I am the designer of this DAC, and as much as I liked the review (I REALLY did) I would like to comment on the opinion about the characteristics of the sound flavor. Here I want to share my own take - this DAC unlike 99,5% of other DACS doesnt have any feedback and any opamps, and both feedback and opamps cause stripping the music off the harmonics and life. So I consider this DAC pure, squeeky clean and neutral, and ONLY on comparison with feedback / opamp DACS this one seems slightly colored and over the top rich. The reality is the opposite. We design this DAC to have almost ZERO content of 2nd and 3rd harmonics, it is clean like triple distilled water. The MUSIC is beautiful, colorful, full of all kinds of harmonics, overtones, reverbs and so on. The Amber in my book is a benchmark of neutrality, nothing is added, nothing processed or "tubified". When the music comes through untouched, it strikes you as way richer than the industry's average, on other DACs.
Thank you for jumping in here and sharing your feedback! The only dacs I’ve spent time with are all solid state. I’m curious if what I heard in the dac is simply the influence of its tube topology? Either way, it’s a lovely sounding dac and one I am happy to recommend.
Victor - with all due respect, I wholeheartedly disagree with your comment. Tube DACs pair wonderfully with solid state amps and integrateds. Everyone who has an all solid state system should strongly consider adding tubes somewhere in the chain and the DAC is a great place to do so. Tube DACs give solid state systems a touch of lifelike glow and energy that elevates the listening experience. My daily driver for over 10 years was a Metronome tube DAC into a Plinius solid state integrated. Wonderful combination. I now have no tubes in my system and miss them badly. My next purchase will be a tube DAC or Pre for sure. Goal here is not to criticize or attack you. Im just providing a description of my experience in hopes it helps other readers.
As much as I love NRD, I think hardware reviews should be presented independently from speaker reviews. This feels more like an extended Sapphire M3 review. I want to know what the Amber 3 sounds like on something other than the M3, a speaker I don't particularly care for which has been given more than enough coverage on this channel. I think a review worth it's weight in salt that is fair to the manufacturer should test a component with a wide variety of speakers and sources, and should be given it's own spotlight
Detail but super smooth, transient thats there without scraping your ear drums, balance and natural sound very very realistic and not digital . All Lampizators I had a chance to hear have these treats... you can listen for hours with out any fatigue while surrounded by detail and super high resolution. One day I may get one.
I am excited to see that you are working through all the components of this bundle! LTA & Sapphires! Yeah! I am excited. I do hope you get into how your Vinnie Rossie works with the Sapphires too. It will help me with a final decision...no pressure. Thank you for doing this set!
DAC review aside (which was really cool btw) your crossover point explanation was phenomenal. Also applied considerable perspective to help what I already though I knew about it. Why so many can't appreciate that relationship to the musical performance aesthetic and how it translates to our brains, is beyond me. Thank you, or no thank you..as now I want expensive and well- made open-baffle speakers chancing it out in the middle of my tiny living room (and at the brink of peril) by our 8 yo and very large cat constantly racing through to the play room.
I've had the Amber 3 for well over a year now. It is connected to a ModWright LS-100 Tube Preamp, into a ModWright KWA-100SE Amplifier. The Amber 3 presents a 3D, Holographic, Spacious and an extremely accurate Sound Stage. The A 3, driven by a $550.00 CDT rivals my Vinyl set-up, which is over three times the investment. I find myself purchasing as many CD's these days as I do Vinyl. The Amber 3 is a wonderful piece.
hola Mike después de 3 años sigues pensando que el amber 3 es una pieza maravillosa ?? y lo has podido comprar con el wadia di 322 y cual te parecio mejor ???
Thanks very much for the review Ron, I really appreciate the level of production quality. I wasn't quite clear about your description of crossover of the M3. Running the tweeter so low will require a very steep slope (i.e. a complex crossover) to protect the tweeter. For the vast majority of crossover types, this will produce large phase shifts and mess up the transient response. This is unrelated to the crossover frequency. It must be said, there's considerable debate over how audible phase is. The point of running the tweeter so low is to make the speaker a point source i.e. to have the sound appear to be coming from the same point in space. Tests have shown this to be important to our perception for various reasons. Still, 700Hz is incredibly low, and I would suspect this will be producing elevated distortion from the tweeter, even one as robust as the Corundum. I'd want to see a distortion plot to be convinced this isn't an issue. Anyway I'll stop geeking out now, thanks again!
I’ll cover this in detail when I get to the sapphires. The short is, Clayton does protect the tweeter but it’s lower than its playing range. Ty for the comment!
I used to have a Tjoeb CD player which had a pair of 6DJ8 tubes. I sold it to go travelling. I listened to a cassette tape recording from that CD player and I was shocked how good it sounded. It's so good to see a lampizator review. I look forward to having a good tube dac someday. I remenber when I sold the Tjoeb it took me 3 days before I packed it to send away. I was that sad to see it go. I had to pretend it was a present to myself.
I own Amber 4 and I totally agree with that review I would use the words Magnificent and Majestic to describe the sound., I can't imagine what the most expensive Lampizator sound like...
Really liked the review. Of course, I don't know much about tubes so talk of tube this or tube that goes right over my head. :-) Not even sure what rectification is and if I need it. No bad puns please, I can do that myself. Ultimately it is all about the sound quality to the listener, and your insight is always welcome and appreciated. As always, a great review and looking forward to the next one.
One question... I know that the human ear is capable of hearing a range of frequencies that goes from 20 Hz to 20 KHz. I also know that these are four speakers (Tweeter, MidRange, MidBass and Subwoofer) that, “together”, are capable of reproducing the entire range of frequencies mentioned. But I ask... Each of the four speakers mentioned reproduces, individually, which range of frequencies? In other words, the Tweeter is responsible for reproducing, individually, which range of frequencies? What about MidRange? What about MidBass? And the subwoofer? I would just like to have a general idea of the frequency range that each speaker works individually. It's a generic question, as I deduce that there is no fixed rule for this. But I would just like to have a rough idea.
I like this review series and how you teach as you go. After listening to you I would also say in addition to being an even-order distortion fan, I guess I'm a time domain fan as well. So now when someone asks me why I spend so much on this stuff I can say "it's because I'm addicted to even order distortion in the time domain..."... and then they'll lock me up :) You should try and review the Audio Mirror Tubadour III DAC. I'd also love to see a comparison of NOS DACs vs. more modern upsampling DACs. Ron, I think you're the right guy to do that kind of review.
I know they discourage tube rolling in this DAC but the SQ can be significantly improved by implementing some NOS tubes. The stock JJ ECC99 in particular is a POS tube.
Hi Ron, I am very sensitive to perturbations in the time domain and have little success fixing time smear. Not sure if DAC (Mytek Brooklyn Bridge) or speakers are the major problem. You have reviewed my speakers the magnepan 1.7i. Should I be looking at the DAC or the speakers crossover as the predominant source of time smearing that I hear?
Have you also heard the Holo Audio Spring 2 KTE or Holo Audio May Dacs? Both are latter R2R NOS Dacs that receive glowing reviews. Many people always suggest shopping the Lampizator when looking at Holo Audio but none of the reviews every actually compare the two.
@@Newrecordday2013 Thanks! I currently have a setup of Hegel H160 (integrated) and Maggie LRS and sumiko S.9 sub. I love my setup and it's likely a "baby" setup to the Spatial M3/m5 sapphires for $0.20 on the $1.00. The weak point is the Hegel dac is fine but really the amplifier stage is what you want. I'm considering a Holo Audio Spring 2 KTE ($2k used) or the Lamizator Amber ($3k used) to upgrade my chain. Initially it seems like the NOS from the Spring would be ideal as it's a close to vinyl as possible.
I am running the Holo Audio Spring III KTE edition dac to Spatial M4’s with a pair of Rhythmic subs to great effect. The DAC in ladder mode NOS is very natural and open sounding. I am also connecting the Curious USB to a Springxer converter out to I2s into the Holo DAC. I am streaming through the original Auralic Femto, and had the Vega DAC before the Holo and found it too “digital “ sounding to my ears. The Vega was quite good-but not as natural sounding as the Spring III to my ears.
@@kevinsilvernale6953 are you running a pair of rythmik fm8s? Are you happy with your setup? I've heard the new M3/M5 sapphires are supposed to be the bees knees. Was going to visit SA but the Rona happened and F'd everything up.
Ace of Spades l am running the F12 servo subs-very fast, musical units that integrate seamlessly......still I wonder how would the new M5 Sapphires sound? Such is this crazy hobby!
At first I was worried that I might be going overboard with room treatment but then I remembered i live in an apartment building! They’re WORSE than the hotel rooms people complain about at audio conventions!
So, what about tube complement, chipset etc. Are we now blowing-off specs or are the “masses” not interested, Ron? I realize you’re busy these days, pumping-out the vids. Changing the input selection seems weird too? Back of unit? Huh- Then toggle button on front of unit. At price point, a remote would’ve been nice. Will go to website for more info- Thanks
Hi! I mentioned the tube compliment in the general information section. As for chipset - good luck! Lampizator doesn’t disclose what chips they use and go as far as to etch out the top of the chips. I have no idea about the details and it’s not on the site as well. So no, I’m not blowing off specs, I’m covering everything that I can. Thanks for the comment. PS: if it came with a remote, I would have mentioned it, and I agree the button configuration is a little weird. Then again - how often will we be changing the digital inputs? I left mine on usb from the Zenith the entire time.
@@wa2368 it was not meant as an offense to NRD more to the manufacter. We deserve to know what's inside if they ask a price of 3500 dollar. Take Naim for an instance beautifully made and no secrets about whats inside.
I didn’t take offense to it, no worries man. Just remember, I can only relate what I know and what information I was able to attain. Like I said - and a lot of folks have talked about this - lampizator is pretty secretive about their chipsets and dac details. Thats their decision and obviously - does come with some challenges expressed in this very thread.
Richard Blaauwgeers So, I went to the website. It’s not 3,800. If you select TUBE in drop down menu it automatically runs it up to over $4300. HUH - No remote and you’ve got to reach over the unit and onto back of unit to change an input- HUH
I have a highly modded Baltic 2 that was recapped with VCas, Audionot, a clarity purple cap on the power choke and some high grade nichicon on the digital section and installed audionote resistors...The amber is okay but compared to their more serious line up it is just not as detailed really. BUT there is an Amber 4 now that should be better.
Qué falta de respeto, para el creador y diseñador de la marca, tu comentario, queda claro que en tu vida profesional nada en serio, de lo contrario no sé que te hace pensar que lampizator solo trabaja en "serio" sus lineas mas altas y el resto se lo toma en broma ..., un desatino tu comentario ...!!
