That's the only way to connect an amp to the stock head unit. do you loose much quality this way? im told using a pre-amp can give u an as good a setup as with a aftermarket system Using a converter wont give you a noticeable difference in quality as I once discussed with DJKOR, however when I spoke to a installer about his quote was "if anything shorts it will blow the ***** out of your head unit". Needless to say he recommended I change to a headunit with preouts if I wanted to install an amp. I used a converter with my head unit, Quality awsome sound blowing off my doors..