I still have my original sony walkman. As professionals back then, we did NOT use cassettes because of the poor audio and reliability. I spent many years dealing with broken tape, buying cassette repair kits, bad splices, etc. We would make mix tapes at work saving us from buying a lot of cassettes. Our personal collections went in the trash a few years later because..... In 1986, we went DVD (exception already noted). My first DVD was/is Dire Straits "Money for Nothing" in full DDD and it still plays exactly the same 39 years later. The DVD is packed away but I listen to its perfect copy in my iTunes library in any modern vehicle I get in, including a gen 2 prius. Crutchfield may have some suggestion on how to adapt a used Toyota DIN cassette deck including steering wheel controls. Good Luck!
Digital and Analog are 2 different formats. So easily it all falls on a person preference. I have a few CD maybe around 200 or less but non comparable to my magnetic media library which is over 10,000 reels and cassette tapes. Long before the CD took over, I already know the format that I need to use. If you really look closely in today's high fidelity, Why would people spend anywhere from $250 to $10,000 for a DAC converter just to convert the digital to analog sound. This is not just once, I know thousands of people doing this. If you had a chance to own even the basic Nakamichi Deck from (1979 to 2004) and a minimum of Super Ferric or up tapes, you wouldn't be talking about hiss. Because in the category, Dolby NR becomes an option. Not a necessity. So going back to the cassette deck for car, This is what I been threading for a while. I want to double check from time to time if anyone has already made an additional cassette feature on the 2007 with navigation system. If not, I will just have to keep on using the walkman plugged into the 3.5 adaptor. And possibly just put an housing for it. Besides the Prius is just my everyday point A to B driving. Its an old car and nothing special.
