I've run some tests on a Fuze plus I have a Clip+ which is closely almost the same sound as the fuze, using v0 vbr mp3s of my owns cds Pop, Jazz, House, Electronic, Classical genres and it goes like this:
Fuze headphone out vs touch headphone out = Fuze wins, delivers a clearer more brighter and clean audio.
Fuze headphone out vs touch using a dedicated player like EQu or Equalizer = nearly on the same level just that the touch gives a more warmer sound and tends to distort if you haven't adjusted the gain on the mp3s.
Fuze headphone out vs touch using LOD + EQu/Equalizer = hands down Touch.
Fuze LOD vs Touch Lod + EQu/Equalizer = back to point 2, but at this point I still verge towards the touch due to the fact I absolutely love using EQu and the warm sound fits my current headphones.
As for car audio I have a Kenwood KVT-546DVD with the Ipod cable interface, so mainly my ipod is just feeding the files thru the dock connector and just sitting there being cute, everything else is done by the radio.