Apogee Duet?

[tfarney]

Hi. New guy here. I'm a bit of a headphone geek who bought a big hard drive a couple of weeks ago and has been ripping his cd collection to it ever since. When I plug my Senn HD580s directly into my iBook G4, it sounds pretty good, actually. But I know it would be better with a separate dac and I'd like to kill two birds with one stone -- quality dac for my Mac (poetry!) and an easily trasportable headphone amp.

 

Anyone here have a Duet? If so, well, I know it's a great dac. How do you like the headphone out on it?

 

Tim

 

[markr]

Hi Tim & welcome to CA! I love this place.

 

First: I haven't listened to the Duet via headphones. I do like the way they sound 'out-in-the-air' though. If I had been looking for a 'two channel only' DAC, that is probably the one that I would have paired with my MBP. In case no one else here has listened to the Duet either, I would recommend arranging to take your headphones and some source material to your local giant musical instrument retailer, like Guitar Center, et al, and giving them a listen yourself. Heck, maybe you have a 'small local musical instrument retailer' that could use the business - that would be even better. In my experience, weekday afternoons work best for this kind of thing. Not as many folks in the store trying to provision a touring band's road trip and such....... The salesperson in the 'recording/live sound' area is the one to talk to.

 

The online retailers tend to have a pretty decent returns policy if you prefer doing things in that way, but I would call the '1-800' number and talk to a sales rep about the possibility of returning it & order using that method. You would then have a better idea of the hoops you would have to jump through to effect a return or exchange in the unlikely event that you do not like the 'headphones sound.'

I personally prefer Sweetwater sound for my purchasing. But I have had great experiences with Musicians Friend and some others.

 

markr

 

[tfarney]

Thanks for the reply, Mark. This forum is a fabulous idea. It needs more people, more activity, but it's a fabulous idea. I went to a Sam Ash today. No luck. I couldn't get waited on on a Saturday morning, but a thorough look around turned up no Apogee brand equipment. I'll give Guitar Center a call on Monday to see if they have a Duet in stock. That's obviously the best solution. I can walk in with my Mac and listen. It just doesn't get any better than that. Really, based on the reviews I've read (which say the dac in the Duet is actually better than the Apogee mini dac) my only concern is power, If it will do justice to my Senns, I'm sold.

 

Tim

 

[markr]

Yes, Saturday isn't the best day to get personal attention at a musical instrument retail establishment. Unless you get lucky. I have a couple of times, but I was spending a LOT of money on those occasions. Weekdays work best. Hungry salesmen + low traffic....

 

I love this place (CA) and it is doing well for being only a few months old. Please hang around! You know, we DO need more stuff going on here at CA, too. How about a tex-mex and beer party at Guerro's on South Congress (an Austin not-so-obscure-reference) on Tuesday? I'm buying the first round! lol...

 

Good luck on your listening!

 

markr

 

[The Computer Audiophile]

Hey Tim - The forum is building every day. We haven't even been up and running three months yet and we're gaining a lot of speed. Markr is one of our "log-term" members and has a lot of knowledge to contribute.

 

I'm glad you like this place and I encourage you to keep posting!

 

[tfarney]

How many members here, any idea? The subject matter is close to my heart, so I'll stop by and point some folks this way. I'm not big on audiophile forums in general - too much voodoo for my blood. But I've been at head-fi.org a lot lately as I've ramped up the search for a dac/headphone amp, and I hang at the Steve Hoffman forum quite a bit, not because I'm really big on the which pressing of which master made for the USA in Germany in 198X kicks all the re-masters yadayadayada, but because the music talk is really good there.

 

I'll try to come up with a few topics and contribute to those that are of interest. Cool idea. Cool place.

 

Tim

 

[markr]

...but I respond to what I hear and pretty much nothing else. Apogee gets a 'plus mark' in my heart. As far as source material, that search _should_ be eternal by the nature of that beast. Opinions on which version is best can be valid: I'm waiting for the arrival of a recommendation from one of this forum's members - SGB - right now. Stomu Yamash'tas' Sea and Sky. It should have come today. Oh well. 'GO' is good too (listening - right now....). It just switched to Keith Richard's 'Run Run Rudolph'. priceless.

 

markr

last I heard, CA had members from over 80 countries...... HI Y'ALL!

 

PS: Has anyone here watched these videos?:

Willie's version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5gTd2xMKHk

Dave's version:

 

PPS: Dave wrote it.

 

[tfarney]

"Opinions on which version is best can be valid:"

 

I absolutely agree. But I know I'm not going to sit around A/B-ing different masters, so if the differences are subtle, and they usually are, I'm just not interested. Now if we're talking about material that is precious to me and the average masters are just plain weak, I'll ask around to see if something better is available. Like, uh, anyone got a gold DCC Aqualung they want to let go of cheap?

 

I didn't think so...

 

Tim

 

[The Computer Audiophile]

Hey guys - We're up to 100 countries now!

 

I'm constantly working on new content and extras to bring to the site. If you would like to see something that's not here, drop me an email.