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Originally Posted by jslevin  Well, sure, if you're assuming they're adding these things in after the entire design is already done. Seems to me this should have been part of the spec from the beginning, but what do I know? |
There is always a tension between the requirements and the design. A very important idea in this phase is the notion of a design "closing". That is where the tension between the competing requirements yields a design that is feasible within those constraints.
The Duet was clearly specified with a few non-negotiable constraints. Things like bus-powered, price point, Apple driver compatibility, audio quality. It is also clear that there was a desire to use the design of the Ensemble as a basis. In most ways the Duet is a 2 channel Ensemble. This would yield a clear head start in the design of the device, including software. So adding a feature or design element missing on the Ensemble to the Duet would have been frowned upon.
It isn't clear that adding a pair of level controls after the DAC would have had the same audio quality as using the DAC's internal one, and it would have added a set of new design elements - requiring new software - and a design that was no longer a cut down Ensemble. The other way of providing level controls on the outputs would be to add a second DAC. But the obvious chip to use is the same one that they already do, so you find yourself only a few components short of making not a Duet, but a Quartet. And in either case probably with a power budget that was getting quite difficult.
If you follow the internal design of the Duet you find that the device almost designs itself. Everything flows very neatly. Almost every feature of every component is used and it all meshed together like a perfect jigsaw.
The obvious step up is not a Duet Plus, but a Quartet. But that would take a lot of thinking about. It could no longer be bus powered, well it could, but it would kill battery life, and thus cease to sit in the Duet's slot as a viable portable device. It would probably need to sell for about $800 US, and there may simply not be market enough for it there. People might prefer to pay the difference to go to an Ensemble. Or go for competitor products. So it could be a bit of an orphan. Difficult to know. There is no doubt the Duet has hit a sweet spot in the market.