OK What's next with my iPod?

If you have your own DAC, a cheap and elegant solution is to buy an AppleTV for $225, sync it with i-tunes (160 GB), and use its digital output to send the digital bitstream directly into your DAC.

Thanks for all of your input. You've given me several solutions that I will research further.

Wadia 170i is the ticket. only catch is you'll need a good DAC to make it sound good. bottom line is bypassing the DAC in the apple device. get good ic's and an upgraded pc to take it up another notch. my ipod now comes very close to a good redbook recording. couldn't be any happier.

Tried the Wadia and Onkyo digital docks. All that taught me is that the iPod Classic DAC is not nearly as bad as others have reported. IF you take the signal from the iPod dock connector and run it through a good headphone pre (Cmoy is great) the iPod is a fantastic source. The reason the iPods get a bad rap is they are either using the variable volume headphone out or they don't have enough gain (~1V) from the dock connector. Once you give the iPod clean gain, it reveals how good it really is.

Grege: i'll concede that the ipod DAC is not that bad.

lets just call it "not good" instead =)

kidding aside.....were you using a good DAC?? very surprised because the difference was night/day when i tried the wadia. good ic's and a pc upgrade made a difference as well. i thought the Ipod sounded very "not good" in comparison (using a sony doc). wouldn't think a little extra gain could make that mush of a difference?....but then i haven't tried it either.

cheers