony are much less sensitive than the IEMs but are close to the Grado's, which I did notice it but not as prominently. Also, the sennheisers are crazy hard to drive well so I'm not surprised you didn't hear any static on those (although I have a hard time believing you got any decent volume out of them from the T400)..

Maybe if I use an attenuator I can get rid of some of the static.. will report back after I find it and give it a shot.

 

I used an in-line attenuator and it took most of the static out. Looks like that's a quick fix and although it colors the sound it's better than hearing the static!

 

Anyone else with a Thinkpad notice this?

 

If you do a search on google for thinkpad sound quality headphone, with notebookreview.com as the site you'll find another thread like this from last year.

 

I will borrow this from my friend and see whether i can pick up any statics, if he doesn't let me use that i will ask for his mdr-r10 that he got..

I think it is a bit of an overkill... but if i can get them, then yes i will test it out for you.

 

Sure, sure.. to help me out..

 

Meh. The DAC on the laptop won't do the HD600 and a nice amp justice. You will just be making the poor quality dac more evident.

Anyways I don't get TERRIBLE static or fuzz from my x200, but I certainly don't use it for my main listening. It is usable when I am out and about with my Etymotic ER-4p.