Are the Orange weapons and armors better than Purple weapons and armors?

Absolutely. If you look at the top of the item description in your backpack, you will see a "Quality" Number. This is kind of a grade to show the item's potential. Purple weapons will be around 12, Orange will be 22 and the Orange with the lightning bolts will be 26. Always look for the 26. You should be aiming for Champion gear (Quality 26). That is currently the highest ranked armor in-game.

Yes orange gear is better than purple,also the best gear in the game right now is hades gear.The top three gears are these:

1.Hades Gear/Armor

2.Champions Gear/Armor

3.Neptune Gear/Armor

You should be going for Hades armor not champion,Hades armor can help you do a lot of damage with the critical hits