Loud static when using headphone jack

I've been having this problem with my 2012 15" MBP. Plug the headphones in and a horrible static which I hear whether viewing Netflix or playing iTunes. Tried different headphones etc. but nothing.

I then unplugged the power cable and voila, static noise gone.

I'm wondering whether it's ground loop noise, or because I have powerline adapters, it's giving feedback static through the power sockets.

Anyway, problem solved for me - if I want to listen to anything off the MBP while at home, I need to unplug it! My home's fault, not my Mac!

I did a lot of searching and found one suggested solution online (it didn't fix it completely based off their instruction) which allowed me to eliminate the static about 99%.

If you go to Applications>Utlities>Audio MIDI Setup

I was able to mess around with the settings for the headphones and it made the static mostly go away.

I chose "Format - 96kHz" and 2Ch-20 bit Integer. That's the best one for me. When a track gets REALLY quite, I can still sometimes hear a moment of static, but it is MUCH better than it was.

I am not sure on the technical side, for those you edit audio and video, what kind of quality this may eliminate, but for me, I just listen to iTunes and videos on ESPN, it is much more enjoyable now.

Mess around with the different combinations for you (and your specific headphones) and hopefully you'll find an optimal setting.

I hope this helps some people. Felt like I was listening to a mix tape from the 80s with the static.

Does the static noise you get create a loud almost screech type noise? I ask because I just posted about an issue using headphones on a couple iMacs at one of my schools. I called apple and had the guy listen to it, becasue although coming through the headphones there is a loud screeching beep type noise that comes though the headphones that is loud enough to be heard 20ft away. Apple told me take it in to get looked at because he has never heard about it.

if you have a red light shining out, you'll have to insert a headset jack and turn it counter clockwise > remove the jack, and look to see if the red light is off.(repeat as necessary) for some reason there is a tiny switch that disables the audio out when the red light is on.

Perhaps it's stuck on digital. Look inside the port. Do you see anything like a faint red light?

same issue as me. I don't know why. Maybe that's Mountain Lion problem itself 😟

do I really have to wait for a update? 😟

@Fane_J .. i am facing the same problem & yes i can see a faint red light in my headphone port & i cannot hear anything from my headphones other than that loud weired static noise & even i am unable to use the inbult speakers too .. Any solutions ???