“First off, I have have to say that I typically never write gear reviews. However, this has been the only piece of equipment that I had purchased recently that is worth mention. I have done an extensive amount of research before taking the plunge with this interface…The seamless integration between Pro Tools and Apogee have opened new doors to my sound quality as well as the ability to be mobile with the Apogee Ensemble that is (In my opinion) far superior to that of the Digidesign’s 192 A/D converters. My mixes have opened up and the 8 mic preamps sound fantastic. In fact, I even sold off my Focusrite ISA 828 that was light piped into the 192. The preamps sound crystal clear with TONS of head room due to its gain staging as well as a sweet top end that doesn’t have any harshness when tracking. This alone is well worth the money spent. I have been going back and forth between this and the UA Apollo but, in all honesty, I am glad that I made the decision with sticking to Apogee. The Apollo in its own right is a really cool interface. However, if you are anything like me, you will look past all of the gimmicky bells and whistles of the plugins that they make you believe that you are purchasing with the unit. Truth be told, you are only getting a very small taste of the plugins that UA offers and that by purchasing the Apollo, you are now committed to buying the “Higher End” plugins that you initially thought came with the interface. This is a great marketing gimmick as I feel that by dropping $2K-$2500 on an interface, it had better come with everything that is pictured on the box. Now that I got that rant off my chest…

It truly is a wonderful interface. Latency is almost non-existent and there is TONS of IO to keep the most demanding studio nerd at bay ( If IO is an issue, you can run up to 4 Thunderbolt Ensembles simultaneously!). Also, the added talkback mic is VERY underrated. It is the same exact mic that is integrated in the Apogee One. I’ve already used this handy little mic as an ambient room mic during a drum tracking session and squashed the crap out of it with my EL8X Distressor for an added effect and mixed it into the drum bus. I am not going to go into full detail about the specs as anyone with a brain stem can read the description section for themselves. At $2500, there really isn’t more that a project studio can ask for. If you are serious about your sound and stand behind your work (Pro or not), you can count on the Apogee Ensemble to deliver the goods.”

Mike M from S.F. Bay Area, CA
From Sweetwater