[Richard Crowley]

"berilthedwarf" wrote ...
This is something thats bothered me for years- that is, the output of
the "headphone" jack on my PC outputs at a volume far too great for
headphones...

"Far too great" for WHAT headphones? I use several different
headphones is a wide variety of different sources and have
never seen this problem.

requiring the volume settings to be moved about whenever
I switch between headphones and speakers (amplified).

Why wouldn't you adjust the volume setting of each source
so that it is the right level in your headphones? Or are we
missing something here?

The volume sliders have to be almost to zero for the sound to be at
the peroper volume- the headphones requiring a lot less power for the
same perceived volume.

From ALL sources? From one particular source?
Does the source program/utility not have its own
output level control?

The easiest way I can think of getting around
this is to have either an external volume control (which i've been
unable to find)

Do you mean like these?...
http://www.shure.com/PersonalAudio/P...vel_attenuator
http://www.koss.com/koss/kossweb.nsf/p?openform&pc^ac^VC20
(likely others, but these were at the top of Google's list)

that would simply plug into the jack and accept the
headphone's plug, or a similar set up but with a fixed resistance/
impedance to protect my eardrums.

Not entirely certain if this is the right place to ask about this- but
i've looked around online and haven't found anything promising,
thought maybe someone would know better where to look or the easiest/
cheapest way to go about building something like this (yes, i can
solder).

We typically insert a variable resistance (pot) in
series and adjust to taste, then use an equivalent
fixed resistor. It is easier to make than to describe.