Headphones hissing sound (Realtek)

I recently bought a XPS 8700 and though I'm pretty certain it wasnt a problem at first I noticed this week that the headphones create a irritating, constant hissing sound. Updating Realtek HD audio to the latest 6.0.1.7246 version didnt solve the problem, but if I uninstall the driver the sound disappears. However then I have no sound whatsoever.

Is there a solution to this problem? Is there another audio driver that I can install so that I can evaluate whether its a specific problem with Realtek or a more general one? In Device Manager under 'sound,video,and game controllers' I have NVIDIA HD audio and Realtek HD audio installed- should there be more programs installed?