Headphone jack not working macbook pro retina 15

Just today, my headphone jack has stopped functioning. My internal speakers work - no problem. I can listen to audio and control the volume with headphones or speakers disconnected without any issues. However, when I connect headphones, the speaker icon (top menu bar) is greyed out and it shows the output device as digital. There is NO red LED light shining through the jack as other users have reported, so I'm inclined to believe that it is not "stuck" in digital audio mode as others have had issues with.

Upon returning home from work, I used an alcohol swab on the end of a toothpick to clean out the jack to see if cleaning it would resolve the issue. Nothing happened, and the issue still persists. However, after waiting about an hour or more, I did plug in my headphones, and actually got audio coming through them for about 3 - 5 seconds before the speaker icon turned grey again, and all audio stopped.

Any help is greatly appreciated. I really don't want to have to go all the way into Shanghai to a Genius bar, although that is still an option. However, if there is something I can do to resolve this issue - that is the preferred route.

Would you recommend a PRAM reset, or a hardware test? Whether or not, I'll probably run both of those anyways while I'm waiting for a solution.

I'm running OSX 10.10.3 on a Macbook Pro Retina 15 inch unit.

Thanks!