thanks chuck et al for your comments. enquiries with cable manufacturers have been negative. however, interestingly, i stumbled on the answer. apparently, tomorrows generation of pc`s will be voice controlled. i have a web cam on this laptop and the mic input control had been tweaked to enhance the voice. i disabled the tweaks, and eureka! near perfect audio-in!
voice enhancement and recognition is explained on the conexant website, for anyone interested. log on to
http://www.conexant.com/vpa/