diff --git a/vall_e/models/base.py b/vall_e/models/base.py
index 0205199..5be47a6 100755
--- a/vall_e/models/base.py
+++ b/vall_e/models/base.py
@@ -1352,7 +1352,7 @@ class Base(nn.Module):
 				target = []
 				task_type = "tts"
 
-				causal = False
+				causal = (quant_level == 0 and "ar" in self.capabilities) or ("nar" not in self.capabilities)
 				dropout_mask = None
 				for name, input in batch:
 					if name == "dropout_mask":
@@ -1362,11 +1362,12 @@ class Base(nn.Module):
 					if name == "task":
 						task_type = input
 						task_list.append( input )
+						if task_type in ["len", "stt"]:
+							causal = True
 					elif name == "prom":
 						proms = [ input ] if isinstance(input, torch.Tensor) else input
 						target.append( torch.cat( [ prompt_input_to_token( input, quant_level ) for input in proms if input is not None ] ) )
 					elif name == "resp":
-						causal = (quant_level == 0 and "ar" in self.capabilities) or ("nar" not in self.capabilities) or (task_type in ["len", "stt"])
 						# mask found, apply it
 						if dropout_mask is not None:
 							# if mask use original token, else ignore
@@ -1438,6 +1439,8 @@ class Base(nn.Module):
 		#	 + extra logic might be required to instead offset from the end for the resp, rather than fit snuggly
 		#	 + this might just be a spook since the odds the very first token of the AR mattering is slim (although I swear I hear a very brief audio pop sometimes)
 		"""
+
+		# to-do: use NAR-len training and better causal-awareness
 		info = {}
 		batch_size = len( inputs )