Look at it this way. The ipod may not be the best source hooked up, or the source most frequently used, but it sure would be handy to just walk up and drop the pod on, if say you have friends over who want you to hear something, or you're having a party, or whatnot. The dock is about convenience, and the output from it isn't bad, even if it isn't up to the level of a multi thousand dollar outboard dac.