Apogee duet original or Apogee duet 2 for soundcard and to power monitors?

dhak1 · 10th February 2012

I'm looking at getting an Apogee Duet and a pair of monitors, probably the Yamaha Hm50, in the near future and am having a bit of trouble deciding if the new Duet is worth the increased price.

The original firewire duets are now only $350, quite the steal. Is it worth paying an extra $250 to get the new USB Duet?

I've looked around and can't seem to find a straight up answer comparing these two.

I will mainly be using it as a sound card as well as an interface to plug my monitors and headphones into.

lb00 · 10th February 2012

the duet 1 is still high quality, if you really need to save some cash go for the duet 1 unless you actually need the new features of the duet2

golden beers · 10th February 2012

the original duet is pleanty good enough. save your coin for something else

Papanate · 10th February 2012

Quote:

Originally Posted by dhak1

I've looked around and can't seem to find a straight up answer comparing these two.

I will mainly be using it as a sound card as well as an interface to plug my monitors and headphones into.

If you ever went to Apogees website they have a comparison table between the old and new Duets. It's Right HERE. Look down the page where is says
'Duet/Duet 2 Comparison Chart'.

FYI
The Duets don't have a amp in them that can power speakers. You have to have that separate. Unless you mean something different by 'power monitors'.
Also Apogee is Apple only - is that what you own?

I can also tell you that many people have had sample rate issues with the Duet Firewire on Lion...but not the Duet II USB. To my ears both units sound practically identical - I find the additional outputs and features (like being able to sum to mono) helpful on the Duet II USB. YMMV

Llitsor · 10th February 2012

My original Duet has been great. Even though it will soon make way for something with rather more IO..
Lots of grumbles (see computer forum section) about software and drivers for the newer Duet however..

Daniel_Che · 10th February 2012

get the original and save cash for some other stuff, i have it together with Yamaha HS-80A and it sounds good to me

SBX-80 · 10th February 2012

Duet 1 sounds plenty fine and I also think that it looks better than the new one. I also like Firewire better than USB.

10th February 2012	#1
dhak1 Gear interested Joined: Feb 2012 Posts: 12 Thread Starter	Apogee duet original or Apogee duet 2 for soundcard and to power monitors? I'm looking at getting an Apogee Duet and a pair of monitors, probably the Yamaha Hm50, in the near future and am having a bit of trouble deciding if the new Duet is worth the increased price. The original firewire duets are now only $350, quite the steal. Is it worth paying an extra $250 to get the new USB Duet? I've looked around and can't seem to find a straight up answer comparing these two. I will mainly be using it as a sound card as well as an interface to plug my monitors and headphones into.

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10th February 2012	#2
lb00 Gear interested Joined: Jan 2011 Posts: 23	the duet 1 is still high quality, if you really need to save some cash go for the duet 1 unless you actually need the new features of the duet2

10th February 2012	#3
golden beers Lives for gear Joined: Dec 2008 Posts: 5,856 1 Review written	the original duet is pleanty good enough. save your coin for something else

10th February 2012	#5
Llitsor Lives for gear Joined: Aug 2009 Location: UK Posts: 1,572	My original Duet has been great. Even though it will soon make way for something with rather more IO.. Lots of grumbles (see computer forum section) about software and drivers for the newer Duet however..

10th February 2012	#6
Daniel_Che Gear maniac Joined: Mar 2011 Posts: 205	get the original and save cash for some other stuff, i have it together with Yamaha HS-80A and it sounds good to me

10th February 2012	#7
SBX-80 Gear addict Joined: Jan 2011 Posts: 482	Duet 1 sounds plenty fine and I also think that it looks better than the new one. I also like Firewire better than USB.