[gaplessophile]

I'm currently thinking of getting an iPod (probably 4g or nano) and trying to tap a better quality lineout straight from the dac, via some coupling capacitors. Has anybody tried or investigated how easy or hard this would be? I gather the parts inside an iPod are really tiny. If you've tried tapping any player's dac, I'd be interested to hear where you found was the best place to solder in wires to take the signal.

I know that somebody is doing this mod commercially, but I'd quite like to have a go myself.

Any info appreciated!

 

[thedoctor]

Quote:

Originally Posted by gaplessophile I'm currently thinking of getting an iPod (probably 4g or nano) and trying to tap a better quality lineout straight from the dac, via some coupling capacitors. Has anybody tried or investigated how easy or hard this would be? I gather the parts inside an iPod are really tiny. If you've tried tapping any player's dac, I'd be interested to hear where you found was the best place to solder in wires to take the signal. I know that somebody is doing this mod commercially, but I'd quite like to have a go myself. Any info appreciated!

ain't that hard if you have proper tools. a low wattage iron, maybe a temp regulated solder station, and steady hands. a make sure you have a small tip for the job.

just know the model of the DAC, and read the datasheets for it. you could trace the output to a resistor, decoupling caps or any solder joints and bypass it from there if you don't like the idea of soldering directly on the DAC legs (which is super small and hard to do).
never bypassed an iPod, but done this to an EMU0404 :

and there's a commercial mod to the iPod, called iMod i think that offers this bypass for a fee.

 

[labrat]

Deleted.

 

[gaplessophile]

Thanks for your responses! Nice work on the EMU0404, thedoctor.

I don't actually have an iPod yet, I'm thinking of getting one just to do this mod. I'm not very experienced, I've only built a couple of Cmoy amps.

For a bit of practice, I traced the signal path back to the DAC in my Sony D-171 discman without too much trouble, although I believe the parts inside the iPod are smaller.

The dac which the 4th gen and Nano iPod's use is the Wolfson WM8975, for which I don't think the datasheet is publicly available, but I've read the datasheets for some other Wolfson dacs, and they seem to all have 0.5mm leg pitch, which is pretty tiny.

I'm thinking of taking apart some broken CD players / computer parts and doing some really fine soldering practice, and I guess for this I'll need a smaller soldering iron and tip. Do you think that with only that much experience, I should try tapping an iPod dac, or would I be more likely to stuff it up? I'm quite prepared to spend many hours trying to get it right.

 

[thedoctor]

Quote:

Originally Posted by gaplessophile Thanks for your responses! Nice work on the EMU0404, thedoctor. I don't actually have an iPod yet, I'm thinking of getting one just to do this mod. I'm not very experienced, I've only built a couple of Cmoy amps. For a bit of practice, I traced the signal path back to the DAC in my Sony D-171 discman without too much trouble, although I believe the parts inside the iPod are smaller. The dac which the 4th gen and Nano iPod's use is the Wolfson WM8975, for which I don't think the datasheet is publicly available, but I've read the datasheets for some other Wolfson dacs, and they seem to all have 0.5mm leg pitch, which is pretty tiny. I'm thinking of taking apart some broken CD players / computer parts and doing some really fine soldering practice, and I guess for this I'll need a smaller soldering iron and tip. Do you think that with only that much experience, I should try tapping an iPod dac, or would I be more likely to stuff it up? I'm quite prepared to spend many hours trying to get it right.

if you've got the guts for it, then by all means do it. but make sure you've got the experience. try it out on some other things first.

 

[BavariaBarbarian]

You might wanna look here: http://www6.head-fi.org/forums/showt...=1#post2049072

 

[headchange4u]

I have been looking for a broken iPod that I could try this mod. Does anyone know where I could find pics of the iPod's DAC?

 

[mach_y]

http://www.themp3players.com/archive...-disassembled/

 

[gaplessophile]

Thanks BavariaBarbarian, that's very helpful! headchange4u, look at the thread he linked to.