USB DAC with PDP ?

percy · 2nd March 2006, 08:08 PM

is it possible to use any USB DAC with any portable digital player (ipod, zen, rio, iriver,etc..) that has a USB connection ? I understand that the connection on the player is primarily for transfering files back and forth but does it carry the digital audio stream also ?
Or is it that a USB DAC can only be used with a PC ?

Sparhawk · 2nd March 2006, 08:24 PM

USB is a master/slave type system. A device can be a host or a peripheral, but not both. mp3 players like the iPod and USB DACs are both peripheral devices, so cannot be connected together. They both need to talk to a host controller in order to function. Also, the mp3 players are set up as storage devices, whereas the USB DAC is a streaming audio device. So there's no way to stream audio from the USB port of a standard mp3 player.

percy · 2nd March 2006, 09:19 PM

although there are some (discontinued) pdps like the iriver h-120 that have a spdif/optical out.
I would really like to put all my eac ripped wav files on one device and use it as both a portable player as well as a main source in the "dock" at home. The dock would then have a dac and an amp.

2nd March 2006, 08:08 PM	#1
percy diyAudio Member Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: MN	USB DAC with PDP ? is it possible to use any USB DAC with any portable digital player (ipod, zen, rio, iriver,etc..) that has a USB connection ? I understand that the connection on the player is primarily for transfering files back and forth but does it carry the digital audio stream also ? Or is it that a USB DAC can only be used with a PC ?

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2nd March 2006, 08:24 PM	#2
Sparhawk diyAudio Member Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Ontario, Canada	USB is a master/slave type system. A device can be a host or a peripheral, but not both. mp3 players like the iPod and USB DACs are both peripheral devices, so cannot be connected together. They both need to talk to a host controller in order to function. Also, the mp3 players are set up as storage devices, whereas the USB DAC is a streaming audio device. So there's no way to stream audio from the USB port of a standard mp3 player.

2nd March 2006, 09:19 PM	#3
percy diyAudio Member Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: MN	although there are some (discontinued) pdps like the iriver h-120 that have a spdif/optical out. I would really like to put all my eac ripped wav files on one device and use it as both a portable player as well as a main source in the "dock" at home. The dock would then have a dac and an amp.

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