“This is not a budget piece by any means, but a professional tool made by a group of folks truly passionate about audio recording. The highlights for me were the highly usable touchscreen, unbelievably low latency, and the pristine headphone mix I was able to get”
“This is the best portable DAC and headphone amp there is, especially for higher impedance headphones which usually need an outboard amplifier.”
“Ensemble Thunderbolt represents a sizable investment compared to some other interfaces with similar I/O counts, but you get a lot for your money. This versatile piece of hardware could easily function as the sole piece of outboard gear in your studio, because it handles not just the functions of an audio interface with eight mic preamps, but also a monitor controller and a high-quality guitar DI and reamping box. When you factor in the vaunted Apogee sound quality, super low latency, Thunderbolt bandwidth, and the flexible and generous I/O, it starts to look like one heck of a deal.”
“What I’ve learned: Among the five pint-size, USB-powered DAC-headphone amps I had on hand, the Apogee Groove excelled at pushing high-impedance headphones like the Sennheiser HD600s, and just sounded better with anything I hooked up to it. Dynamics opened up, and details were more clearly defined.”
“This is the best quality audio interface I’ve yet come across by quite a wide margin.”
“Other interfaces I’ve used in the past take days-even weeks-to get comfortable with; however, I’m only 30 minutes into my first go with a Duet, and we already feel like old friends.”
“If you compare the Groove with the lackluster sound you get from the headphone jack on your computer or phone, the improvements in clarity, dynamic impact, and soundstage spaciousness from a first-class digital converter/ headphone amp will be hard to miss”
“A good DAC can open up music, allowing subtleties to come through and offering a new listening experience for music stored on a computer or streamed through an app. But a high-quality DAC can be expensive, often costing $1,000 or more. The Groove DAC from Apogee offers many of the upsides for under $300…The company, which has three decades of experience developing technology for recording studios, has built the device to adjust the sound to any type of headphones.”
“With plenty of I/O for project studios right out of the box, and the expansion potential provided by digital I/O, this is the perfect centerpiece to the modern studio. It can serve as a monitor controller for multiple speaker pairs, or be configured for surround sound. Best of all, the pre’s and converters are top-notch and will not disappoint. If you’re in the market for a fully featured multichannel interface, this should be high on your list of choices.”
“If you find yourself frequently editing audio on the move, or you simply want better audio quality from your system, the Groove has to be worth a listen.”
