Mac Mini Audio Trouble Options

[JBeat]

I'm a first-time Mac user, and first-time poster on this site. After spending way too many years fighting Windows PC's, I finally made the switch and picked up a $599 Mac Mini w/512MB of RAM. As I've heard many say before, I'll never go back, I'm already a Mac fanatic after two weeks! I love everything about the Mac, especially Garageband, however, I'm getting a buzz when my speakers are plugged into the headphone jack. I've tried several sets of speakers, with the same result. If I keep the volume of the speakers very low, I can't hear the buzz, but I have to max out the Macs volume, and sometimes it's not quite loud enough. It's frustrating because I have a Creative 2.1 system with subwoofer, but I can't cut it loose on my tunes. Does anyone have any suggestions?

Thanks.
JBeat

[ourmanflinty]

Do you have a test meter or an oscilloscope...you could measure DC levels coming from the power supply, check the rails as it were. You can also measure the AC present on DC rails, this would be called 'ripple' and will cause hum, noise, buzz etc in equipment, seeing it on a scope is a far better method as the visual feedback of a jagged saw like DC rail instantly tells you why your unit sounds pants!! Measuring it 'under load' ie plugged in and switched on, is preferable as psu's will often be fine when they're not 'stressed' but will go west when something is asked of them..
Can you tell what the psu puts out, one rail, two or more, what the rating is etc? If it only puts out one rail then there must be some kind of regulation board inside the minimac..Never seen one, I should imagine it's a little switch mode supply..