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Is iPod Digital Output Possible?

I've been scouring through all the ipod accessories and cannot find what I am looking for. Perhaps it does not exist. I was wondering if there is any cable or dock that will allow me to extract a digital output from my iPod video (or any iPod for that matter)? There's plenty of adapters to pull the analog out, but it seems like you always need a computer interface to get digital output. Why? Is it just a matter of software to sort out the library? More to the point; I want to connect my iPod directly to my DAC or even to my Waveterminal (requires the squareish delivery end of a USB cable) to my DAC...is this possible? Has this been discussed previously? If so, where the heck was I? No, don't answer that last part! The authorities may be listening in! Just tell me how to get a digital stream out of my iPod if it's possible.

Marco
jax2
larry_s
128 posts
 
So what are Wadia, Cambridge Audio and other using when they are (supposedly) sending PCM from the iPod to a DAC? If what you say is correct, then they must be doing A/D. And assuming that is correct, why do they have to get a special license from Apple to do that? (From reading what others have said, Apple has to be involved somehow to get data that bypasses their DAC.)
jax2 OP
3,031 posts
 
03-06-11: Gordguide
There is no digital out available via the iPod's USB (or Firewire) ports on the 30-pin connector. There is an analog out at line level there, and it is much superior to the iPod's built-in headphone amplifier, so that is the output of choice for best sound quality on a bone-stock iPod.

Man, this thread was resurrected from the dead. I started it back when the task was not possible - As I understood it, that was because of technology or permissions that Apple was not releasing/licensing. That changed with the Wadia 170i I believe around 2007 or so(?). The Wadia unit somehow extracts a digital stream from the iPods connector dock. You can then hook the Wadia's output to a DAC and, Viola - mo betta zeros and ones! Since then, as Larry_S pointed out, others have followed (probably paying the license fee to Apple I'd bet).

However the early iPods with FW I still don't believe will work, going back to the earlier point about no digital audio data available in the iPod. Whether USB or FW, the iPod is seen simply as a Hard Drive, not a Digital Audio Stream.

I've never seen an iPod with Firewire - just connectors that hook up to the Dock below and yield a USB or FW connection. I don't see your point about the iPod being seen simply as a hard drive - with a digital stream you just need a hard drive with digital audio files on it, and a devise capable of delivering (in this case the Wadia for instance), and translating them (a DAC). What's wrong with being just a hard drive? As I understood it, the only thing keeping anyone from extracting a digital audio stream from any iPod was Apple.
wham1000
7 posts
 
Back to the same question, any dock that will extract a digital signal from the Ipod and have a USB out?
larry_s
128 posts
 
..., any dock that will extract... ?

Yes.
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