well, this is exciting. i think it's very possible. not easy; definitely time consuming, demanding many different areas of expertise. my point is that i think we underrate ourselves. i think we have here (and for that matter, anyone reachable by the WWW), many who would be capable of such an undertaking. interest, not just in the theoretical idea, but in the actual design, would be the question. i think this is a worthy topic of discussion though. it's easy to sit back and think "the big businesses have this and this and this and we don't." I think we do ourselves a disservice by thinking that way. we are very strong together.
to me, it comes down to:
1. is it worth it:
a. to save money? (doubtful)
b. to create a quality line out (i see the difficulty of this and still maintain a small device)
c. quality digital out: how many would really want to spend the $ and extra weight/space to carry a dap, dac, amp, and phones?
d. perhaps the best reason of all: open source diy: i.e. the ability to constantly expand/customize/tailor to one's specific needs. look at the amplifiers put out by tangent, morsel, ppl and the like, just to name one group. these are some of the best audiophile components we have, and they are made by diy'ers
i'm really encouraged and surprised by the responses here. i think the person above me made a very accurate point referencing linus' work. this is not a short-term idea. i don't think anyone is willing to drop everything right now and start programming/designing (maybe? maybe?
we'd love you forever). rather, i think the devolopment could be somewhat like linux. individuals adding their own talents and ideas to the project slowly. i think it's safe to say, don't start saving for the headfi dap (dap-fi?), don't neglect getting a currently available dap, but hell, we really could do this; if we wanted to.