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True LIne-Out on Apple Universal Dock?

Just purchased the Apple Universal Dock and noticed that the line-out volume is adjustable via the docked device's wheel. I've Googled this topic and still can't find a conclusive answer as to whether or not the Apple Universal Dock has a true line-out. I sure hope the line-out signal isn't internally tapped off of the output of the iPod's headphone amp!

The idea being that a line-out signal should be higher fidelity, as it represents the output of the internal iPod DAC and bypasses the lo-fi headphone amp and volume control.

iMac, Mac OS X (10.6.2)

Posted on Mar 14, 2010 7:42 PM

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7 replies

Mar 15, 2010 7:23 PM in response to Mitch 751

Mitch 751 wrote:
I am not an electronic expert, but the iPod I tried on the Apple universal dock does bypass the its volume wheel.

Maybe there are different Apple Universal Dock models that behave differently then. I just purchased mine yesterday at the Apple Store and it's model MB125G/C. With both an iPod Touch and a 30GB Video iPod I was able to adjust the volume via the iPod wheel. To me, that says it's not a "true" line-out signal, but is instead being altered by the dock.

But I am not very sure whether it implies to every non-apple product of universal dock.

For your info, the Wadi iTransport dock can pick the digital signal of the iPod.


Yes, I'm aware of the Wadia i170 and also the Peachtree iDecco that have an iPod dock that extracts the digital stream from an iPod. I'd bet that we'll see more products that do this, assuming Apple allows the licensing agreement. I'm not interested in spending for the Wadia i170, as I have a Peachtree Decco2 and use a Sonos ZP90 to stream ALAC decoded files to the Decco2. I just wanted a "decent" iPod dock to connect to the analog RCA inputs of the Decco2 for friends and family to easily play music on their iPods.

True LIne-Out on Apple Universal Dock?

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