A new controller based on the desired compensation adaptive strategy is developed. The linear feedback gains in the conventional DCAL controller are replaced by nonlinear ones in order to improve its tracking performance and endow it with better disturbance rejection. Based on the desired trajectories and the dynamic model, the adaptation algorithm is formulated to estimate the dynamic parameters which require no prior knowledge or bounds of their real values. To show its effectiveness, the proposed controller is validated through real-time experiments on the Dual-V, a 3-DOF redundantly actuated parallel manipulator. The obtained results show that the proposed controller outperforms the conventional one in terms of tracking errors.