Is iPod Digital Output Possible?

Elevick-

I wouldn't assume on an audiophile forum that the music on Marco's iPod is mp3 format... And, with a ALAC lossless compression at about 200 MB per CD, you can store about 300 CDs on a 60 GB iPod. More than enough for any airplane ride I'd be interested in taking...

Marco-

Have not yet seen any digital outputs for the iPod family. Its too bad too--with a little headphone amp, a waveterminal, some nice Grados, and one of those Pod 60 6Ah batteries, you would have a nice shoebox system.

Whups Marco, ya beat me to it.

You're only getting 170 CDs on 60GB w/ALAC? Seems odd. I thought I was running about 450MB per CD in WAV format, and thought ALAC was generally better than 2:1 compression over WAV.

Maybe I just listen to highly compressible music. Or short CDs.

Ed - I was only estimating based upon 600mb/CD in WAV (perhaps I'm off there. I'll have to see how many are actually on my iPod. Compression is about right though. My Alpine car rig is set up with a box that takes the iPod feed from its dock. I was thinking that that box was acting as a DAC since it is taking the feed from the iPod and running into an anlog input on the car deck. So naturally I thought there must be a way. Indeed, your thoughts were as mine: a kinder, more listenable iPod for traveling. My last trip I brought my MicroZotl and ran the analog inputs through the MZ then into a pair of Sony cans. The sound was MUCH better than straight off the ipod, but still left something to be desired in comparison to running the feed off my DAC when running a ALAC at home through the Waveterminal. There are much smaller headamps than the MicroZotl, several being made just for portable use, so yes, that's where my thinknig is going here.

Marco

Hmm... I think I've heard the dock uses a line out that byplasses the audio amp in the iPod, but the iPod is still doing DAC duty. From what I gather, however, the amp in the iPod is pretty compromised, so the difference bewteen the headphone out, which uses the iPod amp, and the line out from the dock is pretty noticeable. Me, I use a highly suspect Nano with 128 kbps AAC files, just because the only time I ever listen to it is on the plane or on the metro. In either case, there is so much other ambient noise that the iPod is just kinda background music.

The iPod could probably be modded to bring-out a digital interface. I2S is probably available in there, but not S/PDIF, so a chip would have to be added to get S/PDIF. If it is too tight, the chip may not fit.

Steve N.
Empirical Audio
Manufacturer/modder