manniesm wrote:

Just realized that Sonos Connect (not "Touch") requires an ethernet cable.  Now asking which would sound better with Theta Digital Pro Basic IIIA dac (circa 1997), Squeezebox Touch, which can be strictly WiFi, or Bel Canto Link, which requires hard-wiring to PC?  Or does the age of the dac make the question moot?

A few comments:

1) The Squeezebox Touch works very well when used via Wi-Fi (wirelessly)

2) The Touch can be placed in your system and you can then easily A-b the sound of the Touch via its built in DAC and using the Theta DAC since both the analog outputs and digital outputs of the Touch are active at all times. In other words hook the analog outputs to one set of inputs on your preamp and the Theta's analog outputs to a different set of inputs and then you can switch between the inputs in real time.

3) I don't know what the maximum sample rate and bit depth are for the Theta DAC but the Touch can handle a maximum of 96kHz and 24 bit.

manniesm wrote:

The max sample rate for the Theta is 48kHz, but then, at 72, I'm mostly interested in running my redbook CD library, loaded into iTunes as Apple lossless files

If you are only going to have Redbook CDs ripped to Apple lossless in your library then a Squeezebox Touch will work just fine with your Theta DAC.