Thank you DanBa - I agree that the XP8000 would work as well as the XP18000 for this purpose (albeit with less capacity, of course).
I'm just disappointed to hear that the Squeezebox Touch doesn't do so well with powering USB hard drives that expect to get their power from the USB port. That leaves me with using SD cards if I want to use the Squeezebox standalone (without streaming files from a server wirelessly). And I can't use the Squeezebox Touch and a DACport LX in combination with my Stepdance, either, because the Squeezebox Touch only outputs via the coaxial or optical connectors.
A transportable DACmini is still very appealing, though - I'm just not so keen on the Squeezebox, now.
Thanks for the link, though - I didn't know that my rig was the inspiration for goofyvic's transportable DACmini rig.
Mike