[PhaedrusX]

a couple of questions for those of you who have these units:

jp11801...you mentioned in the opening post the overt brightness and sibilance on a Van Halen track. does this glare or harshness appear often in listening sessions, or is it just limited to a few bad recordings?

tyrion...when you get your Pico, would you mind trying it out as a source (volume matched in the same system) and share your impressions A-B'd against the Duet?

 

[tyrion]

Quote:

Originally Posted by PhaedrusX /img/forum/go_quote.gif a couple of questions for those of you who have these units: jp11801...you mentioned in the opening post the overt brightness and sibilance on a Van Halen track. does this glare or harshness appear often in listening sessions, or is it just limited to a few bad recordings? tyrion...when you get your Pico, would you mind trying it out as a source (volume matched in the same system) and share your impressions A-B'd against the Duet?

Pico arrived today. I will try to get it the big rig tomorrow night, if I'm home. Otherwise, it will be Friday night.

 

[PhaedrusX]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tyrion /img/forum/go_quote.gif Pico arrived today. I will try to get it the big rig tomorrow night, if I'm home. Otherwise, it will be Friday night.

excellent...thanks.

 

[JzzMaTzz]

Tyrion, I'm wondering how you connectecd the duet to your rig, is there a connection on the breakout cable for standard rca connectors?

 

[jp11801]

Quote:

Originally Posted by JzzMaTzz /img/forum/go_quote.gif Tyrion, I'm wondering how you connectecd the duet to your rig, is there a connection on the breakout cable for standard rca connectors?

this required a trip to radio shack and the purchase of 1/4 monoto rca convertor plugs. At som point I am going to reterm my rca to 1/4 mono to skip this

 

[jp11801]

Quote:

Originally Posted by PhaedrusX /img/forum/go_quote.gif a couple of questions for those of you who have these units: jp11801...you mentioned in the opening post the overt brightness and sibilance on a Van Halen track. does this glare or harshness appear often in listening sessions, or is it just limited to a few bad recordings?

just on very few poorly mastered/recorded tracks the duet does not mask what is on the recording

 

[grawk]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jp11801 /img/forum/go_quote.gif this required a trip to radio shack and the purchase of 1/4 monoto rca convertor plugs. At som point I am going to reterm my rca to 1/4 mono to skip this

Another solution might be to commission a new breakout cable that only has RCAs sized to connect to your preamp, (maybe in and out, if you plan on doing needledrops or the like), and forego unreliable secondary connections...

 

[JzzMaTzz]

Quote:

Originally Posted by grawk /img/forum/go_quote.gif Another solution might be to commission a new breakout cable that only has RCAs sized to connect to your preamp, (maybe in and out, if you plan on doing needledrops or the like), and forego unreliable secondary connections...

Sounds like a good idea, but I wonder if the apogee cable is proprietary.

 

[PhaedrusX]

^ i don't think there's anything proprietary about the XLR or 1/4" connectors on the breakout cable. the 15 pin connection also looks the same as a typical VGA or RGB cable. unless i'm confused about the specs, you should be able to purchase a 15 pin cable terminated with RCA outs and substitute that for the Apogee one.

Quote:

Originally Posted by jp11801 /img/forum/go_quote.gif just on very few poorly mastered/recorded tracks the duet does not mask what is on the recording

thanks for the information. i'm a little sensitive to excessive brightness, and was just wondering if the Duet had a tendency to pick up on this more so than other sources.

 

[grawk]

Apogee regularly uses breakout cables, and provides pinouts for them. I'd be shocked if THIS one was proprietary. Or even if it was, if it'd take more than about 30 seconds with a DMM to figure out what the pinout was.

 

[raelamb]

I have 2 of the DUETS and have been using them at work and home. I am in the record business and have many professionals visiting me and it's amazing to see the expressions on all their faces when they see what this baby can do

I have a 10k hi fi in my office and everyone to a man thinks my macbook with the duet into my NHT PRO speakers blow it away. Tight, fast, impactful, and full sounding. HIGHLY recommended.

 

[JzzMaTzz]

Hey guys, don't sell off your cosecants just yet, seems like Gordon might be coming out with a new V3 in March, with older units being fully upgradeable, however I'm not sure if this covers secondhand owners. The new upgrade is supposedly going to be the crimson's asynch USB mode (clocking on the DAC side) added to the cosecant. According to Gordon, it'll make the sound better (duh!) but, he didn't elaborate in what ways (if I am mistaken on any of this info please correct and forgive me

)

 

[Hartfell]

Quote:

Originally Posted by saint.panda /img/forum/go_quote.gif The Duet's uses the same converters as the multi-channel Ensemble, but the verdict on gearslutz.com seems to be that the Mini-Dac still has the slightly better d/a section. Some, however, claim that the Ensemble's d/a is just under the Rosetta. I'm still trying to decide between the Pico and Duet for portable laptop headphone listening, but the Mac-only aspect somehow speaks for the Duet. "Sorry, you can't connect that to your laptop. It's Mac-only."

Did you make your decision yet? I'm still deciding between the two.

 

[Hartfell]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jp11801 /img/forum/go_quote.gif this required a trip to radio shack and the purchase of 1/4 monoto rca convertor plugs. At som point I am going to reterm my rca to 1/4 mono to skip this

Was this in order to output your duet to your head amp?

 

[Jaska]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hartfell /img/forum/go_quote.gif Was this in order to output your duet to your head amp?

You basically have to do this with the Duet, since the relevant connections on the breakout cable are 1/4" female TS. I had custom RCA-to-1/4" male TS cables made by Blue Jeans Cable for my Duet and headamp.