Hi Guys!
Finally jumped into iPod. I am going to use it to download music in uncompressed format so that I can use it with high end stereo system. Can anybody recommend a good DAC with iPod input or a universal docking station to connect to stereo system which does not compromise quality in the process? I am looking at Sonace iPort FS2 which seems to be very reasonably priced. My budget is upto $500.00.
Thanks,

HeadRoom's Micro DAC

- Audiophile-grade circuitry (Burr-Brown USB chip feeding into top-of-the-line Cirrus DAC)
- USB *or* Coaxial *or* Optical input
- 16/24 bit, 44.1/48/96kHz
- AC or Battery power
- Slightly larger than a deck of cards
- Roughly half of your budget price

(AVS Forum won't let you post links if you have less than five posts, so Google "Headroom")

You can buy an Xbox 360. The xbox 360 and connect your IPod directly to it with the USB cable. Also the Xbox 360 can stream all of your MP3's from your computer. And you can program a remote control to work the Xbox 360 to control the Ipod and the MP3's.

iPods don't have music digital outs of any kind regardless of what you dock them into. I doubt any of the various (analog only) docks differ much in sound quality, but certainly do in features. I'd look for one with a remote control and video out to see the video content (very poor resolution though), album art, and song name/info on my local TV/monitor. Some will only do this through an intermediate AV receiver such as the $350 Yamaha RXV461 (http://www.yamaha.com/yec/products/productdetail.html?CNTID=551938&CTID=5000300). It has a headphoe jack on the front, so I guess technically that makes it an outboard headphone preamp, too! :rolleyes: Your needs may differ, of course.

Thanks for the info guys! I did not realize that iPod does not have any digital outs so that I could bypass DAC in iPod. I guess I will just get the headphone jack to 2 rca adapter cable & connect it to the stereo system.

if you use apples dock it bypasses the headphone amp.