Universal Audio Apollo Twin USB DUO 10x6 USB Audio Interface with UAD DSP Reviews

It's important to understand why to spend money on this device over something like a Scarlett. The main reason to buy anything UA is plugins plugins plugins. If you want basic UA plugins and access to deals on higher end UA plugins, this is the best $900 you'll ever spend. If you want to be able to plug in your instrument, play, and have it sound good, it's possible to spend less and get the same result. That said, this device kills it. What's easier than some buttons and a giant wheel? Be sure and buy the interface with the correct connectors for your computer. I'd even recommend calling SW before ordering just to be sure.

I don't think I could add anything to what all the other reviews have said. Using this with the Unison preamps is just so good! There is good gear and there is great gear......This is superb!

tracking audio is soooo easy now...
why did i wait this long? the price: but let me tell you, the UA Stuff Is Worth Every Penny !!!

my suffering is over...
Thank you Mr. Merkosky, and everyone at SWS, and a Special Thanks to everyone at Universal Audio.

Thanks to my sales engineer Alejandro Orozco for helping me this interface fast. I am coming from a Scarlett 2I2 and as soon you get this Apollo twin you will notice the pro sound quality. At first There are some things that you need to get used to it If you want the perfect sound You need to some changes in the sample rates of the pc to match the sample rates of the uad console and do some other changes but it's all right

First off want to give a special shout out and thanks to my sales engineer Aaron Vidusek! Plus the great people at Sweetwater of course! Customer service is always fantastic and they always help you in the very best possible way! Just received my Apollo Twin Duo Usb today and yet already am noticing a huge night and day difference when compared to my older interface the Presonus 192 mobile.. Also for the Windows Pc users if you we're afraid of buying this version for you're Pc instead of the newer versions that are out.. Please save yourself the time and just don't! Setup was completely flawless! No problems what so ever and the Apollo also made my Yamaha HS5s 100x much louder and clearer than what they previously were! Unision Mic Pres are also out of this world and i haven't even spent a day with this interface yet..Only cons so far is that the Universal Audio plugins are very dsp hungry like literally.. So for sure going to add a satellite down the road for my more demanding sessions cause the duo isn't enough.. But other than that if you want the highest quality recordings possible and care about you're overall sound quality then buy the Apollo now and do not wait like i did!

Could not be more satisfied with this purchase! It won’t disappoint.

the best purchase I've made in a long time and for that price and for windows the best interface that you can buy. I love her more every day.

When my Mbox died (and couldn't be replaced) I called my rep at Sweetwater for recommendations. Wow, wish I'd upgraded sooner! The latency I struggled with before has gone away, the included plugins do exactly what I need for VO work, and I'm in love. There is a learning curve, but the how-to vids help enormously. I admit to being tech-challenged so I needed something to plug-and-play for the audiobooks I record. After this, though, I may delve further into recording my music, too.

Hate to be a fanboy...
But omg.
I eBayed my Neve portico 5017 to help pay for this. And I don't miss it. Like, at ALL.
I really can't believe how superb this sounds... all without crippling my computer thanks to the onboard dsp of the Apollo.

I finally stepped up from another top name interface to this unit choosing the USB version for ease of use out of the box without the need for expansion cards in a new PC build and it has not let me down. My ears are very spoiled having worked in a legendary Los Angeles area studio for many years that had 6 of everything from the all best vintage mics to outboard gear from Pultecs, Teletronix and Urei 1176`s and 1178`s, Neve 1073 mic pre`s, EMT 140 and EMT 250 reverbs, all the API stuff and the list goes on and on. One thing I really love about Universal Audio are the plugins that let me get the sonic quality and character I crave right in my DAW. The ability to track with them pre DAW is a big bonus too and latency has not even been an issue to consider. The stock Unison preamps work great on their own also. It`s great thing to be able to get the sounds I always crave now and not have to settle due to gear limitations. As always Sweetwater also goes above and beyond with very personal customer service so I can buy with confidence. Some people might question the price of the UA products but it`s true when they say you get what you pay for. It would cost you easily 100 times more to get this level of sonic quality with standard outboard units. You have to love modern technology!

I owned UA PCIe cards for a number of years before I bought this, so I already owned a number of their plugins, and was familiar with the UA architecture. Yes, they're somewhat pricey, but they are pretty much problem-free, and of the highest quality. This unit works alongside one of my PCIe cards, so that was a nice DSP power bonus.
For the money, these are rock-solid hardware/software that are really hard to beat. I run this Native with PT12. Not sure where the others are having issues with it - setup and ran pretty quickly and easily. Sounds Wonderful!!

Not a review guy - upgraded from a Focusrite 2i2. Struggled with the dollar difference after I purchased it...woe was washed away when I got it set up. All of my existing amp sim sounds are better and feel like I am playing through a real rig. Plugins and channel strips are great. 100% worth the buy if your going to use your studio regularly.

I"ve owned one of these for about two years now. I sometimes shudder to think that I considered buying something else. If you"re not certain why the UA stuff costs a little more than much of the competition, I promise you"ll find out when you buy one. It"s more than worth the price. Amazing sound and pretty much the best plugins I"ve heard. I also recommend buying one of the plugin packs at the time of purchase because after demoing a few you will hear how good they are. It"s this simple: UA interfaces and plugins and the ability to track through the plugins have vastly improved my home recordings. The plugins seem a tad expensive but they have great sales often. UA has been in the game a long time and as far as I"m concerned no one else does it better. I recommend this interface or any other interface they make. Can"t say enough good things about it.

I am definitely very impressed. I have only used this for tracking so far, but the simplicity of the setup is great. Having the hands on monitor and headphone control and the push button controls like channel switching and phantom power right on the face really cuts to the chase like the classic hardware that is so easy to use.
Push this. Turn this. No banks or pages to accomplish basic functions. It seems to be very well made from a hardware perspective and well thought out for the logical software interface. It is heavy enough that you can plug in headphones and move around without it following you.

I have not used all of the functions yet and I am a traditionalist when it comes to recording. I mic real amps. I want real drum sounds. I am not set up for drum recording, but I use live drum loops over samples. I like classic studio character in my sounds. Recording things is my preference over emulating things. I look at recording gear from that perspective and want an interface that acts like and sounds like a studio mixer. The Apollo Twin meets that better than anything that I have seen aside from the real thing.

As for the audio, I am really impressed. I have recorded in some pro studios over the years and while a lot of great sounds can be accomplished in the box these days, nothing has ever sounded like the sounds of running through studio mixers, hardware and tape and that is the sound in my head that I strive for. This Apollo gets me instantly closer to that than anything that I have ever heard at the home studio level.

I came to the UA Apollo after using a long discontinued RME Fireface for years. It's a great unit. The RME sounds are pristine and clear and I am not sure what their newer gear sounds like, but I am sure that it is very impressive. Their interfaces sound expensive. Without any plugins being used, I think that the Fireface reveals clear differences between mics a little more than the Apollo does, but you will obviously hear the differences between mics no matter what. The Fireface had a little more digital clarity and digital headroom to my ears. It is a digital high end sound. I love the RME stuff. What the Apollo gives you is also very impressive sound and it sounds like pro level gear too, but it's closer to the sound of a studio hardware mixer in my opinion and studio mixers and gear have their kind of headroom sound.

From there, when I put the included UA610 plugin into the 2 Unison Technology input channels and tracked some hard rock guitars using 2 mics on the amp cab and both channels of the Apollo Twin, I was just floored at what I heard while recording and even more impressed during the playback. I just seriously stood in front of my recording rig realizing that things were going to be different from now on. I used to have to go to a studio to get that kind of sound.

I know that a lot of software manufacturers make big claims and while some deliver, others don't quite get you all the way to the promised land, but adding this UA 610 plugin to the input channel got me so excited to finish recording and start mixing because this sound is going to greatly help me produce some impressive mix results.

As we have often heard, it's very important to get great sounds on the way in. That is really helped along by the Apollo. You still need good amp settings and mics and you have to place them in the right place, but if you get that far, the Apollo will help make it sound like you really know what you're doing. I will try DI for the bass and also mic the amp. I expect great things.

I switched to this setup because my old PC failed and the replacement has usb 3.0 in the board that I want to take advantage of. The usb 3.0 has been trouble free as I have used this for a few days. As I understand it, onboard (part of the motherboard) usb 3.0 is more stable than using a usb 3.0 card, but talk to a sales professional about that if you are using a card. I was also running into issues with Sonar X3 on Windows 10, so I upgraded to Sonar Platinum, which is also really impressive and my old Ozone 4 wouldn't load into Windows 10, so I upgraded to Ozone 7 which obviously is so much more than version 4, so I have a new rig and now it's time to rock!.

I am glad that Universal Audio decided to make a usb 3.0 unit. The PC crowd is out here waiting for more PC compatible gear.

I was on the fence for about 6 weeks, doing research, asking Paul Rowan a bunch of well answered questions and finally deciding. Thanks to everyone at Sweetwater for doing what they do so well every time. I'll be back!

This could not have been easier to set up and use. If you know UAD then I don't need to go on about the quality of the plug ins but of course they're top notch. I'm using this in my "B" room for video voice overs and could not be more satisfied

AS soon as you record your first track you know! Everything you heard and read pales to the joy yours ears and spirit feel when you hit playback that first time. You will giggle inside. Just don't try to use it with an inadequate computer, it will not work. But don't settle for anything less. The console software, Unison preamps, and the included plugins are the best in class.

I recently decided to sell off my Motif XF and move towards a more software centric setup. This meant parting ways with the Yamaha FW16E Audio interface add-on card for the Yamaha Motif. I didn't realize how good that card sounded until I bought a budget model M-Audio Interface as my new interface. The difference was night and day. I sent the M-Audio back and tried Steinberg's UR22. This was ok, however still not quite matching the clarity and punch of FW16E's converters. Not to mention that the headphone amp in the UR22's required me to use a mixer in the chain, which I was trying to do away with in my setup. I gave it a few more days and just was not satisfied. Finally I made a decision to invest some real money into an audio interface. The Apollo Solo/Duo just kept coming up, however I got disappointed because I was pretty sure that my brand new PC build would not support any configuration allowing thunderbolt connectivity.

So I took the plunge, got the USB DUO model and I have not regretted it for one second. The plugins out of the box give you a sense that you are not limited to merely one sound. The neutral sound with all plugins disabled is quite pleasant to your ears and the output amps are plenty powerful for any reasonable situation. I feel like the quality has not only matched my previous setup, but has also given me much more flexibility with the UAD plugins.

The only place I can fault the Apollo is that I am not very encouraged to go out and purchase any UAD plugins right away given their hefty price tags. The good news is that it comes with quite a few free ones out of the box. Overall I am very pleased with this unit !

I am so happy I decided to "pull the trigger" and buy this thing! I was looking at a few others but (at the time of purchasing the interface) it came with some really incredible plug-ins, so I just could not pass up such an amazing deal. The interface alone provides such excellent sound quality that even without the bonus plug-ins, it's worth every penny of the price. One selling point of mine was the near zero latency. I can now track vocals with effects, with the option to either just monitor the effects or print them, all without any latency. I also picked up a couple of amp simulator plug-ins from UA, to use with this interface, they work flawlessly with zero latency, which gives you the natural feeling when playing and recording. And again, the choice is left to you if you want to record or just send the dry signal to your DAW, and use whatever plug-ins you desire. And last but certainly not least, thanks to the lower buffers, I am enjoying near zero latency with my Edrums. I am one seriously happy customer!

Great addition to my home studio. Everything sounds better running through the Apollo and the awesome UA plugins. My only advice is use the mono plugins when you can, because some of the stereo plugins can be very dsp heavy and with their being a dsp limit you have to choose wisely on bigger projects. Overall I am very happy with my purchase

I'm an old guy. I've been a home recording enthusiast for 35 years, and have been fortunate enough to work in some pretty well equipped pro studios, as a client. I decided to upgrade my Focusrite setup and get into UA for their dedicated plug ins after hearing some examples at NAMM. So, my plan was really to get a satellite or a PCI card and a separate hi quality interface with better converters. But, when I started looking at the Unison technology of the plug ins with UA's interfaces, I thought what the heck! I'll try.

Wow. I mean, like, "Did I just HEAR that coming out of MY monitors!!" kind of wow. Now, I cheated a little by talking to my long time Sweetwater rep and having the sweetwater team do the bulk of the Cs400 installation of my virtual synths, interface, etc, so I can't speak to ease of set up. But I CAN speak of intuitive use. So logical. It's a little odd having the separate UA console with my Sonar UI as well, but it made sense in short time. But, let's get to the sound. I mean, I made up a couple of quickie projects, one using MIDI to learn that aspect (which, incidentally, the UA does NOT provide a MIDI input, so you'll need a different input for that.... I just went USB right to the box), and then a hybrid soft synth/e gtr/vocals tune. The space, and the ability to identify exactly where something is in my mix has been amazing. And pesky reverb tails that don't translate will now be a thing of the past. And, don't even get me STARTED on the plug ins. Blows away even the high end stuff I've used in the past, and they aren't kidding when they claim tracking with a Unison enabled plug in is like working with the original hardware... it really is. To the point of being a wee creepy if you've used them. So? If you're on the bubble and this baby has the inputs you need (which, incidentally, if I need to track more instruments I CAN still use my previous interface via ADAT and the UA device saw them right away... as soon as I did MY part correctly), I hope you just get it and feel as good about your purchase as I do mine!

Yes, I was blown away...the sonic clarity, the ease of use is unparalleled. That together with the rich history of Universal Audio, converted me.

It also works flawlessly with my two Quad PCIe cards.

My wish would be that UAD could figure out how to integrate keyboard shortcuts for their Console 2.0 Apollo software.

First Off let me say thanks to Alex Morales for putting up with me all the time I ask him questions about the things I want to purchase for my home studio.

Ok now my review:

I was one of those guys who always said, I don't need to buy expensive gear to make great music. I can do the same thing as other producers out there, it is all in the mix. Well it turns out I was wrong. From M-audio interfaces to Avid to Focusrite even Audient, I found myself changing every couple of months my audio interfaces because I wasn't getting what I wanted out of them. I knew about the Apollo line from a fellow producer who uses one. One day I went to his studio and record some vocals and I was blown away because of the quality coming out of the Apollo but I knew that I didn't wanted to spend to much money on a interface.

Well I decided to wait since I knew there was a usb version coming out because I'm a Windows PC Power User. This baby came yesterday in the mail.

The initial setup was pretty easy. Downloaded the drivers and the plugins from my account. Got 3 coupons and went ahead and got some plugins out of the page.

How does it work?

Perfectly!!!!! No hang outs, no latency, no stutters, no nothing just clean pure awesome audio.

The preamps on this thing are amazing, so much detail and rich sound coming out from them. The option for the Unison Technology, let me tell you!! This Unit should've cost so much more for what you are getting. I did a test of the Unison using my Rode Nt1 and putting the UA 601A and B preamp and the sound was another level it took my 269 condenser mic and made it sound like a 1,000 and even more expensive mic, very professional sounding unison preamps. The stock preamps are also amazing you can't go wrong with both. The converters! OMG!!!!!!!!! this is were I was so happy that I went ahead and got this unit I did a A/B with my old interface the Audient id14 and of course the Apollo won hands down.

I use FL Studio 12, Bitwig Studio 1.3.6 and Studio One 3.2 Professional and the interface did an amazing job in all of them.

Please do yourself a favor. If you are a Windows guy like me, Do not waste your money on other interfaces. Buy this!!!! you are going to thank me!!!!!!!

I have used this interface for about 24 hours and I'm very, very impressed. First a shout out to Pat Weaver who convinced me to pull the trigger on this( I have yet to see a shout out for him) and was 1,000 %correct. Maybe it's a little unfair to go full five stars cause I've never heard RME but that's about the only one I haven't. First off its like it's thunderbolt counter part in everyway except for its usb3 and for Windows! I am not running a crazy great machine. Its a HP with 2.6 quad core 8gb ram and 1TB hard drive. Its a very good machine but not made for real time audio. The drivers, plug ins and hardware installed flawless and everything is working great with no tweaking. That is a first for me Just to be able to plug and play basically. Also I am running Windows 10 and even though it's not fully endorsed yet by UA it works just fine. The quality and responsiveness to the preamps and plug ins is just amazing for digital. I've worked on neves and ssl and some other very high quality boards with apogee conversion into the daw and back. If your looking for that sound this is as close as you get for the so called "poor man". Be honest though, this isn't cheap. But for what you get its pretty affordable for the mobile or home engineer. I have no quams with the device beside I hate that you download everything but that's how it all works nowadays. I dont see how you can regret this unless your familiar with high quality interfaces costing much more but still this is in its own league. One review said your paying for more than the interface and I agree. Its exciting in todays world how much you can get from a guy/girl and their computer. Unison technology is just revolutionary and it works amazing. We all know plug ins will never sound as good as the real thing yatta yatta yatta. But unless you make a million dollars as a producer how much better Will the hardware make you? You get very close with this box and it will greatly improved recording and mixing. I'm coming from a focusrite 2i4 so it's not fair but **** it sounds goooood and much much better than the 2i4. You can clip the preamp and the distortion sounds musical. In a digital domain that's pretty ******* cool. I am telling friends I own a LA-2A an 1176 and some sweat eqs because I do..in Plug-ins. I'm confident when they here them they will agree. If your not into them this is made for connecting out board gear as well. If you can afford it save the hassle of going through other cheaper interaces and save for this. Worth it!

Based upon advice from another user out on the web, I bought a regulated 12v power supply to use instead of the little wall wart supplied by Universal Audio. It brings an already brilliant performer to the next level, and the cost is peanuts for what you get in return. For those willing to experiment, I got the power supply on Amazon:

Philmore Multi-Voltage Regulated DC Power Supply : MW122A

I had another cheap wall wart supply with the correct sized plug for the Apollo that was not being used for anything. if you do not have a sacrificial lamb for the connector, you could use one like this from Amazon:

Velleman PSSMV1USA 3-12Vdc Switching Power Supply

I cut off the wire from the wall wart, stripped the wires and attached them to the regulated supply binding posts. You will need a little volt/ohm meter to make sure that you have positive on the center contact, negative on the outer shell. I also measured the power supply to be sure that it was in spec. My specimen measured at 11.83 volts. The original wall wart for the Apollo measured 12.30, but that was not under load.

This particular power supply (Philmore) is very nice because there is a switch that locks the voltage so that it does not change by accident. (Be sure to set the switch to 12v) It provides a very solid 2 amp capacity, and by the weight of it, it feels like a true transformer with regulation, not a little switching supply.

For those of you who may own an Audient ID22 or are thinking about getting one; The power supply suggestion above works even better on my Audient ID22. It is not surprising that there would be wide differences in the quality of wall wart power units and this simple, inexpensive upgrade brings the Audient into very close competition, sound quality wise, with the Apollo. I needed a good USB isolator for the Audient. You may not need one, but you won't know until you try.

Audient ID22 vs Apollo Twin Duo USB (sound quality of the headphone outputs):
The Audient with the new regulated power supply is, to my ears, in the same ball park as the Apollo with the new regulated power supply. They do have a different signature. The Audient comes across with a warmer sound, while the Apollo is more neutral. On the Beyerdynamic 1770 headphones, I was hard pressed to declare a winner. Every time I thought I heard more detail on the Apollo, I switch back to the Audient and there it was, just a little warmer. It comes down more to taste. Perhaps the most telling result of my testing so far is that I am keeping both units. The Apollo does a whole lot more, but costs $300 more and requires USB 3.0, while the Audient works nicely on USB 2.0.

If you have an ID22 and are looking to upgrade the sound quality, get the new regulated power supply. No need to sell off the Audient to purchase the Apollo, unless you want all the new capability of the Apollo, such as 192khz, DSP features, etc.

I am completely thrilled with the sound quality of both units after the power supply upgrade (and USB isolation on the Audient in my setup, you may not need one). Your mileage may vary.

First: Yes, this is the best sounding D/A interface that I have had in my system. I have not tried the multi-thousand dollar units, and I have not tested the mic inputs yet.

Second: My unit is sensitive to USB ground loop issues. My other interface is also sensitive to that, but a USB isolator fixed the problem and improved the sound tremendously. Unfortunately, the only USB isolators that I can find are USB 2.0, not 3.0 compatible. Without an isolator on my main machine, the Twin Duo USB sounded thin, flat and harsh.

Luckily for me, I have a second computer that I am setting up as my DAW work station. This machine had no detectable issues and the sound quality is the best I have had - ever. I am using a single ended triode amplifier for my monitor speakers and Beyerdynamic 1770 and 880 cans on the headphone output. The headphone out is just as delicious as the monitor outs.

If you can afford it, it will bring your system to the next level. Seriously. If you try one of these and don't find sonic nirvana in your setup, check for USB ground loop issues. In fact, just try an isolator on your existing interface. You might be shocked at the improvement. I am beginning to think that USB ground loop issues are a pervasive problem. I am planning to isolate every usb device, if possible. If we don't get the basics right, we wind up spending tons of money fixing the wrong problem.

Mayor upgrade since 2003!!! Smooth installation on Windows 10 Pro. Absolutely no issues. Unison preamps are fantastic and preamp emulations are insane! I'm very happy with it! Easy to use, super sound quality and the UAD plugins are simple one of the best in the market.

One of the best sounding interface's I have ever heard.You will think you got new monitors.The incredible plugins are a bonus and so are all the coupon's($50+$25)Universal Audio give's you once registering the Apollo Twin.They also gave me a $99 chorus plugin for free.Apollo seem's very reliable with good driver's for Windows 10.So glad I made this purchase and Sweetwater once again have been great.

This unit is a little old but its still really good I recently left mac for pc but i wanted to keep ua quality this is almost as good as the mkii but the differences are minor and this is worth every cent. Thanks Ben Robinson

What a great sounding and performing addition to the studio. Love the tactile controls and ability to send separate mixes to headphones and monitors. My only concern thus far with the unit is the DSP limit. I have found that using the mono versions of the plugins helps free up the dsp, and since then I haven't run into a plugin ceiling. Highly recommend the Apollo Twin.

If you are looking for a world class A/D converters, world class plug ins - DONT look any further- this is a place to be.

The only reason i am giving 4.5 stars is that UAD plug ins are very DSP hungry.
Amazing product and a great investment for your home studio.

Amazing audio interface with superb conversion quality! The UAD plug-ins are also amazing, I was skeptical at first because of all the hype, but this little darlin lives up to all of it! I cannot wait to purchase the Neve pre-amp collection of plug-ins and the Ocean Way Studios Plug-in. My Sales Representative Ryan suggested this to me and I am so happy that I listened to him! Thank you Ryan!

This Apollo Twin USB really starts putting you in the big leagues (sonically) as soon as you turn it on.
Add the included plug-ins and some of the many other quality plugs that are available and you are golden.
All you need is some common sense and talent, and you will soon be exporting quality product.

Set up was straight forward and the whole installation and interface with UA was easy.

The only snag that I had was with Windows 7 and ProTools 11. A session would intermittently give me
error messages 'not communicating with USB Interface'. After some research found out that I should disable WIFI in the control panel while running sessions. Apparently Apollo, WiFi, and ProTools do not play well together..................all seems good now.

Reason for 4 not 5 stars: Everything about the build of this box shouts quality except for the big
volume knob (the main event). I understand that it is a push-push switch underneath, but why the
wobbly big knob on top?

In today's world where you get what you pay for, fortunately this rings true with the Apollo. It's not just an audio interface you are paying for when you buy it, While it may seem like a glorified plugin license for UA as well, this box actually does way more than you'd expect. In the first few minutes of using it the response of my DAW was already light years beyond the previous interface I was using. The plugins which come with the device are more than enough to get you started making clean, powerful mixes that shine clear and feel warm against your ears. Simply putting the LA-2A Legacy plugin on.. literally anything, and it sounds like the real hardware. I personally cannot spot a noticeable difference between the plugins and the hardware. I mean, I think there's a slight, negligible difference.. could just be placebo. Either way you get Legacy plugins, not the nicer/newer updated GUI plugins. They do the same thing as their slightly graphically polished counterparts, and hardware brethren: Sound amazing.

When you put the preamp plugins on, you hear the relay click over inside the device itself. It changes its internal voltage/impedance to authentically recreate the sounds of the preamps it simulates. Any mic you run through this thing is going to sound incredible. This really gives the box a very premium feel. The volume knob is however very delicate feeling though, so don't go yanking it or slamming your fist down on it in excitement of how good it sounds.

I pre-ordered my Apollo Twin four months ago and I finally received it. It was well worth the wait.

I am a mobile producer with a large stationary studio, and I wanted to be able to fluidly produce on the go, mix and master in the studio, and transition seamlessly into outboard gear with one single, portable unit.

I am impressed. The converters sound killer. I've run some electric guitar through the device using some of the onboard DSP and was highly impressed. I have been bussing out mixes to my RND MBP and back in while clipping the converters and have pleasantly distorted them while retaining all of the detail and clarity of much higher priced converters.

The only reason for knocking off a star is because of the UAD plugin pricing model. Yes, the device is relatively cheap, but the plugins cost much more than they are worth, and to me, this money would be much better invested in the hardware counterparts that UAD is trying to emulate. $350 for a reverb? Nah, I think I'll save for the Bricasti. $399 for Pultec emulations? I'd rather spend money on the Warm Audio EQP and get the real thing. The GUIs are the selling point for most of these plugs.

UAD, why don't you let Sweetwater sell your plugins? I believe the bundles and deals Sweetwater could put together would be much more appealing.

Overall, the hardware is impeccable. Does everything I ask of it, but the plugins are a little overpriced.

I have upped my rating to 3-star after using the product for several months. Heck, maybe even 3.5 stars. The key breakthrough was finding a free utility that makes the volume controls work in OS X on a MAC. I am still amazed that UAD can't figure out how to do it (or doesn't care...)

With that in place, I really like the Apollo interface - solid, durable, clean, etc., and yes now i would recommend it.

MC

I wasn't aware that this interface doesn't support AMD machines until after several hours of troubleshooting. Sweetwater was not aware of this issue either, and doesn't list this as a compatibility issue on their product page. UA does state in their support section that AMD is not supported on this model, but it's certainly not in the forefront on their product page.

This device would not work initially on my AMD Ryzen 9 machine (had nasty pops and distortion issues) and I had to purchase a very specific PCIe USB expansion card to make it work okay. This works well now, but only with ASIO drivers in a DAW environment or via the UA Console (as of driver release UAD-Win-v9121). So don't expect to easily play files outside of the DAW/UA Console without issues. This seems to work a little better with driver-set UAD-Win-v9122, but UA told me directly that they didn't even test this driver on AMD. So not sure how stable that is yet.

Sweetwater support did okay with helping resolve this, but I'm not impressed that AMD compatibility issues aren't disclosed up-front in a find-able way. Especially since they have a very strong relationship with Universal Audio.

Other than that, The DSP is under=powered and/or their UADs are very resources hungry. Expect to invest in a UAD accelerator if you want to even run more than 2 or 3 UADs at a time (pending on which ones you have going).

Pros: The preamps are amazing, the build quality is solid, and the UADs sound better than your average $... plugin (as they should at this price-point).

I truly wish that I could offer a better review for this interface and buying experience. I was excited about finally having a UA product, and now I see that it is just hype for a PC user. If you're interested in purchasing this, I highly recommend first contacting UA directly for compatibility with your machine.

Up front, this is a fantastic little unit with high quality preamps and gives you the tools to create quality audio recordings. The caveat is Universal Audio repeatedly shows it is not prioritizing support on Windows.

This will not work out of the box if you are planning on using the inputs for anything outside of a DAW; voice/video calls, gaming, streaming etc... It is well documented on forums and UAD's support pages that UAD does not work well with Windows' WDM audio system and you will need to configure a work around to digitally route your microphone input as your Windows mic.

I've been using my Apollo Twin for about a year and the reliability has been spotty at best. UAD driver issues, required work arounds and unexplained issues periodically pop up and derail whatever I'm working on. I've spoken with UAD support multiple times and as of April 2021 I've yet to hear they're committing to fully supporting Windows as a platform in the same way you would expect from less expensive companies like Focusrite or M-Audio. When it works it's great but it is not reliable on Windows.

I bought this to be the heart of a new system, replacing my old firewire equipment - paired with a new 4710d through ADAT it would be my dream. To be clear, I wanted to like this - WOW the converters and plugins are awesome and brought a smile when I listened to old tracks through my studio monitors - the sound and control through the console are so far ahead of just what I was using 10 years ago - The bad, well it doesn't play well with my NEW PC, meaning that it doesn't connect to my PC most of the time requiring me to reset or power cycle it or restart the PC to see it (connecting to Apollo) and ends with 'unable to start code 10' when looking at the device ..Speaking of the PC, it is a new one that I bought 2 weeks ago specifically for this (Windows 10 Pro, 32 GB mem, i7, USB 3.1 etc...). I have spent the last week trying to make sure that I followed all the set up, drivers are up to date, requirements - I spent time w/Sweetwater tech support (thank you!) where we verified all the drivers etc. and he didn't see anything wrong....of course...it didn't fail while he was on the phone. No sooner was i off though that it failed to connect again. This time I called UAD tech support where we went through everything the tech could think of - every single setting - from changing cables, BIOS to drivers to power to changing usb ports, to re-installing software. Nope, nada no luck. Lastly we are trying to use a USB C to 3.0 cable suggested by the tech that I ordered off Amazon ( to make sure that the USB port are supported) I suspect that the unit is defective, as the UAD tech suggested if the cable doesn't work replace the unit. Hope my experience helps - like I said I really wanted to like this as I have used UAD plug ins for years and they are expensive but worth it...I had hoped this would be likewise....disappointed with the gear NOT with my sales engineer or support. At these price points you expect things to work.

By far the best audio out of comparable systems. The software is only comparable with a few computers, if you want the higher end audio, purchase this with a computer already set up to work with the product. RME babyface is similar, just doesnt have the incredibly expensive proprietary modeling. The RME baby face is plug and play, I tested with i5, i7, i9 windows systems, absolutely no issues.

I think it has to do with USB driver for my motherboard on my system. I'm getting really bad clips, pops, and distortion on the highest buffer rate settings. My computer is a razerblade 15. My Scarlett Solo performs much better at far lower buffer rates. I can't use this interface. It has honestly been a damper on my creative process for the past two weeks. I might just opt for Thunderbolt since I have it on this system. Preferred the idea of USB though so I could use with all my PC set ups.

Buyer beware -- this product will not work with OS X volume controls. Many competitors make that work with no problem, but universal audio has not figured out how to do that. It appears that their R&D efforts go into plug-ins for you to buy, but they have not been able to make that basic thing work.

It's an interface, folks. And it does what it suppose to do. Does it sound different from let's say Focusrite Scarlet? Not really. However, it does offer a tad more features like recording in real time with near zero latency. But!!! I cannon justify spending$ and only getting 3 plug-ins!!! If I knew that it doesn't come with a single Unison plugin, I wouldn't buy it. I had to download and waste gigabytes of storage even if I had no intention of buying any. UAD has to do better than this. It is like Apple in a computer world - too much hype with little essence. Good Lord, at least one preamp would be much appreciated but all I got was literally 3 plugins out of hundreds and hundreds.
Moreover, Windows users will have really hard times battling those pops and clicks, as you have to configure your system for this particular interface.Even after I went through all the optimization steps, I still have them occasionally.
So having said all this, please consider all my points before spending$ and you are not planning spending thousands on their plugins.

I did not realize until I read reviews how long this problem with relays (or whatever it is) has been going on . This is obviously a faulty product and is absurd that UA as far as i know has NOT really addressed this issue except to say they're working on it. They did suggest one solution but still that should not be causing the wild clicking relay sounds that come from the unit .
I'm going to contact UA and see what they , if at all , have solved this problem. Very embarrassing for a quality company to release a product like this without proper QA inspection

I originally ordered the thunderbolt apollo mkii assuming my computer (only a few years old) was up to date with thunderbolt only to find that it is NOT. I was given the option to exchange it for this interface and I decided to give it a shot. Upon unpackaging I was immediately unattracted by the clunky, blue USB cable that comes with it. Within the first 15 minutes I dealt with nothing but issues. The interface turns off unexpectedly, only turns on when I unplug/plug everything back in, but I am also receiving error messages entitled "this interface only supports superspeed USB 3.0". My computer supports USB 3.0 and 3.1 - what is 'superspeed'? The interface within the first literal hour has been an absolute nightmare to set up unlike like my amazing scarlett 18i8 which is a BREEZE compared to this. I wanted to upgrade because of the claims of better sound quality when recording but will be returning immediately. Have never dealt with a more frustrating interface.

Tried on a Gen-9 Windows 10 / 64 platform. So many driver issues, I just wont bore you with them. Sweetwater support was incredible, thanks for all the time you put into this. Universal Audio Support, not so much. Two weeks of work, to have to finally return product. Bummed.

UA does not have a driver that works with 2019 USB 3.1 systems. Spent weeks trying to get this thing to talk to a brand new Gen 9 MSI motherboard, the most common board on the planet. No luck. If you have a 2010 Asus motherboard, you may be able to use this device, otherwise, good luck, you will probably return it.

Lot's of potential, here. Of course, potential means that the benefit is unrealized. The first unit worked for a week. The second unit would not communicate over the USB 3 bus. UAD blames the problem on a USB controller that is incompatible with their architecture. But, if this is correct, the original unit would not have worked, either.

For the lucky owner (lucky is the important word, here), the Twin USB is a good sounding unit that also records well and has access to some very good UAD effects.

If your pc requires expensive upgrades for your pc to become compatible, one probably would be wise to spend the extra money and buy an even better interface. This is where Sweetwater shines. Unrivaled service and support and total respect for the interests of its customers. So, if you decide to try the Twin USB, I can't think of a better place to buy from. Based on my experience, if you have a problem, you will have unrivaled support and the opportunity to consider other options.

Universal Audio worked with me on the phone as did Sweetwater and we just couldn't get it to work.
not even once. Kudos to both UA and Sweetwater for their customer service.

be aware....there is a list of things you need to do before you get it to work and apparently those things work for others but none of them worked for me.

it is NOT plug and play and it should be.
perhaps with a future update.

i returned mine.

It is ok, but not that good, if I want to buy a 900 dollar interface again, I would not like to buy this.