Thanks guys. No, I havent tried the headphone out jack yet. I am more concerned with the crappy sound quality than the bzzz. The buzz can't be heard when playing music, just when it's stopped.

I just ripped my CD's in the Windows lossless format, I beleive they were WMA files.

I did consider a sqeezebox but since my laptop is only a few ft away and I have the media center edition on it, the squeezbox offered no real advantage for the money (that I could see anyway)

The lap was plugged into the A/C outlet. I will try it unplugged and the headphone jack.

Does anyone know anything about the external M-Audio Card or the Xitel Pro Audio sound cards?
They claim to increase sound quality from PC to Home Stereo.

Thanks
Dan