Hi - I'm also confused about this. I bought an E17 thinking I would use it as a portable DAC to use with my iPod (Classic) and/or iPhone (5), but was perturbed to only find headphone to headphone connections, so completely bypassing the DAC, using the E17 as an amp, and pretty much missing the point.
Surely there is a iPod connector to mini-USB that I can use to take the digital signal out of the iPod & into the DAC of the F117, and from there, through the internal amp, to my headphones.
I thought this was the whole point of it!
Of course Apple have changed the connector for the iPhone 5, so I'd need a different cable, or an adapter to get this to work, but the principle should be the same.
Could someone confirm if this is possible, and if so, how I do it? Many thanks for any help with this.
Mark