I have been running mine on a 1970s Sonab system and it is excellent, plenty of volume, no distortion.
Some things actually sound better through that system than any of the others - Jackie Evancho’s Rains Of Castamere" being the first that springs to mind.
I don’t see why. It should be the exact same electrical signal in both cases, and the 3.5 mm jack doesn’t have any worse an electrical connection.
Unless the iPod somehow processes the headphone jack output somehow to make it more suitable for headphones (boosting bass or something), but surely you could turn that off.
The 30 pin connector outputs the sound at a consistent volume level that is not affected by the iPod’s volume controls so you only need to adjust the sound on your stereo system. I have a cord that connects my iPhone to the input jack on my car stereo using the dock connector. I also have a couple of speaker docks that plug directly into the iPhone docking connection. When I use those, the volume slider disappears from the screen and the volume is unaffected by the side buttons. Volume control is achieved from the device I’m listening to it on.
Ah, I see. Ignorance fought; I’ve never owned an iPod.
A quick search confirms that such cables do exist and, judging by the customer reviews, work pretty well.
ETA, in case anyone gets frustrated on attempting to go the adapter route: depending on the kind of cassette player you have the adapter may not work immediately. This is particularly true if you have the kind of player with auto-reverse, as in many car stereos. But there’s a simple fix for this that usually works.
Link.
I have an AV cable plugged into my stereo. Works perfectly, charges the device (if plugged into a brick), and I can use it to watch video on my old TV (some iPod Classic models can output video).
Since we’re bumping this thread, this is what I use in my car. It plugs into the cigarette lighter and the other end plugs into my iPhone. The audio cord runs between the power plug (there’s a jack in there for it) and the aux jack in the front of my stereo. The plug has simple controls on it that pause and play the iPod and advances to the next track or goes back to the previous one.
Don’t worry about 30-pin vs the headphone jack. It won’t make a difference in sound quality as long as you keep the iPod’s volume control at a reasonably low level so it doesn’t overload the headphone amp and cause distortion. And don’t set it extremely low, because that could result in noise/hiss from you having to turn your stereo’s volume up too high. I’d just set the Ipod around 1/3 volume and then use the stereo’s control.You can get any sort of audio interconnect cable you need from Monoprice.com for about a dollar, although there is a minimum shipping fee so they’re a better deal if you’re buying multiple cables. If you only need one I’d just go to Radio Shack.
I was going to recommend buying a Bluetooth receiver so you can connect the Ipod wirelessly, but apparently the Ipod Classic doesn’t transmit Bluetooth.