I was shopping for a new interface, picked up an Mbox 2 Pro. Then I read lots of forums and chat channels with some people saying that the Mbox 2 Pro is trash. On the other hand, most other people seem to be praising the Apogee Duet. I always wonder how many people speak from personal experience, or just talk based off of what they read, or were told. I decided to find out for myself, so I bought an Apogee Duet. Here is the double blind shootout between the two boxes. I'll post my thoughts, opinions, and the answers to the test after everyone (including myself) have had sufficient time to listen. Please post your answers, don't be shy! =)
Which files are the Duet, and which are the Mbox?
simultaneous pair 1 = A, B
simultaneous pair 2 = G, L
The other recordings were not simultaneous, were different takes, using either the Mbox 2 Pro, or the Duet.
Test setup:
Machine: mac mini
DAW: Logic Pro 8
Hardware: Mbox 2 Pro, Apogee Duet
Mics: Rode NT5 (matched pair), B.L.U.E. Baby Bottle
Guitars: low end martin dx series, G&L asat classic, elixr strings.
Talent: none
Room: Open, 40 ft ceilings, carpeted.
NT5s were stacked right on top of each other, difference of distance to guitar measured to the millimeter. Positioning 2.5FT distance from the sound hole, pointed directly at it at.
Baby Bottle was placed 1 ft away from guitar, pointed at an angle towards the 12th fret, looking towards the hole.
Baby Bottle was placed too close to the amazing singer (happened to be in the same room) at about 1.5 feet away, nose height angled downward slightly. A Blue pop filter (that falls off due to shoddy construction) was used.
The onboard Duet preamps were used in the Duet recordings, and the onboard Mbox 2 Pro preamps were used for the Mbox 2 Pro recordings. Most of the files were made using each respective units internal clock. There are a couple files that were recorded simultaneously by aggregating in OSX the Mbox 2 Pro, and the Duet, with both units clocking to the Mbox 2 Pro (it won't slave wordclock, without a spdif connection, and forces it being the master), with one microphone feeding the Duet, and the other feeding the Mbox 2 Pro. For the DI electric guitar recordings, each box was running its own clock, using its own DI input. All recordings have input gain measured within .2 dB, and were simultaneously checked with digital/peak meters, and an analog SPL meter.
Apologies in advance for the spaces at the head of the tracks, but I didn't want to alter them in any way. The space also gives your ears a chance to rest.
There is absolutely no processing on the files, no normalization, or file conversion. These are the absolute original recordings, horribly performed, unaltered.
-Freq
EDIT: scroll to my subsequent post to get the answers.
shootout files