What makes a bigger change, dac or preamp?

The best upgrade for any system is upgrading the weakest link.

As has been said, the DAC in the Touch is acceptable. It's digital volume control is not. To control volume, it more or less removes bits. It's digital output is bit perfect at full volume output, but not at any other volume level. Don't hold to me that exactly, as I'm not the white paper/tech type, but it's what I understand of it.

Also, get a preamp with XLRs if all other things are equal. XLR cables do far better with long distances and other things than RCAs.

What's your budget? Is the Squeezebox your only source or do you need analogue inputs as well?

If your budget is ample enough, you can go with something like the Peachtree Grand Pre, which is a preamp with a high quality dac built in for around $4000 (I think).

Or, if your budget is smaller, you can get a dac with volume control that will work as a preamp for only a digital source. The Emotiva XDA-1 fits this bill, costs around $370.

The third option is a separate preamp and dac. In this scenario I would buy a dac without volume controls, a basic, well regarded example of which is the Musical Fidelity V-dac at around $350. You could combine this with an affordable preamp, like the Emotiva USP-1 at around $500, and be set for multiple sources including digital and vinyl. Emotiva is just the first such preamp that came to mind, but there are other brands in this price-range.

If your goals are modest, I recommend the last example.

Good luck, have fun.

--A.R.

First let me thank everyone for their advice and for educating me. Although I love the hobby its a bit confusing with the enormous amount of information out there. I like to buy things that will grow with my system instead of buying equipment on the fly then turning around and selling it in a couple months. I can't afford it although I wish I could :)

Thank everyone for clearing that up.

Agree with Buconero17, preamp makes a surprising contribution to the system sound.

preamps make a bigger difference by far than DAC's, But I would suspect a good DAC would make more difference than the DAC in the Touch. I've not listened to your Quad to comment, but I believe that is the real question.