Mac Mini: poor audio quality

I have my Mac Mini connected to my plasma (yes, doing the HTPC thing). I'm finding the audio output is really poor, regularly scratchy and lacks loudness in the volume.
I have tested the Mini versus my Macbook, using the same source file (a DIVX movie), Plex as the player, connected to my TV. The Macbook is fine, the Mini has the issues mentioned above.
I have tried iTunes, eyeTV and DVD Player on the Mini - all have the same issues. Seeing the same setup works fine with my Macbook, I take it the audio cable and audio amplifier in the TV are all fine.
So this leaves the issue with the Mac Mini
Any thoughts on what the issue could be and how to go about fixing it would be much appreciated.

Yes, using the combo optical/headphone out, connected to my TV via RCA inputs.
Reducing to 3 makes its so quiet that I have to blast the volume on my TV in order to hear anything.
I don't have a high-end set of headphones, but the headphone quality is good unless I have the volume up loud, then it distorts. Some people have hinted that the Mac Mini has a headphone output only where as the other Macs have a line out. If this is the case than the Mac Mini audio will only be good via headphones or an amp with optical input.
So inputting via an analog amp is either out of the question OR my Mini has a hardware fault!

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Eason Huang
TechNet Community Support

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Hello,
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In addition to BDAqua:
You will probably want to purchase and use an external "sound card" or DAC via USB or FireWire to get decent audio quality from external sources into the Mac.
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donnib

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Was the original (2Gb-4Gb) RAM fitted when the 1st issue appeared?
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The current Mac mini is positioned as a home or small business server plus there is no hardware reporting as found in an X-Serve. The HDD(s) used are as reliable as one would expect from a portable drive. Like the previous Mac mini's, the current models are reliable with few known issues until you replace parts that Apple may not have used in testing.
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Given a pro could not fix it, it isn't easy to troubleshoot this sort of thing over a forum but, let's see if you can adapt from my experience with the Bravia. I am not a pro, hence tolerate my 'elementary' explanation.
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http://support.apple.com/kb/ht5539
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