I just picked up an amber 3 demo from the cap fest and I have to say in my limited usage so far everything ghasley says about it is accurate imo.
ghasley
"The Amber 3 has a more pronounced low end and the mids, while not as pronounced as the Lampizators of yesteryear, is a bit more present than the Aqua. The high end is too close to call but the Amber 3 seems more layered and 3 dimensional to me than the Aqua. Where the Amber just has me shaking my head wondering how did they do it at this price point is in the area of tempo or jump factor. It just seems to have a little more PRAT or life to the music. Hey, it might all be due to something very minor like output voltage or something along those lines. The Amber 3 just feels a bit more dynamic I guess is how I would describe it. Not artificially so (like the Chord Dave to me). "
I cant comment on his specific comparisons but the description on the low end, mids and high end with music being more layered and 3 dimensional is what I am hearing in my system also. I am hearing things I haven't heard and it totally leaves me stunned on how good it is. ( keep in mind I have only been in the hobby for two years unfortunately and I have only had to compare the amber to the dac in the mac c2600, a ps directstream, and the jolida tube dac( and if the amber 3 was in that shoot out above mentioned imo the amber would win hands down at least when comparing the directstream and the jolida))
Sorry cant compare the orchid but I would definitely test both before making a decision.
Enjoy.
