To preface, I understand this is unpractical. I'm not doing this for the sake of practicality, but just because I want to lol. On to the question:
I want to add a dac/amp to my laptop. I have a Thinkpad X1 Carbon 2nd Gen (20A8). It has okay audio. I make a lot of music and also listen to A LOT of music. I want to implement really high quality audio, and don't want to use external usb dac/amps. I'm really going on an adventure here.
Immediately, I'm willing to can the NGFF LAN card (the WAN card is separate). If I did that, I'd be opening up an NGFF A-E port for an adapter of some sort to connect a mobile dac/amp to. Of course, I'd be willing to remove part of the adapter PCB and I'll also be stripping the dac/amp from the enclosure completely to save space (my laptop is rather thin).
Another possible route would be to disconnect the card that the auxiliary jack is on. It is a separate PCB connected to the motherboard by a ribbon cable. If I disconnect it, I'd be opening up a header on the motherboard for whatever new thing I could find. Possibly a very small PCB with a USB C port that I could plug a dac/amp into and then drill a hole to mount the auxiliary end to.
Obviously there are tons of theoretical implementations of this. I'm asking for any suggestions whatsoever. Really grasping for straws here lol. If you have an idea or could suggest an adapter or card of some sort please do. Lastly, I'm not opposed to soldering things, but don't want to do anything irreversible. Thanks!
