PS audio digital link 3 or similiar Dac

Six months ago I tried the DAC route and had the DLIII, Musical Fidelity XDAC3and a Bel Canto DAC2. Here's my take, the DLIII was the best of them, sound and user ease. But id warmth is what you want the Bel Canto may be the one for you. In fact I may have liked the DAC2 better if it had a standard build with both input and output on the same panel. As for the MF Dac, crappy is the word that comes to mind. My two cents. Good luck.

The stock DL-III is very good indeed. The Cullen Stage IV upgrade improves the stock unit by eliminating (or at least reducing to inaudibility) the slightly shrill harshness in the upper regions (many DACs in this price-range suffer from this), and by improving the bass region (slightly tighter – more “controlled”). The Cullen upgrade to me was definitely discernable, but in a more subtle way than I was hoping for (not a “night and day” difference). For me, the “taming” of the slight harshness in upper frequencies was worth the upgrade price. Some(those with the “well-trained ears” or more acute hearing than me) claim that the stage IV upgrade greatly improves the soundstage by “opening it up.” I don’t hear “great” improvements in the soundstage via the modded unit over the stock unit. I do however, prefer the overall presentation provided by the Cullen upgrade, and I think it would be very difficult to find a better sounding DAC at this price point....IMO - for what it's worth.

I've been using a DacMagic for a short while and I think it's an incredible value. As far as I can tell, it's sound quality is comparable to the PS. If they were closer in price, maybe the PS would win, but with the price advantage of the DacMagic, it's hard not to choose it.

The other advantage DacMagic has over PS is that it also has a digital pass thru so if you're using a DVD player for both music and movies, you can have a 2 channel analog output for your music and an unprocessed digital signal that can be decoded by a processor for 5.1 coming from the same player through the DacMagic. PS doesn't have a digital pass thru.

I got the PS DL III to upgrade the D/A of my Krell KAV 300CD. Wow, what an improvement in the sound, especially at 192K! It competes well with my vinyl playback system (VPI Scout, Graham Slee Mk V & Elevator, Shelter 501). It has a sweetness to it that stands out, and far more bass extension than the Krell. Of course, the KAV 300CD D/A is 12 years old, but it makes a very nice transport.