2. digital
  3. 1090434511

iPod to DAC Connection

I was disappointed that the fourth generation iPod announced this week did not have a digital output so that it could be hooked up to an DAC. I think it could provide near audiophile caliber output if you used the best AIFF or Apple Loseless processing options and a digital output. Now, I'm wondering if it is possible to have a digital output for it by somehow hooking up a cable to the iPod itself or the dock that would be Firewire or USB 2.0 at the iPod/dock end and S/PDIF at the other end to plug into a DAC. Anyone know if this is possible? Does such a cable exist, or maybe the digital bits coming out of a Firewire output are different from those going through a coaxial data cable? Any insights would be appreciated.
bruce_1
budrew
467 posts
 
I'm sure the audience for this is small. The iPod is designed for a huge market and the cost to add this (cheaper and cheaper, please) and the space required (people want it smaller and smaller) most likely make it prohibitive. This would be nice, though. But I use an iBook output to a DAC and though not as small as the iPod, it's still fairly compact.
tarsando
578 posts
 
This does not answer your question, but are you aware of the report in TAS a time or two ago that described a system at CES that Dave Wilson set up to show off his speakers and to also show that speakers were by far the most important component in the audio chain--and the source he used was an IPOD, I believe connected directly to a power amp, but analogue connection at any rate? He compared it to a system with other non-Wilson speakers which had a Krell digital front end. And Robert Harley reports, and seems to include himself in the group of listeners, that the Wilson system blew away the other...My only point ( a long one) is that maybe the iPod as a source (without an outboard DAC) is pretty good. (Maybe you could try this and report what you find).
bruce_1 OP
96 posts
 
Budrew: I'm sure you are right about the size of the market, but that is true about most of audiophile equipment, so I'm hoping that if it can be done some company will be willing to sell such a cable. I wonder what you'd see if you cut open a Firewire cable and an S/PDIF cable? Samething inside? I know Apple provides an accessory cable that is Firewire and one end and splits into two USB connectors on the other end, so maybe this idea is feasible.

Tarsando: I recall that TAS article (couldn't lay my hads on it right now though), but I'm guessing that Wilson used the mini to RCA stereo cable connection that you can get now with the iPod (hooks up through the dock). I think the iPod could sound quite a bit better if you could hook it up through a DAC. John Atkinson said in his tests of the iPod on p. 141 of the 10/03 issue of Stereophile that its measured behavior is "better than many CD players" and that is when the internal DAC was being used. I'd love to hear it playing uncompressed AIFF files through a really good DAC.
More to discover