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Question about Apogee Quartet

Question about Apogee Quartet

Todzilla

11 years ago

Is there a way to fully bypass preamp circuits on inputs if I have outboard preamps?
Thanks

December 19, 2012 @10:09pm

Andrew_Malloy

11 years ago

No, you won't be able to bypass the amplifiers in the Quartet's input stages. You would be able to set them to unity gain for line level which will minimize their effect on the sound.

December 19, 2012 @10:15pm

Todzilla

11 years ago

No, you won't be able to bypass the amplifiers in the Quartet's input stages. You would be able to set them to unity gain for line level which will minimize their effect on the sound.

Thanks for the reply.
Dang that stinks. Is there any other 2 to 4 channel boutique A/D solution that allows for this? Not sure I can afford a HILO. Not sure RME is "boutiquey" enough for me.

December 20, 2012 @01:59pm

Andrew_Malloy

11 years ago

I gotta say, having heard the Ensemble, the Lynx Aurora and the RME UCX in a level matched A/D D/A comparison, I would say that it is boutique enough for me. The UCX sounded very close to the Aurora (same conversion technology as the Hilo) and the Ensemble sounded different than the the Aurora and the RME, but not in a particularly bad way. The bottom line here is that I will not hesitate for a second to recommend an RME product for sound quality.

December 20, 2012 @03:31pm

Todzilla

11 years ago

I gotta say, having heard the Ensemble, the Lynx Aurora and the RME UCX in a level matched A/D D/A comparison, I would say that it is boutique enough for me. The UCX sounded very close to the Aurora (same conversion technology as the Hilo) and the Ensemble sounded different than the the Aurora and the RME, but not in a particularly bad way. The bottom line here is that I will not hesitate for a second to recommend an RME product for sound quality.

I hear you, but I think I'm going w the Apogee Symphony I/O w basic 2in 6 out analog. Given that I have Neuman mics, a nice room and Seventh Circle Audio preamps, I'd just as soon get two fantastic channels of A/D and occasionally piggyback onto my MOTU 896HD than get 12 channels of really, really good A/D.

January 23, 2013 @05:51pm

michaelhoddy

11 years ago

The big question is probably whether "fantastic" is really a noticeable step up from "really good" for most listeners. Having owned an 896HD and also having worked with or owned a bunch of Apogee, one thing that is certain to me is that the 896HD is a REALLY significant step down from just about everything else being discussed.
The upside with the Symphony is that you can always expand it in the future and retire the 896.
But don't discount how good the Quartet sounds. Even with the mic preamps inline, it sounds shockingly good.

January 23, 2013 @09:48pm

Todzilla

11 years ago

The big question is probably whether "fantastic" is really a noticeable step up from "really good" for most listeners. Having owned an 896HD and also having worked with or owned a bunch of Apogee, one thing that is certain to me is that the 896HD is a REALLY significant step down from just about everything else being discussed.
The upside with the Symphony is that you can always expand it in the future and retire the 896.
But don't discount how good the Quartet sounds. Even with the mic preamps inline, it sounds shockingly good.

Yes, but I built several Seventh Circle Audio preamps (Neve and API clones) and I really want to avoid going through a second preamp stage. Just seems like bad mojo.
With my Neumann mics, my boutique preamps, my treated room and my DynAudio BM15A speakers, I recognize the 896HD is far and away the weak link in the signal chain, so I want the upgrade to be huge.

January 24, 2013 @09:59pm

MarkH

10 years ago

Depending on your budget I would say either the Apogee Symphony I/O with Analog inputs (most expensive), or pick up a used Apogee Rosetta 800 with X-Symphony card and use either the Symphony 64 PCIe or the Thunderbridge from Apogee. Sweetwater now sells the Thunderbridge for $495 instead of $995. Total cost for the Rosetta + Thunderbridge should be around $1495 and you've got a smokin' setup. The Thunderbridge will support up to 4 Rosetta's (or mix and match with AD16x, DA16x, and Rosetta 200).
As for RME, if they are good enough for Hans Zimmer, I think they are good enough for the rest of us.

January 29, 2014 @02:58pm

charliemo3

9 years ago

I'm pretty sure that you can bypass the preamps in the Apogee Quartet and make the inputs line level (-10 and +4).

March 19, 2015 @05:19am