 "Excellent little unit" | 2009-09-21 |
| - Reviewed By bixvenuti |
| I use the Duet for connecting a pair of Neumann TLM-103 mics to my MacBook Pro for home and on-the-go recording and I couldn't be happier. Set-up is a breeze and takes only a few moments. The Duet has only a FireWire 400 port, but they now include a FireWire 400-800 cable for connecting to newer Macs. The sound quality is excellent: clear and lifelike with amazing detail and no hiss. The Duet itself is built very solidly, yet "simply," and I can easily imagine this will hold up to years of use. The unit does warm up a bit after it's been on for a while, but mine never got truly "hot" -- even after hours of use. Although Apogee seems to be marketing this as a headphone amp, I wouldn't buy it for that purpose alone: it does do an excellent job, but there are plenty of other headphone amps offering comparable quality for a fraction oft he cost (I have a Total BitHead from HeadRoom that powers my Sennheiser HD-595s every bit as well for 300 bucks less). If you're looking for just a better listening experience from your Mac, you may want to look elsewhere and save yourself some money, but if you need a rugged, high quality microphone or audio input interface, look no further! I've had my Duet for a month now and I'm extremely happy with it. |
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| "Perfect" | 2009-06-20 |
| - Reviewed By User: A24INL1UW0AC91 |
| This is the perfect interface for smaller mac-based home studios. The quality is amazing, better than even a few thousand dollar interfaces on the market today. Other interfaces may be cheaper, but for reliability and quality, I'd say the Duet is certainly worth it. |
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| "FInally!" | 2009-04-18 |
| - Reviewed By deanr0bins0n |
I have been trying different audio interfaces for years. I always tried to get by with as cheap as possible. The results were definitely related to the expense.
Pay more for this beauty and you'll get amazing, pristine audio quality. Out of the box it worked perfectly with Logic Studio and was EASY to setup.
I had forgotten I had even purchased it. And isn't that what an audio interface should do? Get itself out of mind with its simplicity and audio quality. I concentrate on my music rather than trying to make my interface work or cleaning up its results.
Buy this and stop wasting money on the cheap stuff. |
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| "Wonderful Portability for Podcasting and Voice Overs" | 2009-03-28 |
| - Reviewed By asogomi_publishing |
I've had my Duet for 6-9 months now, and I absolutely love it. It is a small, highly portable unit that interfaces easily with my Mac. I'm a business consultant and keynote speaker, and I take the Duet on the road with me, so I can easily record podcasts and do voice overs for my videos.
The preamps in the Duet are especially nice. I've compared the Duet with two preamps by other manufacturers. (Both preamps cost more than twice what the Duet cost).
In blind taste tests with family and friends, people consistently chose the audio clip recorded through the Duet over the other two preamps as more pleasing to the ear.
Seriously.
If you own a Mac and you are recording any kind of audio, I'd highly recommend the Apogee Duet. |
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| "It can't be beat for features and quality at this price" | 2008-08-06 |
| - Reviewed By User: A1DQH1RKDXFVQ0 |
I bought the Duet to use with my Aluminum iMac and Logic Studio 8 and have had zero problems with the unit. The interface is very streamlined so you have to get used to using a single, multi-function knob for everything. The quality of conversion between analog and digital is head and shoulders above anything else near this price level. It sounds as good as units costing 3 times as much due to the designers' emphasis on quality sound. To get the high quality conversion at this price you are limited to the line outputs and headphone output levels being permanently linked. Some people find this a drawback, so be aware before you buy if this feature is something that is a deal breaker for you.
The small form factor is nice because as anyone with a home studio can attest to, space is not a luxury we have. I didn't pick this for its portability but as it is the size of a paperback book I can imagine it being very easy to tote around with a macbook/pro.
The included Maestro management software is straightforward and lets you set the unit up in seconds with a very easy to understand user interface. Configuring my iMac to use this as the audio input and output took less than a minute from reading the instructions. Making Logic label its mixer to match is equally simple. One thing I found convenient is how OSX lets you still use the iMac's built in speakers for the system alerts so that an error message gong sound isn't sent out through your 100watt studio monitors. You can set the output level of the system alerts separate from the duet's outputs.
The breakout cable is securely attached and the plugs are labeled with big, clear markings so changing hook-ups is easy. It has phantom power if your mics require it, which is set using Maestro.
Most audio interfaces in this price range try to win you over with more I/O channels or other add-ons instead of making the best sound conversion. They trade quality for quantity with predictable results. Apogee decided on doing a simple 2 channel interface, a single physical control and top shelf A/D/A converters so the result is the best 2 channels you can get. When you want more channels without sacrificing quality then you can step up to their Ensemble line. |
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| "Excellent: Apogee Duet + Logic8 = Your Studio" | 2008-02-12 |
| - Reviewed By User: A2ZWE11UEGQ6FS |
Wow, I've used alot of firewire interfaces (breakout boxes) and nothing came close to this, I have to start by saying that good preamps make the world of difference to your sound and I found that the ones in Maudio gear tend to be pretty noisy, but the Duet is really quiet and really loud, I put a telecaster into this and a tele is a noisy guitar but it's loud with this but there is no noise (hiss) the same with vocals, I don't have any hiss anymore.
24/96 that's pretty future proof because I don't imagine anybody recording any higher, sure they'll master higher for sacd dvd-audio etc.
Great build and I love the breakout cable, great idea !
With Logic 8 which is the greatest DAW of all time this works superb.
Lastly this was Born In The USA, yup this was made in the USA by a human being with rights.
Great Product, Future Proof and Fantastic Value For Money, don't hesitate buy one of these now. |
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