Paul I. wrote:
I hate to say it, but bluetooth lacks the audio quality and the Fusion most likey has a better DAC in it than your phone. On the other hand, you can control the Fusion from from any smartphone.
Bluetooth A2DP codec streams at around 300kbps. The highest encoding of an MP3 available is 320kbps. Bluetooth is perfect. The only way to get better would be to convert all your pressed CD's to apple lossless format and use an ipod in the radio or purchase lossless music. Then of course you're still listening to music in a boat, which is 100% acoustical junk and I bet you can't tell the difference between a 192kbps stream MP3 and lossless. Oh, and you can't use an iPod classic, you'll need one of the latest generations to get the full lossless quality.
I can't seem to find any specifications on the Fusion 700 DAC and how it works with the iPods. The only info I can find is that it acts like a USB. Any specs on it's internal DAC are not found. As far as we know it might not be any better then what's already in the ipod. If you were a SERIOUS audiophile I would invest in a Pure i-20. I have one in my office to my tube amp

All my good audio is ripped from pressed studio/retail cd's in apple lossless format to my watch (ipod nano with a iwatchz elemetal band)