[PlanetCCRMA] Noisy new Sennheiser headphones

[Ron Pepper]

Just got a new pair of headphones, Sennheiser 280 Pro's, to be used
while working on my computer. Unfortunately, I'm picking up what I
think is system noise, that cheaper 'phones don't detect. My system
is debian on a dell box. Amarok is my favorite player, but it's also
the noisiest. The noise is a low level hiss/buzz and can be detected
even when Amarok is totally muted. The noise intensifies when I move
the mouse around and over links, hot-spots, menus etc. I posted to
Amarok, and Xine, but they suggested the problem was in my system. I
turned off unused channels in alsamixer, but that didn't help. Same
noise for sessions in kde or icewm. The problem is not the headphones
themselves, as there is no noise when used in OSX and iTunes. 

I'm willing to try a few things, if anyone has any suggestions, but I
don't want to mess around with major surgery on my system. If there
is no obvious/likely software solution, I want to exchange the
headphones. In that case, can anyone suggest headphones that might
work better. Obviously, I'll lose some of the quality that the 280's
provide, but that would be better than the noise. Is there something
in the specs of 'phones that I should be looking for? Also, frankly I
don't like the closed circum-aural 280's as much as I thought I
would. They're a bit hot and tight. Is there a lighter open-ear
headphone that still might be reasonable quality that might work
better for me?

Hope my question isn't too off-topic. I've subscribed on and off to
the list for over a year and have been greatly helped in the past.

Thanks,
Ron 

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