You definitely want to be using the "Line Out" from any iPod, *not* the headphone output. The headphone output is being amplified by a very small, average quality headphone amp and you'll suffer really badly if you then connect this into a line-level input (home amp or car amp) and re-amplify it again. Definitely, definitely use the line out, which is only accessible via the dock connector on the bottom of the iPod. If you use an iPod dock, that will give you a 3.5mm jack, or I use a PocketDock adapter, which gives u a standard firewire port and a 3.5mm line-out in a plug that's the size of half your thumb length. The iPod's Burr-Brown DAC has it's analog output spat directly out the line-out on the dock connector, bypassing all other analog circuitry, and the signal to noise ratio+total harmonic distortion is the best in the hard-drive based music player market and will also rival most home CD player signals. The headphone output? sh*te. But it's only for sh*tey headphones remember
