If I was a company I would use some choice words if a customer asked me to make a cable for them using cable they sent in and expected a price less than what I charge normally.
As a individual I am floored at spending $5 a foot for signal cable.
As an aside, I would not put $460 into an iPod be it iMod or otherwise, the CLAS to me is worth the extra cost and bulk. It's not that much to carry around when you consider today the average person carries a pack with a laptop, or books and a plethora of other things, a small iPod, DAC, and amp in that form factor amount to very little bulk.