Well, I was looking for an upgraded source, by either adding a DAC or getting a new cd player. I decided to go ahead and get a used MSB Link DAC III to save a little money, but I wasn't sure how big of a difference it would make over my Denon 370.
Anyway, for a point of reference, here's what my system looks like right now... Denon 370--->Link DAC--->Audioquest Coral IC's--->Rotel RA-972 Integrated Amp--->Sonus Faber Concertino speakers or Sennheiser HD600's.
First a little note about how the stuff sounded before... The speakers sounded heavy in the midrange, and very warm. Vocals really jumped out at you, almost overshadowing everything else. Details definitely got all muddled together behind the vocals. I enjoy a warm musical midrange, but this was too much at times. High end details were also lacking a little, and I was hoping to fix that up a little...
As far as my headphones, everything sounded pretty good, was a little bass heavy though. It wasn't quite as bass heavy with my old mg head, but they still sound really nice out of the Rotel. Midrange was more prominent, just like with the speakers. At first I thought it might be the amp, but I'm thinkin' now it may have been a combination of the source and amp... anyway, you'll see why a little later
Ok, first thing's first, build quality. It's great. The Link dac is very heavy, and very well built. Not really much else to say here
First thing I noticed when I threw the dac in my system is that everything sounded really different. I was expecting a little change, but this was huge! So I knew it sounded different, now I needed to figure out what about it was different. I sat down and started listening to some of my favorite stuff... First thing I listened to was Dave Matthews Band - Before These Crowded Streets. Not sure how many of you are familiar with this cd, but here's what I noticed when listening throught the dac as opposed to the 370 (I'm very familiar with this cd, so I had listened to it plenty on the 370 to remember what it sounded like). When Pantala Naga Pampa started off, it sounded a little different, until the vocals came in... That's when I realized what was happening. The midrange was still there, but all the details around it were being filled in, and weren't muddled together anymore. I listened to the whole cd, same result, the details were amazing!
At first, I wasn't sure I liked the change... sure, the details were nice, but I've been listening to the Denon for so long, I've gotten used to it's sound. However, I couldn't stop listening. Everything was presented so smoothly, and effortlessly... Effortless would be a good way to describe the sound, even at loud volumes. It sounds so natural. After listening to some more DMB stuff, I decided to pop in a CD that I really didn't want to lose any of the syrupy midrange... Diana Krall - All for You.
I'm actually listening to it right now too, and it sounds awesome. The vocals sound more natural, rather than extremely colored. It's just so enjoyable and easy to listen to. Everything seems much more balanced now. I'm actually hearing things in songs I've never heard before. That happened when I got my 125's, my Music Series Pro's, but hasn't really happened since. Now I can't believe it's happening with my speakers.
I've talked about midrange and treble, so what about bass? Well, I think I can now describe the denon's bass as bloated compared to the Link dac's. Bass seems tighter and more musical, but it's almost accented the weakness in my speaker's low end, so much so that I'm considering getting a sub (I was going to get one, just not this soon). That's not a bad thing though, everything seems much more accurate now.
At first I was scared... I was scared that it was too accurate and neutral for my tastes, but after listening quite a bit the past week, it's become clear that this effortless, natural, accurate sound really does sound better than the extremely colored sound of my system before.
Well, that was what I noticed on my speakers... Now on to the headphones. I haven't listened to my HD600's as much lately simply because the in the head feeling is killing me. My speakers have great imaging, and it's hard to go back to heapdhones now... However, other than imaging, they sound amazing, and I can't neglect them for too long
I noticed alot of the same things with the link dac+hd600's as I did with my speakers. Most notable was the bass. It wasn't as strong, and sounded very balanced along with everything else. The headphones were laid back already, so the boost in detail really helped IMO. Didn't make them sound like Grado's or anything, but it certainly made certain details stand out more than they did before.
Oh, one thing I wanted to mention was HDCD. My Link DAC is not upgraded yet, so I don't have HDCD decoding capability, and it's been interesting listening to hdcd's on the dac vs. the 370. Bela Fleck and the Flecktones - Left of Cool was the first hdcd I listened to on the dac, and I was dissapointed actually. I didn't think it sounded as good. I didn't stop there though, I wanted to find out how some of my other hdcd's sounded. So I put on the original London cast's recording of Les Miserables. I believe it's track 5 on the first cd... I Dreamed a Dream... that's quickly becoming my reference track to determine if I'm going to like how something sounds. Well, it sounded
amazing. It was the smoothest thing I'd ever heard. I really didn't miss the hdcd decoding at all, as opposed to the flecktones cd. It's a beautiful track, and I enjoyed it more last night through my dac than I ever have. So missing hdcd isn't that bad I guess. And if I ever miss it enough, I can always buy the hdcd upgrade for the link dac.
Overall, I'm very happy with my upgrade. It certainly gave me much more of a change than I expected, and most all for the better. Occasionally I'll find myself missing the warm and overwhelming midrange that my pre-link dac system gave me, but that's only on a few recordings, and probably just 'cause I was used to it the other way. I think after my sub purchase, I may buy one of the upgrades for the link dac, most likely the upsampling. I'd love to hear how that effects the sound. But right now, I'm very happy with everything in my system. The link dac was just what I was looking for, an affordable source upgrade that fixed a few little problems I had with my system. If anyone is looking for a good way to add a little something extra, I can reccomend the link dac iii without any reservations, it's a great piece of equipment that's worth every penny IMO.
----------
Note from admin: For the full thread (with follow-up replies and posts),
click here.
First Impressions of MSB Link DAC III
Linear Mode
