[Valens7]

Despairing at the performance of my Rega Apollo with my HD650, I ran down to Guitar Center today and picked up an Apogee Duet.

As you may have guessed from the thread title, I like it. A lot.

In fact, I think I just may have found the kind of sound I've been looking for!

I'll be sure to put up some more detailed impressions later. For now, I'm just going to enjoy the music.

I'd be happy to answer any inquiries though!

 

[mulveling]

I thought the first thing when I heard the Duet! Being a vinyl-phile I'd almost given up completely on digital, but for its price the Duet is VERY worth keeping around. Nice little unit that deserves a big heaping of praise - only caveat is you need a Mac (but you NEED one anyways)

Thanks to the Duet, I've been feeding CDs into my iTunes every chance I get. Next up is trying needledrops on this thing...

I've used it so far with the HD650 on a Gilmore V2, SDS, and Zana Deux (recently re-tubed, it needed it), and on my Tannoy Dimension speakers - all have been excellent, truly enjoyable experiences.

 

[Valens7]

I was just about to shoot you a PM! Thank you for your advice before. It is what steered me towards the Duet today. You were quite right about it!

 

[apatN]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mulveling /img/forum/go_quote.gif Nice little unit that deserves a big heaping of praise - only caveat is you need a Mac (but you NEED one anyways)

I did not know that! So you can't use the Duet on a Windows PC?

 

[torjeh]

Congrats on your Duet, I sure want one for my good old macbook pro

Quote:

Originally Posted by mulveling /img/forum/go_quote.gif only caveat is you need a Mac (but you NEED one anyways)

Also I believe the new macbooks do not have a firewire port, which just makes me sad.

Quote:

Originally Posted by apatN /img/forum/go_quote.gif So you can't use the Duet on a Windows PC?

As far as I know, that is correct.

 

[Valens7]

The Apogee Duet is Mac only. If you don't have one, you're out of luck I'm afraid. While the Duet was a rather inexpensive option for me, the opposite is true for most people. That said, the cost of a Mac Mini and a Duet is fairly reasonable at < $1500. That certainly wouldn't make for bad setup.

The new MacBook Pro models both have one FireWire 800 port, so there shouldn't be any problem there. All you need to do is get a 400 to 800 adapter, and you'll be all set. If the idea of using an adapter unsettles you for some reason or you can't afford to give that slot wholly over to the Duet, they also have a ExpressCard/34 expansion slot so you can add more FireWire ports yourself. Unfortunately, the MacBook Air and the standard MacBook do not have a FireWire port or an ExpressCard/34 slot. In that case, I think you can run it from a FireWire hub, but some people have reported stability issues with that setup.

 

[IceClass]

Can you use a FW adaptr to use a FW800 external drive on a Mac with only a FW400 port?

 

[Hopstretch]

Quote:

Originally Posted by IceClass /img/forum/go_quote.gif Can you use a FW adaptr to use a FW800 external drive on a Mac with only a FW400 port?

Yes, you can. Or just get a 6-pin to 9-pin cable. But it will of course only operate at FW400 transfer speeds.

Congrats on joining the Duet FOTM club, Valens!

 

[Valens7]

Yes, but it will operate at the FW 400 spec. I'm not sure though.

Additionally, there are also FW 400 to 800 cables available if you find the idea of an adapter distasteful. I forgot to mention that in my previous post.

Thanks, I'm glad to be here!

 

[blessingx]

There are certainly a lot of us fans, but I gotta ask - why so many Duet threads in the dedicated forum? A computer improves the Duets sound a lot.

 

[Valens7]

Yeah, you're right. It sort of makes more sense to put Duet comments in the computer forum.