my first impressions

[harley .guy07]

Well my digilink 3 arrived yesterday and I have spent as much time when home listening to it and breaking it in and so far this thing is awesome. It is built like a tank and the quality of construction is first rate. I haven't even came close to getting started listening to my music collection through this wonderful devise but what I have heard has been pure joy. First thing I noticed was that the music seemed more balanced and natural sounding and the instruments more naturally placed, the bass is so much more detailed and tighter that it is in an entirely other world and the midrange is very natural and open with the kind of smooth quality that makes you want more all of the time. The treble is very very smooth and detailed with know since of harshness and even some of my heavier cds sound fantastic through the digilink 3. I think I have made the best choice for me and i am a firm believer that this is one of the best dacs out there in the affordable high end class and I believe it could keep up with much much more expensive units. And the fact that there are upgrades out there for this unit to make great even greater is within itself a wonderful thing. But I said I would write a review when I got it and did some listening and so far I am more impressed than I thought I would be and am very happy with this dac.

[blackraven]

Harely, just beware about upgrades, they are not always what they are portrayed to be. I've done a few mods and some for the better and some for the worse. The worst was my modded Music Hall 25.2 CDP.

Glad you like your new DAC!

[LeRoy]

Good to know you are enjoying the latest addition to your audio system...
enjoy the music!

LeRoy

[Ajani]

Congrats! It's always good to hear members enjoying their new toys...

[harley .guy07]

yeah I am really enjoying it. And I will take your point about upgrades and be very careful about doing it if it is ever needed, but for now I am quite happy with how it functions now. even earlier recordings on cd sound remarkably better with this dac. The more I listen to it the more I am impressed by the tight clean bass and midrange that just seems to bring things to the music that I have not previously heard on my system. In all honesty the most I will be doing as far as upgrades goes will be playing with different cable to see which does the best with this dac. But hey that's what this hobby is all about, trying different cables and techniques to allow your system to present the music you love in better and better ways. But for now I am very happy with my purchase and look forward to continuing to go through my collection and hear things from my cd's that I have never heard on my system before.

[poppachubby]

Well Mr. Harley, it's been a long road in selecting a dac. I remember when we were "uncovering" the Grant conspiracy with the Chinese, and now look at you! I'm looking at your sig but I'm not sure where you have the dac in the chain, into the Adcom?

I have heard the Digilink III and was close at one point to buying a used Digilink. The first edition is quite basic and only outputs 16/44.1 but as you said, the build is fantastic and of course, so is the sound. I think PSA have found a great combo in their digilink and the output stage is second to none. It's the analog out that's the difficult thing to do with these DACs, and they have it down. 02audionoob has one too and he loves it.

Well enjoy, I'd be interested in some more input once your ears have accustomed. That's the point where an upgrade can be useful. Enjoy buddy you deserve it.

[Mr Peabody]

Welcome to the fold of enlightened who realize a difference in digital playback. Glad you are happy with your purchase. If we ever get a meeting together maybe you can bring it to compare.

[harley .guy07]

well poppa I put my new dac in my signature, I can't believe I forgot to in the first place. thats usually one of the first things I do when I upgrade after hooking it up and playing with it of course. This dac does have the better analog outputs and I believe it makes a huge difference in the overall sound. The outputs are discrete and not opamp style which puts this dac in another league compared to like priced units. And from what I have heard this units price is about to go up again closer to the 1000 dollar point where it was a year or so ago. I have heard people compare it to some very expensive dacs with positive results and the only dac that seems to be as good as the ps in this price range is the benchmark dac 1, even the 2 companies I talked to before buying mine said that the benchmark is the only dac even close to the price range of the ps-audio digilink 3 that sounds as good, They basically said that the benchmark is more detailed but the ps-audio gives a more natural balance and presence to the music. I have not heard the benchmark but I have talked to some owners and people that have heard both dacs and they seem to equally like both dacs just in different ways. I think I have made a good decision and I would love to get a group together sometime and do some gear talk and listen to some different combos of gear and get other peoples opinion. In my book the oppo bdp-83 and the ps-audio digilink 3 is a killer combo and am very happy.

[poppachubby]

That price increase, will it be for a 4th edition? Last I saw they were $700, not just online, at the local dealers too.

Afterthought here harley.

I want to know what your thoughts are on the Digilinks impact with bad/good recordings. Particularily, a burned CD of say 320kbps MP3 vs a RBCD. Does it expose the weaknesses of the burn beyond listenability? Or does it smooth it out into a pleasure...

[harley .guy07]

I think the price increase will be for this version and that was from both companies that I was looking at buying this piece from. As far as the musical quality for mp3 I am not sure because I don't have any recordings in that format, But If I remember correctly I read that there are quite a few dacs out there that will not read mp3 format and the ps-audio is one of them if I remember correctly, I believe you have to have flac or better file format to be able to use this dac, as far as bad recordings sounding better it does seem to smooth out recordings that are rough around the edges and seem to improve about any recording thrown at it. I think it is well worth the money.

[Luvin Da Blues]

http://www2.actden.com/writ_den/tips/paragrap/index.htm

[Ajani]

as far as bad recordings sounding better it does seem to smooth out recordings that are rough around the edges and seem to improve about any recording thrown at it. I think it is well worth the money.

That smoothness is why some persons prefer it to the DAC1... The DAC1 won't hide or smooth out anything... It's really a matter of sonic priorities and musical tastes...

[harley .guy07]

thats what I have been told. That the benchmark and ps-audio are equals to each other they just have sonic differences that is just peoples sonic likes to which one they choose to go with.

[pdhanwada]

Eversince I got my MHDT havana DAC, I had done quite an amount of listening. Was not happy about the output. There was improvement in the sound stage and depth but was not happy about it. Wasnt feeling the improvement which was worth $1000 I spent on the DAC.

Until before this weekend, Blue jeans interconnect was connected between preamp and the amps and the audio quest interconnects( These were the free bies provided by the dealer at the time of purchasing my signatures) connected between the DAC and preamp. I interchanged the interconnects. Now Blue jeans connects between my havana and the preamp and audio quest ones connect between preamp and amp. Suddenly I see a change in the sound signature.

After listening for a while Just decreased the TOE in angle. This changed everything in my system. Now the soundstage has become wide and deep. I used to have problems with the highs. Thats all gone.

Logically going thru my situation, Crap from source is Crap out of the AMP. Keep the source data clean. Having better cables at the source level is more important than at the amp level.

WIthout a dac I used to have high toe in angle. That is probably because the off-axis response by the speaker was not good because of source. Once I cleanup the source, Off-axis response improves, making me decrease my toe in angle and increasing my sound stage.
THanks
Pandu

[pdhanwada]

I just now checked audioquest site. My audioquest interconnects are sidewinder model. It looks like I have big improvement potential at the interconnect section.

suggest me good in expensive options Preferably used ones are ok for me.

Thanks

[Mr Peabody]

Pandu, if the Bluejeans helped at the DAC why not just use the same between pre and power amp? I also believe in staying with same brand cable for consistency in sound.

[pdhanwada]

Peabody,

From your earlier comments I have seen that Transparent > blue jeans. I live in India. Not very easy to change anything in my system.

I get a feeling that transparent + Transparent + Canare quad speaker cable(blue jeans) may be ok.

Do you mean that including the speaker cable we need to be of same brand or the just the interconnects.

Thanks for your reply.

Pandu

[Mr Peabody]

Are you going to use Transparent? I did find Transparent better than Bluejeans but twice the price in U.S. for entry Transparent. I just thought since you noticed Bluejeans was better you might go with that but the Transparent you should really hear some difference.

Using same brand cables is just a personal preference of mine. If I had to mismatch, the speaker cable of a different brand wouldn't be as bad as mixing interconnect brands in my opinion.