SO, the reason I had that cable connected was I thought it was required to
get audio from the CD. I didn't realize Digital Audio went over the IDE
ribbon.. I mean it makes perfect sense, I just always thought the audio
cable was required.

Also, mute ANY analogue input you are not using (Line-in, Mic, Aux).

As for muting the inputs. From the best I can tell, I get a choice of
choosing one input to be active in "recording control".. but there doesn't
appear to be a way to mute the others.. It seams none of the inputs are
active really.. like they are only used on demand like if I turn on the
voice recorder app.

Now I don't have any analog audio cables going into the mobo and the noise
floor has indeed been floored.

Thanks for responding everybody! YOU are exactly what makes USENET so
helpful.

THANKS a MILLION!
-Ethan