mine is a MSB full nelson link 3 dac and p1000 which i bought in Feb 2001... and i have been using it for more than 8 years!!

it worked right out of the box till now so the reliability is just amazing and the long time it spent in my system is also a strong testament of it's quality and longevity....

yes of course i was tempted to upgrade many times over the years but i didnt succumb to the new and newer dacs .... right now i am still very satisfied with what i am hearing.....

what i get is good resolution, a sense of air and realism.... bass has adequate power and depth.... voices sound wonderful and alluring..... in all, it's tough to complain anything for the price i paid in 2001...

remember to choose the 132 kHz upsampling option... it's that important and that good..... the 96 kHz upsampling pales in comparison.....

msb is still selling this and now you can order one with a usb input....

Very well built, heavy, profesional quality unit.

New ones with the add-on boards are expensive.

I bought this after using a Pioneer 563 SACD/DV Audio player. SACD sound was fantastic but there were few SACDs available, and I had 300 standard CDs! The MSB Link Dac 3 with upsampling card made all the well recorded standard CDs sound almost as good as SACDs ! The sound inproved noticeably after switching to a better digital cable ( Black Mountain Cable Peak, MSRP $600). Still better with MFSL and other gold CDs, but very good with most standard CDs. Many early CDs sound harsh, becuse they ARE harsh. This unit is a good way to get back to the real sound of audio, LPs, when you have music only available on CDs. My system: Spica SC-50 speakers, NHT subwoofer, Outlaw Audio 1050 Receiver, Piuoneer DVD player. Kenwood KD-500 table, Mod Squad Phono Drive, Dynavector MC cartridge.

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Theta Coral 307, Monarchy Upsampler

Godd imaging, bass.

Durability problem and highly system dependent.

After two years of faithful service it suddenly stopped working! Just went dumb. No sound coming out it. The lights are all on, the upsampling even changes lights when toggled at the back, but no sound. Poor durabilty. This DAC is also highly system dependent. Used it with Pioneer DV 525, there is no noticeable improvement. I used it with Rotel RCD 971 and boom! Suddenly all the air around instruments, improved imaging and bass punch is there. Audition first before buying.

combined with the P1000 powerbase and Monarchy DIP it is AWESOME.

Doesn't sound great without the P1000 powerbase.

I have the Full Nelson version and it was very nice. A toss-up though between it and my Classe CDP .5. The transport I'm using, a Pioneer PD-65, sounded better! BUT when I added the Monarchy DIP (Super Drive) there was a big improvement. THEN when I added the P1000 Power Base.....HUGE IMPROVEMENT. Everything is better and a huge leap up from the Classe and Pioneer. If you have an MSB Link Dac I, II, or III go out and get the P1000 power base. It's like night and day.

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Monarchy Link DAC I w/o upsampling

rich and color sound with overtone.

power is poor , maybe I need to add one " power P1000 " for it .

I just but it for a short time , but it make me amazing on it . My qeuipment is B&W matrix 803 with and DIY EL34 AMP ,first of all , My audio player is one Pioneer 733a DVD player . The audio sounds not bad , but it seems there are some " lost " in it . When I plug in MSB LINK DACIII , what a amazing word !The imporvment are more clear now. especaill the low costs US 449 . It worths every one want to imporve your CD audio.

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Rotel 771CD , Marantz CD19a

The Link DAC III with all upgrades, PowerBase, and a Monarchy Audio 24/96 DIP creates an incredible digital front-end. At $995 retail, no longer a bargain basement giant-killer, but well worth every dollar spent. (But I did get a great deal on eBay.)

When all the upgrades are in place, and in combination with a Monarchy Audio 24/96 DIP, nothing that I can detect. But it's also a $1250 DAC (plus a little more for cables) by the time you get there.

Top line: A really great DAC, especially in its fully tricked out form. But, be careful how you use it and in what type of system. This review is for a Link DAC III with the Full Nelson upgrade, MSB network and upsampling modules, powered by the P1000 Power Base. In other words, the whole enchilada. The MSB Network introduces an AES/EBU balanaced input. The "Full Nelson" upgrade includes upsampling and improved caps, resistors, opamps, and filtering. The P1000 Power Base brings a separate power supply (in a similar sized box that I place under the Link DAC) with an upgraded toroidal transformer. My initial experience with the stock Link DAC III was mixed. It certainly made noticeable improvements in depth of soundstage but almost no improvements in placement or air. Detail was improved, but the punch on the bass was only marginally improved and the high end might have gotten just a tad "lifted". This may account for some reviewers' account of the system seeming "bright". When the fully tricked out Link DAC arrived a few months later, the difference was night and day. Detail was much improved, attack and bass punch were noticeably improved, and soundstage placement was much better. The final placement of a Monarchy Audio 24/96 DIP with S/PDIF input and AES/EBU output into the Link DAC (automatically activating the MSB Network) created a stunning digital front-end. The mids and highs are now very accurate and just very slightly on the warm side. All of the high end stridency is now gone. I am very happy with this front end and am no longer in the market for anything else, including a new turntable. But it took the whole package until I was really happy. Related reviews: Canare Digiflex Gold S/PDIF cable: http://www.audioreview.com/PRD_116407_1584crx.aspx Monarchy Audio 24/96 DIP: http://www.audioreview.com/PRD_116989_1586crx.aspx

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The only prior DAC I have used is a stock Link DAC III (which I still own and use in a second system).

Clean, clear, just enough warmth. Very "musical" sound. Completely upgradeable, often with simple plug-ins, and accepts future technology. User can modify operation with internal jumpers.

No controls, period (what would you do with them, anyway?). Internal jumpers tricky to get to. Optional power supply upgrade if you want more "oomph", but the Link III is still great out of the box.

What a bargain! The manual cautions 100 hours burn-in time (a month is better). Sounded dim, a little smeared and shallow out of the box. 4 hours later it began to bloom. After 2 weeks, Shangri-la. Smooth, nice bass and lower mids, clean highs, great depth and width (some instruments sound as if they're OUTSIDE my headphgones!). The DAC + CD player were $1500 total, sounds like $5000. Overall sound is dynamic and neutral, if only very relatively forward at the high end (but no stridency. Nice!). You can fiddle with internal jumper settings, but as-is from the box seems best. Good low-level detail instead of the usual mush or boom, and apparently a completely noise-free circuit. You can get a little better sonically, but not without mortgaging your home. Voices are particularly good. Reeds, drums, piano, horns - clean and detailed. Killer electric guitars, nice percusion slam. At $499, I can't find anything wrong with it. Made my very dry, harsh, and lifeless Denon DCD-1650 player warm up and fly right, made a friend's $250 Sony sound like high-end. Buy it, burn it in for a month, and you'll never turn it off. I recommend you also get a quality amp (stay away from Circuit City), as this unit would be wasted on typical discount-store gear. The high-priced Monster M1000 Silver and Illuminations DV-75 digital cables were both great (DV-75 a step up), cheaper cables are no-no's. There's a slight 'bump' in the upper bass, so avoid cheap speakers with phony disco-bass or heavily nasal or dead lower mids, comon with low-priced gear and brands like Bose and JBL.

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Also auditioned units from high-end makers at $2500 and up, but for $499 list for the Link III you'll have to spend 5 grand to get appreciably more.

Upgradeable, look, weight, good to place on the top of cd player. Crisp sound, clear a major upgrade to a cd player.

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I bought my MSB link DAC III a couple a days ago toghethrt with a monster digital cable data link 100. Oh`boy, what an improvement to my TANDBERG 4025 who has a exelent mecanick!! Much wider sound stage, clearer, more detailed. I have`nt cracked in the cable yet, and I`m not sure if the MSB is cracked in, but I have to say, this was a pleasent suprise for me!!

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