Just to follow up, I went with a Musical Fidelity V-Link using a toslink connection to my CDP. Stupidly easy to use and it actually sounds pretty good with some music I'd uploaded from the original CDs into Apple lossless. The Lossless files are a slight sound degradation from the original CDs, but very slight, and for a mix for a party, more than acceptable.
It sure beats making mix tapes on cassette like we did in the old days.
It sure beats making mix tapes on cassette like we did in the old days.