If your cassette deck has a 'line' out (like most home stereo decks do) I'd suggest using it, as opposed to the headphone output. The signal at the headphone jack is pretty hot (not necessarily bad), but it also carries all of the noise of the output section along with it. Use the 'line' out to help maintain your S/N ratio. Also, don't discount the sonic performance of a cassette tape source. Assuming a well-adjusted deck with good heads, and a quality medium, cassette can be a very high fidelity source. Too much blame has been laid on cassettes, due to the way the tapes (and players) get treated in automotive installations. A quality cassette is quite capable of standing up to, or even outperforming a CD. Bill