Solid build quality, clear highs, detailed mid, well controlled, and deep bass

none so far

I paired this DAC with my Marantz CD63 SE. I tweaked the Marantz by adding Dynamat to the casework and transport, and then put an RF choke on the power cable. Those tweaks added some depth to the bass, but the sharp trebble, bright sound, and midrange mush in complex recordings remained. Paired with my Audio Innovations Altos amp, the Marantz always sounded bright and hard, especially at high volume. Voices had a nasal quality and piano always sounded rolled-off and unreal. The MSB smoothed out the entire presentation, adding a much wider soundstage, more precise tonal balance, and much better defined bass. All types of music benefit, making my kit much more listenable. On accoustic recordings, vocals are haunting, guitar plucks reverberate into the room, and there is a soundstage depth deep behind the speakers. The MSB is the perfect antidote to all that ails the CD63 SE, and this little gem has transformed my hifi.

Equipment:
Marantz CD63 SE CDP
Audio Innovations Altos amp
B&W DM603 S2 Speakers
Toshiba 3109 DVD Player
Kimber Toslink and Coax Digital Cables
Kimber 4VS
Tara Labs Prism interconnects

Improvements on the DVD were also very good, though the DVD is not as a good a transport as the CD63 SE and you can hear the difference.

I just bought the MSB and understand it gets even better after 100 hours of burn-in. Can't Wait. Highly Recommended.

Similar Products Used:

none

Solid construction.

None that I can hear.

I have an Onkyo Integra system, with DX-C730 CD changer; speakers are self-built tuned pipes/transmission lines based on a David Weems design using Audax drivers, etc., etc. The Datalink is attached to the CD player with a Toslink connector. Upon first firing the rig up, the first impression was an amazing increase in detail; cymbals, voices,individual instruments became much more present. There was a noticeable edginess, however, and for some reason, low notes on pipe organ and other bass were very recessed, forcing me to go to the tone controls. As the unit has broken in, the edginess has diminished, as expected, and the bass has improved-go figure! What the Datalink has further done is point out the shortcomings in my modest system, which will now have to be upgraded. I suspect that if you are spending more than $1000-1200 for a CD transport/DAC, there are better buys out there. For its price, the MSB is a great value. I agree with Andrew, 5 stars for value, 4 for overall quality.

Very good sound after proper break in of Link DAC III. Upgradeability of product with add-on boards.

Long break in period. Poor documentation regarding upsampling board.

The MSB Link DAC III is a well-engineered product that really shines for it's price point. I have installed the 132.3 kHz upsampling board and it makes a huge difference in how good a compact disc sounds. The improvement is a quantum leap beyond the 44.1 kHz sampling rate of the regular MSB board. It is an easy to install upgrade and retail cost is $200 in the United States as of the date of this review (6 May 2000). The most difficult part of installation of the board is getting beyond the poorly written directions. Jeff Delman of ValueAudio@aol.com is the MSB dealer who sold me the upsampling board and helped me get beyond the instruction sheet.
After installation, you can toggle between 44.1 and either 96 or 132.3 kHz sampling rate depending on which of the two crystal oscillator chips that you install. Both are included with the upsampling board. The 96 kHz crystal is installed on the board. It is very easy to remove and replace it with the 132.3 kHz crystal. I tried both the 96 and the 132.3 upsampling rates, the 132.3 sounded better and that's the one I will be using. One added bonus, besides increased sibilance on cymbals and much better bass definition, is that the upsampling board re-clocks the incoming digital signal and reduces the jitter no matter which sampling rate you choose. If you have the MSB and can spend the extra $200 for the upsampling board, do so. It truly makes an extremely noticable difference.
You can also easily demonstrate the upsampling board's abilities to others because the upgrade connects to a toggle switch on the DAC's rear panel and using it you can switch between 44.1 and the higher upsampling rates. It's a neat little demo feature that may just convince those naysayers out there who don't think a compact disc can sound "analog." They are correct, I still prefer to listen to my records, but the MSB with the upsampling board makes it harder to choose those records over the convenience of compact disc.

Similar Products Used:

Parasound DAC

Unbelievable build quality. Easy to use.

Poor packaging, very basic instructions.

I bought the MSB Link III based on the many favorable reviews here and in the audio publications. And the price, you have got to be kidding me! I got mine from Northern Audio Exchange (www.nax.com). A great place to do business.

Since I just started to listen to it, I cannot make lengthly comments yet. But, I can safely tell you that it brought an analog quality to my stereo that was definitely absent before the Link. I was getting ready to get a new CD player to replace my Onkyo DX-703, but I don't need to now. Even though I had to use the toslink, it sounds fantastic. Bass has more authority, highs are not gritty. Soundstage has moved futher out into the room.

Setup is easy. Basically plug & play. This thing even comes with rack ears. I did find the instructions were a bit on the basic side.

You cannot go wrong with this unit. It sounds good and it is upgradeable. The reviews speak for themselves. Heck, Even Sterophile liked it!!

Resolution, details, depth of sound stage, and price

None given the price

I started upgrading my HT setup last year. After getting a HK AV receiver, a pair of SF Concerto+Piccolo speakers, and a Pioneer 525 DVD player, I was very happy with the HT part of my new gears. But for audio CD listening I did not like what I got from the DVD player. Even my eight year old LD/CD player sounded more musical than the DVD player(though the DVD player put out more information). Considering the coming new DVDA and SACD format, I do not want to invest too much on the CD source. After going over many reviews, I decided to go with MSB LINK for its favorable comments and price. The first few days I was wondering where is the beef? I think after it broke in and sampling more of my CD collections, I started to hear more details, dimensionality. In short, it's more musical to me. I'm mostly impressed by its ability to improve older recording. Some CDs I used to think they're not good recordings because they were recorded in 60's now become very listenable. I think I'm listening into the lower level steps of this audiophile stairs and so far I'm impressed and very content.

Very clear, transparent sound

VERY prone to harshness and digital glaze. Very sensitive to power conditioning

I bought this unit after reading glowing reviews in stereophile and from the marketing hype of AudioAdvisor. I wanted a unit to serve as a DAC to my several digital sources. It would also decode the digital signal from my aging (cheap) Sony CD player (3 years old).

My first reaction was very positive. It was much cleaner than the Sony, with a very tranparent view into the soundstage. Treble and bass were both markedly extended over the onboard DAC of the Sony.

It took about 10 more minutes to realize I wasn't enjoying the sound... it was just too forward and harsh. I have really warm custom modified Celestion 5 speakers and they are usually anything but harsh. After 15 more minutes, I couldn't stand it, and replugged in the Sony. Ahhh... all the haze was back, but damn if the sound wasn't FAR more musical.

I called audioadvisor and they 1) Thought me crazy and 2) recommended a pwoer conditioner. I was able to score a really NICE Monster Cable power conditioner and it did markedly improve the sound. Adding a AudioAlchemy anti-jitter box helped the sound even more. (in fact, it as unlistenable without it)

I decided to keep the unit, but I still feel it is rather harsh sounding. I am concerned about how sensitive it is to jitter and power conditions. I wouldn't recommend this unit if you are as sensitive as I am to digi-glare. Perhaps it works better with tubes?

Similar Products Used:

Sony CD Player (cheap), Adcom CD player, Tascam CD-500, Sony A6 DAT machine (for D/A comparisons)

Liquidity, smoothness, definition, freedom from high-frequency glare. Doe not induce listener fatigue. Allows music to shine through.

haven't really discovered any yet!

I was lucky to find an ARCAM delta 170 transport. It is 10 years old but boy does this thing have balls! Plays like new so I guess the owner didn't abuse it and/or it's built to last. The phips trnasport in this thing is cast aluminum! separate toroids fro toslink and coax feeds. I got it for a song. In any case, cd's never sounded better to my ears than through the Delta and the MSB link dac 2. I partnered a rotel 971 with the MSB in the store. This was a very good combo but the ARCAM was much more solid, dynamic and controlled at the same time, with the rhythm of the music more easily followed. The Rotel on its own was quite listenable, but suffered from a kind of muted high frequencies which lent a paperiness to horns. The burnished metal sound of Miles Davis' trumpet didn't quite shine through whereas with the ARCAM and MSB Link II, it came through in spades with vibrancy and delicacy all at once. Watch out for dynamics. This combo with a NAIM amp preamp and separate power supply and pretty much any decent speaker will unravel complex musical passages with power and delicacy. Very musical stuff. A Cardas power plug is a worthy upgrade for my NAIM preamp but not for the MSB link DAC. My only concern is not being able to get the upsampling upgrade for the link 2. I guess what I should do is return the 2 and ask the dealer to get me a 3 with the upgrade already in it.I'll give the DAC 4 stars becasuer there's always something better around the corner - usually for alot more money. At this price, competition at this level of sonic refinement is scarce. In retrospect, even using the link dac with an el cheapo cd player produces a better overall result than an equally priced or slightly more expensive cd player. Or do like me. get anolder very high quality cd tgansport for a song and then an MSB dac. I don't think I'll be upgrading for a while now.

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none -this is far better than any preceding equipment i have tried or owned - AIWA, Philips, TEAC (cd players and separates), Denon Laserdisc player (which was quite good as a cd player)

warm yet transparent
detailed without the being edgy
wide soundstage
seductive sound
price - of course!

looks - mundane, very mundane (I'm surprised that no one has criticized the appearance of this equipment)

I am very surprised that the previous reviewer found this dac to be harsh-sounding?...For the life of me, I really could not imagine anyone saying this about the Link 3 DAC...The sound is very inviting, seductive and warm yet it has plenty of transparency and detail.....much like vinyl sounds IF ANYTHING. Hats off to MSB for coming up with a DAC that would go toe to toe with other DACS at FAR MORE excpensive price tags. I had the pleasure of borrowing my brother's EAD DSP7000 MK3 (retailed for about $2600 US)and when I hooked it up I said to myself, THIS IS IT!!...the sound was incredibly musical with all the transparency and warmth you can have from a digital front end. From my excperience, warmth and transparency are both hard to achieve sumultaneously from any electronics. You could have the ultimate warmth at the expense of transparency and vice versa. Of course, a neutral tonal balance is also important. The EAD has all of these....When I tried my friend's MSB LINK 3, I really thought that I was still listening to the EAD!!!...Only after a few songs did I detect a slight difference in sound.... The EAD, IF ANYTHING, sounds clearer with a more extended top end....In short, the MSB LINK 3 sounded almost as good as the heavyweight DSP DAC....I ended up buying a used LINK 3 and a Monarchy DIP....and the sound? --- AS GOOD AS THE EAD....EVEN BETTER I seriously think.

Similar Products Used:

Theta Chroma HDCD
Assemblage DAC2 with upgrades
EAD DSP7000 MK3

Smooth sound, great value

resolution, bass

Based on the great reviews everywhere about this product, I bought one in 2/00.

I left it power on 24 by 7 for 3 week before comparing it with Audiolab 8000CD and a Pioneer DVD/LD player.

The sound is much better than the Pionner DAC in very aspect.

However when compared with Audiolab, Audiolab has tighter bass and higher resolution.

Other Associated Equipment:
Audiolab 8000S int amp, Audio Physic Step SLE, Nortdost Super Flatline, and Audio Quest Ruby.

Similar Products Used:

Audiolab 8000CD

Sweet sounding

what an upgrade! Used Sony CD changer as transport.

Similar Products Used:

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