The Apple diyMod: My Take on the Famous iMod [56k killer] Featuring 3G, 4G, 5G and nano 1G!

[CAvanessia]

iQEM, I think that battery is for the 1st gen big iPods You could route the battery on the outside, try to fix some small BGs at the spot where the battery was, and route the signal to the headphone out. This wouldn't increase the size by that much.

Jon, have you messed with your iPod mini yet? I might be able to buy one off my friend for dirt cheap since he has 5 iPods.

[infinite]

Originally Posted by joneeboi

What I'm guessing you can do is bypass the internal preamp and send the wires straight from the line in pins to the dock. Using your own high quality preamp, you can make some sort of line in dock (LID) to hook up to your iPod. If you have a LOD you can take apart or build, you can relocate the LO pins to the LI pins which are right next in line in terms of pin order. What would you be using your line-in for?

thanks for your answer. do you know the pins to bypass the preamp?

i would like to use it for recording, of course sind ipodlinux supports that (a bit of proof of concept..)

infinite

[cfcubed]

Originally Posted by joneeboi

For the record, we ought not to say that we are iModding these iPods. <snip>

Oopsie... Agreed. A true iMod offers more (professional work, warranty, etc. - Much as discussed in other threads re: commercial headamps vs DIYs).
I'd amend my post but then your reply/scolding would look funny

Originally Posted by joneeboi

<snip>
I don't see how this is different from what everyone's been doing this entire time.
Are you saying you're planning on using the dock for the signal? If you are, you could take some nice, hi-res, macro shots of the inductors before the dock so future 3G diyModders can have some idea of where to go.

Perhaps I need to research more, but based on 3G pic in the OP it *looks* like C13 & C16 are coupling caps (IOW, the SMD couplers from the image here ).
Not sure if there are more components in stock 3G lineout circuit than the 3x2 SMD ones coming off pins 16 & 17 in that pic. If there were no other stock components there I was thinking I'd just remove C13 & C16 then wire BGs in their place (no new resistors, lineout jack, etc.).

This threads gotten so long so I'm not sure but it *seems* like most mods involve replacing the route from the new coupling caps to a lineout (e.g. re-wired headphone jack or pigtail). I'm thinking a total of 2 caps & 4 wires (to both orig coupling cap pads) as the whole mod (leaving SMD resistors in path, etc.)
Again, so much info here I could certainly be the one confused

[joneeboi]

CAvanessia:

I haven't done anything to the iPod mini since the biggest compact flash card I have is 128MB, and the iPod won't connect to the computer. If you open it up, you can immediately identify the target caps, but I will take pictures for convenience.

infinite:

Which iPod are you looking at? I posted all the datasheets of the known Wolfsons on the OP.

cfcubed:

From what I understand, you want to leave the rest of the path untouched save for replacing the coupling caps with BGs. I can't guarantee what kind of sound improvement/change you'll have, but I wouldn't recommend traveling your path. What you're doing is passing a "high quality signal" from the BG through the muddy waters of the rest of the weak amplifier circuit we've all been trying to bypass. Think of the newbie audiophile pairing a $1000 CD player with $10 headphones. He spent so many dollars just to have the purity of the signal crushed anyway. You have so many weak links in your chain (SMD resistors, cheap opamp stage, etc.) that it probably wouldn't be worth the trouble. I can't identify the line out dock pins in the iPodlinux 3G PCB images, but if you can find them, you should do it. Then again, I found desoldering the inductors in the 4G iPod pretty intimidating, but it can still be done with loads of patience and confidence.

[cfcubed]

Originally Posted by joneeboi

<snip>
cfcubed:

From what I understand, you want to leave the rest of the path untouched save for replacing the coupling caps with BGs. I can't guarantee what kind of sound improvement/change you'll have, but I wouldn't recommend traveling your path. What you're doing is passing a "high quality signal" from the BG through the muddy waters of the rest of the weak amplifier circuit we've all been trying to bypass. Think of the newbie audiophile pairing a $1000 CD player with $10 headphones. He spent so many dollars just to have the purity of the signal crushed anyway. You have so many weak links in your chain (SMD resistors, cheap opamp stage, etc.) that it probably wouldn't be worth the trouble. I can't identify the line out dock pins in the iPodlinux 3G PCB images, but if you can find them, you should do it. Then again, I found desoldering the inductors in the 4G iPod pretty intimidating, but it can still be done with loads of patience and confidence.

Yes, that's what I *was* thinking... Good points, I guess I'll go the full route.

Thanks for the quick & thorough response.
Regards,
Chris

[vvs_75]

I am waiting for parts for my next gen ultimate S-Cap dock so I decided to rework my ipod.

I updated my original post here:

http://www.head-fi.org/forums/3551999-post391.html

[powertoold]

Wow vvs, there are no impressions on the sound?!? Is it better than the simpler two Sonicap dock?

[joneeboi]

That's some amazing work, vvs_75. I really like how you fit the nano into the Hammond. What parts are you waiting for?

[vvs_75]

Originally Posted by joneeboi

That's some amazing work, vvs_75. I really like how you fit the nano into the Hammond. What parts are you waiting for?

Thanks!
Small value sonicaps to bypass big ones. I am pretty much making ALO LE but with USB jack for charging and transferring data.


Here are pictures of an LE ALO V-Cap Dock.

RapidShare: 1-Click Webhosting

[CAvanessia]

good job, VVS_75! Impressions would be great too relative to the sonicaps.

edit: just saw your reply. I ordered 4.7uf sonicap gen I's and 0.1uf gen IIs yesterday. I made my case before I left for school. All I need to do is just solder a few leads hopefully. =)