Digital Out from iPod?

[Leo-]

Guys,

Now that portable amps with DACs (pico, predator) have arrived, would it be feasible to have an ipod modded with a low-energy USB digital out?

I have found this product from MSB, but it´s not exactly what we´d be looking for our portable rigs:

iLink

[milkpowder]

Interesting, until I saw the price tag. If you're going to pay $2k+ for a digital transport, why not just get a nice CD/SACD player, Slim Devices Transporter or a digital-out-equipped computer?!

[Leo-]

Well, the two basic "ifs" with this iLink are exactly "if were it cheap" and "if were it portable"

I don´t see much use for such kind of device as a home audio source, but I wonder for a transportable system "if" we could see an iMod with digital audio out + portable dac / amp in place of the regular combo iMod + portable amp.

[Vaughn]

I am bumping this thread for my own personal interest. I have recently
acquired a Corda Move and am wondering if there is any way to take a
digital signal from my ipod to the usb dac on the Move. Anyone have any
further thoughts?

[manaox2]

Its not very feasible and the price that MSB charges for s/pdif is fair even in the thousands. A new thread pops up like this once a week.

The corda move sounds better out of analog and there is no option to hooking up the iPod via USB unless you run it through a computer using the iPod as a storage device. Honestly, S/PDIF or USB for an iPod just isn't worth the time or money. Buy a Pico and a portable handheld computer for your money. You can even get cool viewfinder sunglasses.

[jsmithepa]

Somewhere I seem to have seen a Russian mod, I think he opened the thing up and bypassed the built-in analog stage (line-out pre-amp?). Still not digital.

[ataraxia]

It is certainly a great idea I think, for obvious reasons. Whether it is practical by engineering standards is left to KB's discretion.

[alleyezon_d]

The iLink dock is what gives you the coax, optical, etc connections, but it is actually a modification to the ipod itself that allows it to send digital signals out. I think if you investigate further on the site that you can purchase the mod alone (without the dock), although I wouldn't know what special connector you'd need to get the digital signals out.