Airport express low sound volume

I've had an airport express for a few months now and have been happily using it with my external stereo system to stream music. However, recently the volume coming from the airport express has basically disappeared - there is almost no signal at all. I have to turn up the volume on my amplifier all the way to hear any sound, and at that level the sound is covered with static and is gross.

I've seen another post about a similar situation with an existing airport user, and it looks like I have a similar problem. Note that I did not change anything with the configuration between the amp and the airport express, i have the "disable itunes volume with remote speakers" option on. I've tried the airport with multiple other amplifiers and nothing works. I'm convinced that the airport is malfunctioning, perhaps its internal preamp is blown?

Does anyone have any experience with this?