1'8" Stereo to RCA Sound Quality

I can connect an MP3 player to my home stereo using an 1/8" stereo to
RCA jack, but I'm not satisfied with the sound. The signal seems low
with too much bass. Even when I boost the volume on the MP3 player to
about 3/4 full, I still have to crank the receiver volume much higher
than I do with a direct RCA to RCA input device. I've tried this with

JBones...

But the preamp doesn't eat up my battery charge! I don't have the

bmiawmb...

Neither does feeding it to anything other than headphones, including
whatever you're trying to drive. All are going to be high impedance,
low current draw inputs whether they're labeled preamp or not.

High volume setting doesn't necessarily mean you're going to radically
reduce your battery life if you're feeding down stream electronics.

effort to run it through the pre-amp, it's just not worth it. I'll
stick to MP3 CDs for the receiver.

bmiawmb...

Does that work through the same cable you're inquiring about?

two different MP3 players with the same result. Is there simply a loss
of quality going from 1/8" to RCA? Any suggestions to improve the
sound quality are appreciated. Thanks.

Laurence Payne...

I hope you're using a stereo 1/8" jack plug to *two* RCA jacks?

Doubtless the output of the player is designed to drive a pair of
headphones. This is not a good match for Line In on an amplifier.
Sometimes you get away with it.

Richard Crowley...

Actually, the headphone output of most modern equipment
is not a bad match for the average line-level input in terms
of levels and impedance. The major possible downside is
slightly higher noise and distortion but perhaps not noticable
to most regular MP3 users. (No offense to MP3 users, I do it
myself for casual listening)

But do check first that you're using the right cable. It's a stereo
connection.

Richard Crowley...

Possibly, but likely not worth the effort to try.

Jeff Findley...

Stop plugging the headphone out jack on an MP3 player into your stereo?

But seriously, most of the time this will work, but I've found it likely
you'll have to disable any volume limiter on the MP3 player (commonly found
on MP3 players to limit the output to the factory supplied ear buds so the
buyer doesn't lose their hearing), disable any equalization on the MP3
player (which could be the source of too much bass), and turn the volume all
the way up.

Do all of this and you're getting closer to what a line level input would
want, but the headphone out jack is still not a real line level output.