[Turnandcough]

Hi Wayne,
Tried emailing you but it appears your spam filter keeps blocking my messages.

Would it be possible to mod a SB3(or Touch) so that I could connect its i2s to an external DAC? In this case a board that has CS8416 receiver chip and CS8421 upsampling daughter board. A few people I know have tried this with CD players with excellent results.
If so what would be the cost and what would be the downside - if any? I vaguely remember reading something about internet radio not working after someone had tried this. I more or less have things figured out at the DAC end but really have no clue of what's involved at the SB end.

[Wayne1]

I2S can be tapped off the DUET fairly easily. Hooking it into a DAC is where the problems occur. It is not a good idea to run over I2S 6". Too much noise will enter into the lines. The signal lines need to be very short with no breaks. If you plan to put the DUET circuit board inside the case with the DAC, this could be done.

You would then have problems with noise generated by the Wi-Fi board and the internal switchers in the DUET Receiver.

I think John Swenson did end up running I2S out of his DUET into a custom DAC. After many months of trying to get the wiring dressed correctly and dealing with the noise pick-up, he concluded it was not really worth it. The SP/DIF as good, after simple mods.

[Turnandcough]

Thanks Wayne,
In that case I guess I'll wait until you have some digital mods available for the Touch(24/96).
And there's no rush as I still haven't been able to get my hands on one. Dell Canada keep advertising it on and off on their site but each time I call they tell me it's out of stock.