Resolution and tonality.

The lack of a on/off switch and remote. Yes, I am way lazy.

I have bought the Nelson Link DAC III recently. Show a marked improvement over my Toshiba DVD-Audio player, even when playing DVD-A titles. I played the Fourplay album on DVD-A which in theory should be samling at least 24bit/96 to 24bit/192 but the MSB simply outshine the DVD-Audio format consistently. Anyone know why? Well anyway, the DAC is hell of a great value.

Small, easy to set up and easy to use. Solid piece of equipment.

None for that price.

Definate improvement over my Panasonic DVD players internal dac.

price

I have used this DAC for 1 1/2 months now. It replaced a AMC 18 bit unit. Deeper bass is the first thing I noticed with the MSB III. I am using this in conjunction with a Monarchy DIP box and a SCE Harmonic Recovery unit. If you can spring for the trio of these, do it!! You won't be disappointed with what you hear. I bought my MSB for $349 from North Audio Exchange in Pittsburgh. It was the lowest price I found.

Wide (natural) soundstage. Very realistic, unassuming, musical rendition

none: (using a Monster HTS5000 power conditioner)

I've replaced the onboard unit of a 20bit Krell 250CD/2 (HDCD) with the Link III & HDCD decoder. Very, very close in sound so either the Krell is better than expected or the MSB is worse (i think the former). I haven't had a chance to listen to anything sampled above 44mHz but have tried HDCD and 24 bit CD's. The MSB is accurate, musical (i'm a former musician and producer) and 'effortless'. Bass is outstandingly tight (subs driven by Krell KAV250 with Monster wire) and mid/highs transparent (driven by ML27.5 biwire with Kimber 8TC ('woofers') and 4TC (mid/treble). Note that I'm using Apogee studioGrands. I have to take my hat off to Krell on the performance of their DAC stage in the 250CD, but the MSB is truly exceptional.

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Theta

HUGE, WALL TO WALL, AND DEEP SOUNDSTAGE, GREAT TOP TO BOTTOM COHERENCE, MEATY MIDRANGE AND BOMBASTIC BOTTOM LIKE JENNIFER LOPEZ, NON-FATIGUING SOUND PRESENTATION.

CRAPPY POWER SUPPLY. NEEDS TO BE 100 TIMES BETTER.

FOR THE PRICE ONE PAYS AND THE PERFORMANCE IT DELIVERS,THE MSB LINK DAC IS ONE OF THE GREATEST BARGAIN OF THE CENTURY. THEY ARE TOO MANY MANUFACTURERS OUT THERE THAT CHARGE TOO MUCH AND CANNOT JUSTIFY THE PRICES AND PERFORMANCE OF THEIR MACHINES. BUT THIS HELPS THE ECONOMY,
SO WHAT !!! BUT IF YOU WANT TO GET THE BEST OUT OF THE LINK DAC, BUY THE BEST POWER SUPPLY YOU CAN AFFORD AND LIFT THE GROUND OF THE POWER CORD. THE SOUND IS MORE BOUNCY AND INVOLVING IF YOU LIFT THE GROUND. A CHEATER PLUG OR THE OLD TWIST AND SHOUT PLIERS WILL DO. WITH THE SAVINGS, YOU CAN BUY SILVER CABLES AND OFF YOU GO TO A MUSICAL SAFARI.

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PARASOUND, SONIC FRONTIERS, PS AUDIO, ESOTERIC, CAL AUDIO.

I cannot agree with the review from Rich below. I just got my MSB Link III a couple of days ago & right out of the box it was signifigantly better than my ACD-11 modified w/ a tubed output. After a couple of days running it in, I think this is some of the best sound I have ever heard. My system is :
Acurus ACD-11 CD Player (excellent transport)
Bryston B60 integrated amp (great buy - only Plinius is better in anything close to this price range for solid state)
MSB Link III (perhaps the best piece of audio gear I own - certainly the best performance for the $$)
Monitor Audio ASW 210 Subwoofer
Monitor Audio Silver 5i Speakers (Heavily modified w/ Deflex Panels & Tekna Sonics for vibration elimination - Solo Coil & Infinicap Signatures in the Crossover - and rewired internally w/ 99.99% pure silver wire to all drivers).
Speaker wire: PSS Sextets (Braided pure silver wire).
Interconnects: PSS Quartets (Braided pure silver wire).
Digital Interconnect: EVS Digital Cable (pure copper in an air dielectric w/ a copper shield).

I have only had the MSB for a couple of days, so I will keep this review short. The sound of my system before the MSB had been built toward clean neutral sound. For the most part I achieved it, but due to the ACD-11, the bass was a little light from the Silver 5's and the upper midrange was slightly emphasized. These were slight deficiencies & the silver 5's were still very smooth & highly detailed. Overall I was pretty happy with the sound. But I also knew that the ACD-11 did not exactly have the best D/A converters inside it, although it is a really outstanding transport. Enter the MSB.

So far (without being fully broken in) it has added a signifigant amount of "warmth" to my system. Now, instead of ever so slightly analytical, music comes out as ever so slightly warm, & the silver 5's are pumping out more bass than I thought they were capable of. My system still has excellent resolving ability, but everything sounds bigger, fuller, more fleshed out, with absolutely no listening fatigue. I am very, very, very happy.

I must mention that my MSB was slightly modified by Rick at EVS (www.tweakaudio.com). I got the free mod that gives a somewhat better sound than the standard Link. Rick is a great guy to work with & really, really knows his stuff. In fact, EVS is selling their own DAC which is head and shoulders above the MSB in both build quality and (reportedly) sound (in the Levinson/Wadia range I have heard). I am actually on the backlist to get the EVS DAC & just got the MSB as a stop gap to tie me over until my name comes up. But make no mistake, the MSB is an excellent piece at any cost (its peers are in the $2k range) at $300-$350, the Link is one of those few "must buys" in this crazy land of audiophilia.

5 stars across the board

Remarkable improvement in sound for the money. Very good detail without harshness, and huge soundstage depth. Did far more than replacing my amplifier.

Not as good as the Perpetual Tech P-3A DAC in terms of resolution and crispness, but seems a smoother match for mid-fi components.

Have to disagree with Bean's comments below. Heavens, he didn't even burn it in. It can take about 100 hours of low level input to do so, and the sound can change dramatically during that time. He must have also had power source problems, as the Monster power conditioner he installed made quite a difference. Can't blame that on the MSB. It also might have revealed other problems with his system, such as cabling deficits. You can only sound as good as your weakest link.

The Link 3 really makes a marked improveement in the sound of most CD players costing under approximately $800-900. Sound becomes far more detailed and crisp, yet the unit has a warmth to it that makes it easy to listen to, even with mid-fi components such as Denon, etc.. Soundstage depth and breadth are greatly increased.

I like the Perpetual Tech P-3A DAC an awful lot, and it's a price breakthrough product as well at $700. It can be a too revealing of weaknesses in the rest of one's system, however. The Link DAC 3 is a little softer and warmer and is more forgiving. It can be had for about 1/2 the price of the Perpetual Tech P-3A, and for the money, this was a startling improvement that I've enjoyed immensely.

Similar Products Used:

Perpetual Technologies P-3A

Small and easily stackable

Rolls off the highs, images poorly

I bought the MSB Link 3 on the basis of all the glowing review here, but it didn't live up to its reputation. I burned it in for about 200 hours like everyone says, and that might have been slightly helpful, I can't really tell.

But the main beef I have is that it just doesn't sound as good as my Audio Alchemy UltraDAC, which I paid $300 for several years ago. In comparison to the UltraDAC, the highs are rolled off and the imaging isn't as good. The MSB sounds more laid back, whereas the UltraDAC is slightly forward. It does sound a little more smooth on vocals, but not at all noticeably. I also compared with the DAC built into my Pioneer CLD-704 laserdisc player (which I use as the transport; it is the same mechanism the $4000 Theta transport is based on), and preferred that over the MSB. The LD player DAC sounded much closer to the AA UltraDAC than the MSB. My system has a Citation 5.1 amp, HK AVR80 receiver, Marchand active crossover for tweeter/midrange, and custom built speakers.

On a friend's system I have compared the AA ultraDAC to the Theta Miles and strongly preferred the Theta, so I conclude that the MSB is not as good sounding as the Theta Miles.

It is possible that I got a bad unit; the box of the unit I got had been previously openned and perhaps returned. But this is a real, carefully tested sample, so I felt I should post if for no other reason than to balance out all the other reviews. I was about to not post it figuring that everyone else must be right and I must therefore be wrong, but decided that there might have been others who decided not to post for that reason, and so we might be getting a skewed audience here.

Similar Products Used:

Audio Alchemy UltraDAC, Theta Miles, Pioneer CLD-704 LD Player builtin DAC

Clean, Crisp detail, Very nice to listen too,excellent bass detail and extension

Not the absoulute in everything, but gives the very best reasons to listen and be concerend

Well, first, I have read, let it burn in, so for a whole week, 24x7, I let the DAC burn in playing various CD's on continous repeat. Then I set it it up, useing the JVC as a transport, a Radio Shack 75Ohm video cable with RCA jacks as a digital cable, Various cables as interconnects, Monster Cable Time Correct Speaker cables, a Golden Tube SE40 single ended amp, a Musical Fidelity X-Pre tube preamp, and very classic Large Advents (and yes the speakers have new surrounds!), and a pair of Velodyne
10" servo subs.
Firts and for most, lots of detailed bass, not excess, just excellent bass, that the JVC did not have, nor the DAc in the Box. The Musical Fidelity X-ACT has as mush, but it is a bit limpy and lacking detail. I loved heraring good controled bass from it, and thier was detail in the bass, not just bass notes being played. The high end was served well by the tubes and the Advents, so it may a bit bright fro some systems. It was clean and detailed, not rolled off like the AA DAC. The detail was superb, every bit as good as the excellent resolve I have always received from the JVC. I have heard some very expensive DAC's and while not at a 100%, it is batting in at 96%+ in the ability to resolve. I am useing a standrd power supply, by the way it is fairly large compared to wall warts that come with the Musical Fidelity (about 3-4 times to be exact).
I detected no grain or distotions, and have tried it with and without the upsampling. The upsampling does wonders for older CD's, ie pre 1992. The upsampling was done with the 133.2 MghZ crytall (you have a choice, 96 or 132.2 when you install the board) was excellent. While it will not make a silk purse out of a sows ear, it will fill older CD's with more detail, weight and detail. I tried for example an old Hollies CD, with other DAC's and the JVC, it sounded bright, tinny, very thin with no weight to it. On the Link DAC, it sounded very good. Not as good as a remastered version ( I have a CD by DCC that has long cool woman in a Black dress that sounds great), but leaps ahead of the sound without the upsampling. I actually found bass in the songs, as well as a more acceptable dimension to the sound.
Sound staging was very good, although I will be the first to admit the Advents are not great sound stagers. I am going to try some mini monitors that have excellent sound staging soon, I will update then. The left to right seperation was excellent, and you can pick out individuals in chorouses ( I used Anuna, an Irish group, to test for this).
With the equipment I use, it was absolutly great! Like I say, one may find it brighter than I did, due to tubes and the Advents. Installation of the upsampling board is stright forward, and is very mush worth the extra money. The best part of all, is that for hours on end, I just enjoyed listening to CD's, hearing things I have missed or did not even know existed.

Similar Products Used:

AA Dac in a Box, Musical Fidelity X-ACT, JVC 1050 TN CD player

openess,bass mids stand in front,

none

got link3 an didnt see much there at first,after some time it grows on you.ordered the upsampleing upgrade and changed the osalator and,wow.that makes these platum audio 808s sing they were not to good in the mid section ,now they are really nice.im running a adcom5800 in bywire with cheap dvd although dit cable was 200.00 and interconnects are mit330 to msb.ive heard better,but if you have a dvd player watching movies and have little time to listen to music its the best 500.00 upgrade out there.im in small condo and cant turn it up but when i do its large.and if you have a sub owell spend the money you will see.call audio advisers an ask for chris or joe they know this machine well

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audio alcamy