The new rev 2 Pi's have the IIS signals brought out on the JP5 connector.
Would it be possible to connect a codec chip 2 those pins to improve analog audio quality?
I am concerned that the soc might be initialised by it's binary blob so that the pins become general io pins instead of the dedicated IIS pins. In that case, only someone from the foundation might be able to get a codec working on them.
Using a codec would allow full 16bit audio again. It would remove the plopping between songs.
You might also be able to get rid of the background noise (due to ground loops) as you can filter the codec analog supply voltage.
I know you can buy cheap usb audio dongles. In some cases, this will also require an additional hub (to regain the used usb port) In some occasions, I feel that connecting a codec to the IIS might be a cheaper solution.
I noticed that the roku 2 had a dedicated codec chip. So it looks like it's somehow possible to connect one. Maybe the foundation is already working on something like that?