[SolidSnake3]

I just got a new laptop about a week ago and much to my dismay I seem to be experiencing quite a bit of hum/buzz from the headphone out when using iem's. Specifically my Eterna's however it happens on my M9's and even the cruddy old pair of ibuds I found in my drawer. The problem is that the hum/buzzing is quite strong, enough so that it distracts me from the music whenever their is a quieter part in a song. Also, I actually noticed a bit of a headache as a result of this noise after listening for a while. 
 
I know there have been approximately 1,000 threads about hum and noise but mine seems to be a bit different. Mine occurs whether I am running just off the battery or off the ac adapter plug into a wall outlet. This has lead me to think that it might be something with the sound on my laptop and not a case of a ground loop or "dirty" power. I'm not really sure how to fix this issue but it is getting quite annoying and troublesome. 
 
I was thinking that a DAC might solve the problem, something like the uDAC2 maybe or the iBasso D4? Otherwise would there be some resistor or adapter or something of that manner that could cut out this hiss/hum/buzz? 
 
Sorry to ask a question that has been asked so much before I just have been unable to find a situation where it occurred on battery power as well leading me to be unsure as to how the fix this.
 
Thanks!

 

[FallenAngel]

Sound card in laptop simply isn't good quality, so it hums with efficient IEMs.  Either use less efficient headphones or get another source (such as a DAC and headphone amp).

 

[SolidSnake3]

I know the sound card isn't of good quality, it was a relatively budget laptop, I just need something simple for school right now. What I'm wondering is if there is some way to cut the hiss/hum, I could use my ipod to avoid this however it would be nice if I could just plug my iem's into my laptop or use a DAC like uDAC2 if that was the only option to remove the noise.

 

[silverxxx]

you could use one of those in-line attenuators, that's pretty much their purpose. I am not sure of their exact name, though. You could make one yourself, it's only 2 or 4 resistors.

 

[SolidSnake3]

so an in-line attenuator should do the trick? Something like what is in this package by Shure?
http://www.headphone.com/accessories/shure-adapter-kit.php
or this ultimate ears toolkit by Ultimate Ears?
http://ultimateears.com/en-us/products/universal-accessories

 

[silverxxx]

If it's not a huge amount of noise it should work, also you need to have some overhead left, since it is an attenuator. If you already use volume at max it would be too quiet with it.

 

[SolidSnake3]

volume at max should not be a problem, I seem to have very, very sensitive ears as I set my laptop to volume 3 out of 100 and that is plenty loud. My Ipod also is never set above 1/6 unless I'm driving my Senn HD600's through my amp in which case I use the amp as a volume control.

 

[resonantLux]

If I were you I'd spring for an External DAC. I actually considered purchasing a soundcard for my desktop, and replacing the plain wire to the headphone jack with a well shielded coax type wire before decided to get the DAC.
 
I have a desktop PC that has similar hum as you're describing -- there is actually a headphone jack (in front of the case) and a separate 1/8" jack in the back (Which shuts off when headphones are plugged in). The speaker out had very low noise, but the headphone out had quite high noise. I determined it was crosstalk from the Video Card, as it became VERY loud when graphically-intensity operations were done (eg running games).
 
I ended up getting the Audinst HUD-MX1 DAC/Headphone Amp combo. I connect its analog line-out (RCA) to my speakers, and can toggle between headphone (Sennheiser HD600, most of the time), or speaker using the switch on the faceplate. Sound quality was dramatically improved even compared to the speaker out on my desktop, and headphone on my laptop, which is relatively clean.
 
I have listened to one of my friends uDAC's as well, and that's another good option.