Line level dock for ipod classic

Question

In trying to figure out the best way to connect my ipod classic to my small Denon 30w stereo I've been experimenting. I have an old Apple branded dock I found in a drawer from 2004 when I bought my first Ipod, a 20g 2nd generation Ipod, the first one that came with the clickwheel. It has a line level output in the back, and it seems to work fine with the classic, as a matter of fact, with the Ipods volume and the stereos volume at the same levels it is at least 30-40% louder (and clearer) than using the typical headphone jack connection. But the line level plug on this dock is a little fidgety, bump it and one speaker goes out, you have to jiggle and/or twist the cable just so to recover, obvously it's a loosened connection inside the jack...so I go to Best Buy and get an offbrand dock that comes with a remote that was on clearance (it's a clone of Apples universal dock), it has a line level out as well, looks very much the same as the Apple dock. I assumed that a line level dock from any brand would be the same, since its sending a clean unamplified signal to the stereo (isn't it?), however the quality of the audio coming from this dock was about equal or even worse than the headphone jack, I really have to crank the volume on the stereo to get the same sound, and it just doesnt sound as good. I was surprised, I didnt think there was a lot going on in these docks, just routing the ipods signal to the stereo. Am I wrong here? Will springing $60 for Apples universal dock be the best option?

Answer 1

I connected my ipod classic to my maranz av receiver by apple dock. For best sound it is crucial to connect by dock input not audio out (earphones) ! For that i use apple component AV cable.