[The Rino]

I tried to diyMod my old 5th Gen and it did not go well. holy cow are those components small! I have not purchased a replacement one but I would like to have an diymodded 5th Gen or newer and also a portable vcap dock. I know RWA/ALO does this but waswondering if someone with a good reputation could do it for less $, with quicker turnover time. I really didn't want to shell out 1000$ all sAid and done. Your suggestions?

 

[Ubijza]

Oh, no! I was one of the ones who talked you into it

Did you use helping hands with magnifying glass? I had one with x3 magnification and it made things almost easy... Used $9 iron with a fine tip that was included with it. Did you make a capped dock to start with (just to practice soldering on this kind of minute scale)?

Back to your topic question- you wouldnt have to buy an entire ipod, only the motherboard that (I presume) was ruined in your attempt. Look it up on ebay: $40-$100 i think...

PS anothe alternative is to ditch your ipod altogether, sell your current portable amp and get Iriver H1xx series mp3 player and iBasso D10 DAC/amp. You'll use optical connection into D10's DAC and sound will rival that of an iMod+Vcaps. Just saying that pouring money into imod is not the only/ maybe even not the best way to go...
Imod IS great, but especially so when you already have a good non-optical DAC amp AND and a 5g iPod AND you do the mod yourself- saves a lot of money. Otherwise- with ibasso d10 being here, iriver is probably a better way forward.
Cheers