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
This is in response to Tarsando's comments about the TAS article descibing the IPOD. I have a good friend who has a REALLY NICE system in his home, with Sony's new reference Sacd player and even he couldn't believe the sound of my IPod connected to his wicked system. The files I have on my IPod are AAC format. It was obviously no contest between his reference player and my $499 IPod, but should it be? His player cost $3000 and is a bargain at that price. He said that (referring to the IPod) has no right sounding that good. I don't have a player as nice as his yet, but still have fun using my IPod and think I probably always will. Serious listening probably not, but for fun and ease of use as well as an entire collection at your fingertips it is money well spent. Cool gadget that I wouldn't part with.
Hi

Not sure if this helps, but click and copy and put to your browser and see. lat us know

http://www.slimdevices.com/pi_overview.html

cheers
guys if you read the diffrent reviews in most audiophile mags..you will see that most reviewers almost couldent tell the diff between there 4-6 k reference cdp's and the 299-499 ipods when of course it was aac ripped files...that being said....the ipod is the future....most likely replacing our beloved cd's....and keeping things nice and neat in our homes....and cars,some of the car manufactures are already getting on board to accomadate this trend...and i'm sure apple will eventually come out with a hard drive storage back up so we audiophile can down load all of our cd collections onto it and have access to god knows how many albums at a touch of a button...,i for one am looking forward to this day!! becouse lets be honost here most 4-8k cd players are not worth the money....!!! and its still a digital stream that is converted into a analog signal...so it will never be perfected...,its just fool proof and convient..that was sony's idea!! for series listening we still have our lp collections...and for convients now there is the ipod..welcome to the future of audiophilia...and eventually good buy cd's!

my 2 cents worth!!
Hey, you could buy the $17,000 Reimyo CD player ($15,000 for a dealer demo!) or an iPod and all the CDs/LPs you could ever want! I know where I'd put my money today.
The computer is the way to go if you want to get the best fidelity with a hard drive based transport. I rip my CD's to my hard drive and ipod uncompressed using AIFF. With hard drives getting larger and cheaper, I don't see any reason to use compression. I set up a system with a G4 Power book outputting via USB connection to an Apogee Mini-Dac and it sounds really, really good. On the other hand, I connect my ipod to my car stereo using the headphone out and it sounds good, too. Not as good as the computer through the Apogee, but good enough for the car, far better than a 6 CD changer.