hiss

My stereo system has an annoying white noise sound that is always there at the same volume whether I increase the volume on the system or not and it happens no matter what input I select. The only time it goes away is when I mute the system. It comes through every channel, front and rear. I...

...is that a more recent trend? To be fair, I noticed it happening during the Bush administration as well but before that, I have no memory.

I recently bought the Samson CO1U USB microphone for audio recording. Plugged into my laptop, the audio quality is great, but a constant hiss can be heard and this compromises the recording. I don't know whether it is caused by the microphone itself, the USB cable, sound card or general wiring...