Portable USB/DAC setup?

I have been thinking for awhile that one of the best audio experiences one could get in a portable rig would be to combine a player with USB audio out with a portable USB DAC/amp.

There seems to be a lack of small devices that support USB audio out. A few manufacturers have made ultra small hand held PCs. I wonder if any of these would support USB audio out?

Has anyone ever looked into anything like this?

In my proposed setup, you would have two devices, a USB enabled PMP and a USB DAC/amp, for example the Total Bithead (there are many others). This would be similar in concept to using a PMP with an amplifier, except in this case you are connecting the two with a USB cable rather than with a 3 conductor audio cable. You plug your standard headphones into the DAC/amp just as you would into a standalone amp. The advantage is being able to optimize the DAC in the outboard DAC/amp.

So far I have not come up with a practical way to do this. The smallest devices I have seen with a full function USB port are the UMPCs like the defunct OQO Windows palmtops. Way too expensive, large and heavy to be practical.

There are rumors that Microsoft has a prototype audio/video I/O for Windows Mobile 7 and this will be supported in the future, but then again this may just be a pipe dream and we will never see a new PMP or PMP like device released with digital audio out. Even S/PDIF would be great, though USB seems to be the predominant interface these days since most people use these devices with computers where USB is ubiquitous.

Quote:

Originally Posted by BotByte 

Well, I had the choice of a usb mic headset for my netbook, to a traditional 3.5mm dual mic and phone line

 

I chose the dual plug

 

Yet back to your question, I think a usb connection would cause the PMP to be bigger, coupled with a larger hole to gather dust inside, a large plug to smash, a less weak conduction (gold plated usb? Never heard of it)

 

Truthfully, I've never heard of a PMP, or a portable amp that has a usb output to headphones, it might be because there isn't many headphones (or at all) with usb connectors

 

And you ussually need a input program to use a usb mic in your pc, which would be difficult with a amp or PMP

 

It might be nice as a interconnect, yet still flaws in the design