[bretonsound]

Please forgive my ignorance, I’m more of an analog guy and somewhat digitally challenged. I currently do not have a stand alone dac in my system. I’m considering picking up the Amber 3 dac. I recently heard one and was very impressed. I’m currently streaming Tidal through a Bluesound vault 2. I’m bypassing the builtin dac in the vault 2 and utilizing the dac in my Cambridge Audio azur 840c CD player. It sounded better in AB comparison. A single coax rca cable connects the vault to the cd plater. The audio out from the vault is connected to an Audio Research LS27 preamp with rca cables. The Cambridge Audio CD player is connected to an audio research LS27 preamp with balanced straightwire interconnects. I also have an Oppo bdp95 which runs directly to the ARC LS27 through straightwire balanced interconnects. Any opinions on if the Amber 3 dac will be an improvement over the DACs in the Cambridge Audio CD and Oppo bdp95 and worth the investment? Will I be able to run all 3 of the devices (Bluesound, Cambridge Audio and Oppo) through the Amber 3 dac. Inputs seem limited but as I’ve said I have not owned a standalone dac before. I also have a VPI Classic 1 turntable with Soundsmith Sussurro cartridge, ARC VS115 tube amp and Salk HT2-TL speakers. Any help or advice would be appreciated

[Phil A]

The Amber 3 from the product page here - https://www.lampizator.com/amber-3  has 4 inputs, USB, Toslink, and two coax digital inputs, one RCA and one BNC.  If one needed an additional RCA coax digital input one could always get adapters or a cable that goes from RCA to BNC.

[fado]

The photo in the referenced link "https://www.lampizator.com/amber-3" is actually the Amber 2. I purchased the Amber 3 CAF show demo. In speaking with LampizatorNA about the inputs I got the impression that the standard inputs are USB, RCA and BNC SPIDF. I think Toslink and/or AES/EBU can be specified at extra cost. I found the added cost for Toslink on the LampizatorEU site:
 
https://d178dfe1-6094-4971-8b61-f66722d80d57.filesusr.com/ugd/c6db56_50e9a9fdb0c241579ab87cda61b4c35d.pdf?index=true
 
This added ~200.00 for toslink was consistent with the regular price quoted for the show special I bought. I think you can get almost any group of outputs you specify - you could probably even get a pasta maker if you want. I do think the standard unit will have just three inputs. See the photo of the inputs on my Amber 3 which has the added Toslink:

https://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=166500.0     Also see JRiggy's response to my question.  Just communicate DIRECTLY with LampizatorNA to get exactly what youi want.

[fado]

Correction to my post above. I used the word “output” instead of input. “ almost any group of outputs you specify.”

[Phil A]

If one is short digital inputs, I'd plug the more important sources directly into the DAC and get something like - http://www.inday.com/da4x.html

[mreeter]

In regards to your inquiry about the Amber 3's performance compared to the internal DAC in the Cambridge. The Amber 3 is in a league of its own, there is really no comparison to what you currently have. I had a PS Audio NuWave DSD DAC, which was a fine sounding unit, but absolutely NO comparison to the Amber.

I'm also a Vinyl guy who has four times the investment in my Vinyl set-up than the Amber, and I am floored by the DAC's presentation, it's very special. And, my only source to the DAC atm is an OPPO UDP-203 via Digital RCA Coax.

I guess it should be noted that the Digital RCA Coax inputs are limited to 24bit/96 kHz on SPDIF (which sounds remarkable) The highest resolution (up to 256 x DSD, up to 385 kHz PCM) output of the DAC is obtained via the USB input.

 So, you must have a device that has a USB output to obtain the highest resolution play back. Your Bluesound 2i does not have a USB output. I'm picking up a Streamer/Server or a MacBook Pro to incorporate as a Server to stream Hi-res files via the USB input.

[bretonsound]

Thank you for all the advice. This has been very helpful. I'm pretty close to pulling the trigger on the Amber 3. Since my Bluesound Vault 2 that I use to stream Tidal does not have a USB output to take advantage of the higher resolution data, does anyone have any other suggestions for a good USB streamer that can handle Tidal and some of the other services that are becoming available. I'd rather not incorporate a computer into my system.

[mreeter]

https://www.sonore.us/ultraRendu.html for one.

https://www.audiogon.com/listings/lis9j02d-auralic-aries-wireless-streaming-bridge-media-servers?refsource=hifishark a good option on the used market

btw, don't let the USB Input hold you back, the Digital RCA Coax Input is extremely good in 24bit/96 kHz Output.