[the_eleven]

Is there any way to make a 5.5G iPod do straight "digital" output from the line out dock?

 

[tpc41]

this is the only way to do it at the moment

Wadia 170iTransport Home Page

 

[labrat]

Deleted.

 

[tpc41]

i guess you can go buy a computer with digital out and use the ipod like a hard drive and stream music, but then whats the point of getting an ipod? just get a external hardrive for 1/4 the price

 

[labrat]

Deleted.

 

[synaesthetic]

Labrat has a pretty good point. When I first saw the Wadia thing, I thought it was really neat, until I discovered it did not have a DAC inside it. Then I wondered what the point was.

 

[Chri5peed]

Yes, I wonder. Every portable DAP has some sort of USB port on it, how hard would it be to convert to digital-out?

Hmmm, guess the iMod answers my question...it'd be creating a digital-out rather than a line-out otherwise.

 

[dgbiker1]

If the Wadia wasn't so expensive it would be a great DIY reverse-engineering project for head-fi. If someone could figure out what commands are being used to coax out the digital signal, we'd be set

Synaesthetic: The point is that it doesn't have a DAC. For example, I don't have a computer in my living room and I don't want to hook up my laptop to a DAC everytime I want to listen. The iPod is more convenient, and the transport allows you to keep that convenience while using a better DAC than the one in the iPod. It doesn't make any sense if you have a media server or a squeezebox though... and a squeezebox would be much cheaper.

 

[synaesthetic]

Quote:

Originally Posted by dgbiker1 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Synaesthetic: The point is that it doesn't have a DAC. For example, I don't have a computer in my living room and I don't want to hook up my laptop to a DAC everytime I want to listen. The iPod is more convenient, and the transport allows you to keep that convenience while using a better DAC than the one in the iPod. It doesn't make any sense if you have a media server or a squeezebox though... and a squeezebox would be much cheaper.

I understand, but your last sentence pretty much sums up why I feel a little ambivalent about the iTransport. A Squeezebox is a much more economical and powerful option.

I think, for the price Wadia is selling it, it should contain its own DAC but have the option to bypass it, so that you could use a better DAC if you so desired. Then I could see it as being worthwhile, a kind of audiophile's version of the iPod dock stereos seen everywhere.

 

[Honkymagoo]

You can get a mini PC with an SPDIF out for around the same money as the Wadia. Just run Itunes, or as previously mentioned, put your Ipod in HD mode.

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