Apogee Duet 2 – Facts, Comparisons, & Concerns

 

Full Product Name:
Apogee Duet 2
Price: $595.00

 

Company/Manufacturer:
Apogee Electronics – Well known and leaders in the field of digital to analogue and analogue to digital (AD/DA, DA/AD) conversion technology. With a list of products mainly in the digital audio interface category.

 

Official Company Website:

http://www.apogeedigital.com

 

Product Version:
The Duet 2 is the very latest version of the original called Duet released in 2007.
Related product: One by Apogee.

 

Apogee Duet 2 – USB Mac Audio Interface

===>Click Here to Order One Today<===

 

 

The new Duet 2 is $100 more than the original Duet and considering how the original has kept it's price unchanged all these years I wouldn't expect any price drop-off from the new Duet 2 anytime soon… if ever.

 

As good as the old Duet sounds the obvious question is how could Apogee improve on the actual sound quality? If you've followed their products over the years you know they are second to none in the digital conversion technology and it's application so if anyone could improve on this they certainly can.

 

A/D and D/A conversion

Speaking of digital conversion technology, here is where the upgrade in audio quality starts with the new Duet2. The A/D and D/A conversion is now 24-bit/192kHz where the previous was at 24-bit/96kHz. The upgrade came from the recent technology used to build Apogee's flagship high-end product Symphony I/O audio interface which costs over $3600.

 

Preamps

Next, the microphone preamps. The new mic preamps were designed to accommodate any sound source at all so any type of mic recording an instrument, voice, band etc. The range of 0-75dB in gain is huge.

 

4 Outputs

Twice as many outputs as the old Duet. Two balanced outputs that can connect to any studio monitor or outboard studio gear. Balanced means there's more compatibility to a wider variety of audio equipment over unbalanced connections, less external noise, allows you to add lengthier extension cables.

 

Questions and Concerns:

 

USB connectivity

How can USB possibly compete with Firewire?

Well, actually it can. The Apogee bench tests proved this and as you can see in the comparison chart it performed better than Firewire. A 32 buffer test @ 96kHz using Firewire clocked in at 4.6 ms of latency delay. Compared to the USB 2.0 32 buffer test @ 96kHz clocked in at 3.6 ms in latency, 3.6ms is the time it takes sound to travel 1.2m through the air so as a delay it's really not something you'll notice.

 

Firewire is dying

Firewire appears to be on the way out. Apple is replacing the technology with a faster and better one they have which was originally known as Light Peak, which was an interface for connecting peripheral devices to a computer via an expansion bus. This eventually became Thunderbolt, developed by Intel and brought to market by Apple. The recent 2011 Macbook Pro featured it on the Mini DisplayPort and Apple seems to be running with it and not Firewire anymore.

 

What, no built-in microphone?

That's right folks there isn't any built-in mic on the new Duet 2. I really don't believe this is any kind of oversight or attempt to hold back on an expense or anything like that. Apogee has the Duet One that features a decent built-in mic.

 

I believe the new Duet 2 was designed to be a very high quality product all around and so adding a half-assed mic inside this tiny little box would not make sense for the over-all quality of this product.

 

I mean, if you're gonna spend $595 on this I think you'll want to use a way better quality USB vocal microphone than one that would be built-in simply as a feature bonus.

 

 

Here's the Apogee Duet 2 promo video by Apogee

 

 

 

The Apogee Duet 2 Up Close

 

 

 

 

New Breakout Cable Design

 

• 2 mic/instrument connectors (XLR and 1/4”) built into a single connector
• 2 balanced 1/4” connectors for speakers

 

 

 

Breakout Box

 

• 2 1/4” instrument inputs
• 2 XLR microphone inputs
• 2 balanced XLR outputs
• solid aluminum build
• studio-quality I/O connectors
• 2 meter cable for Duet 2 connection

This breakout box is not included when you buy the Duet 2, sold as an accessory probably because it was made to satisfy a large consumer demand and so those who really need it can at least now buy it.