Apogee Symphony Desktop 10x14 USB-C Audio Interface Reviews

Here's how much I depend on this interface-
I recently had a mechanical issue with the encoding nob and had to send it
out to get repaired ( thank you Sweetwater ).

I needed to keep working while that unit was out of commission ,
so before I sent it out, I ordered a second Symphony desktop.

( owning 2 is still more affordable that many pro interfaces,
including the non- desktop symphony)

for me the two channel format works great for everything I need to do, including tracking vocals or
bass or guitars, which often happens.
the DSP FX ( opto comp, pultech and Digital eq in particular) on the front end are extremely useable and
are huge time and space savers if you know what you're doing.

As others have stated, the DA conversion is stellar, and so is translation.

Obviously, understanding your room and or your headphones is a big part
of having great mix translation to a variety of consumer products,
but if the magic combination of your DA converters, internal clocking and
audio path are not not perfect, you will be scratching your head
and wondering why you didn't hear the things you don't like in your studio.

I am never surprised anymore- Thanks Apogee/sweetwater

I recently moved into a condo and can't use my tube amps as they get the neighbors all rowdy when I play them at a level that sounds good. I bought a Simplifier DLX and two Adam Audio A7V powered studio monitors to replace my amps and cabs w/help from Carson McClain at Sweetwater. I bought the Apogee to interface w/my Mac, record loops and add in drum tracks. The Apogee makes it all work seamlessly and provides fast and easy tweaks using the touchscreen and push/dial. I was really worried I would miss my honest, reliable tube amps, but it all works amazingly well together and sounds awesome AT ANY VOLUME. And for me, that's the part that makes it all worth it. I get great tone and the police don't stop by to tell me my neighbors think I'm too loud. The purist in me really hated this decision, but after using the system for a few weeks, I have zero complaints about the tone. If you're on the fence, take the leap- you'll be glad you did.

Replaced an Apogee Duet 2 with the Symphony Desktop and the sound quality is amazing. I thought my Duet was awesome, which it WAS, but man, the pre-amps no this S.D. sound so good. 3 different pre-amp choices get you exactly what you are looking for. If you know Apogee, you know B.Clearmountain and if you know HIM, well, let's just say he's got quite an ear for music and the fact that his wife owns Apogee makes it even better. I run this with Logic Pro X. Set up was a bit confusing but after I got a hold of Apogee support my issues were fixed in less than 30 minutes. Thank you to Phil Potts - my Sweetwater rep for always taking care of me. Thanks Phil and Sweetwater!

I've had this about a year now and really enjoy working on it. Bit of a bumpy start due to the pandemic but the delivery issues have been sussed out it seems by now. the stand out is the conversion both ad/da sound is simply great. leaves me not wanting anything else and I have had many very high end converters. it simply works. The mic pres do an excellent job and deliver a pristine signal. My only want is another pair of outs. The IO is really pretty limited for this price range, but if your doing a simple set up it delivers the goods.

I bought this interface because I am doing more mastering work and wanted a simple top-quality setup. I A/B'd this against my prior interface by bouncing a recent master out of Logic with no change except running it through the new Symphony desktop. I work in a treated room and the difference was not subtle. The string sounds were more detailed and present especially the higher harmonics. Translates extremely well. I will not only be mastering a little differently but also mixing a differently through this unit due to the additional detail it provides. Outstanding quality and seamless integration with Logic Pro. The software preamps and FX are also excellent and the dual path option is easy to use. It's remarkable that this level of quality is available in such a compact form and at this price. This is a real winner.

I had the Apogee Ensemble Thunderbolt awhile and no longer needed all those inputs so thought I'd give this a try…and immediately got Blown away with a wealth of "second to none" Master quality sonic characteristic audio right out of the box!!!! It increased the sound quality of my old headphones, studio monitors, and previous mixes in my DAW (Logic Pro X)!!!! If you're looking for a big quality sound, then look to this! Thank You Apogee and Sweetwater!!

First impressions, a veil has been lifted off of my audio output making my mixes louder, crisper, clearer and more enjoyable to listen to. The same goes for the main headphone output. Firmware update is straight forward and simple even after having to format the apogee usb stitch that came with. So far I'm very happy to have added the Apogee Symphony Desktop to my collection. Thanks Sweetwater!

After many years of hearing about the quality and converters I am now proud to say I am have stepped up and become an Apogee user. The quality is second to none. This thing sounds to good. The Apogee team has the best tech support on the planet

Started up home recording again and choose to get the Symphony Desktop. Right out of the box and setup, after hitting play back I was amazed how great this interface sounded. The sound quality is amazing and clear. The touchscreen control is easy and intuitive, and the integration with Logic Pro X great. The plug ins it come with sound great. Great sounding interface.

I waited 5 months for this interface! Well worth the wait. The sound you get with this interface is a luxury. Of course you don't need quality this incredible to make a hit record, but for someone like me who indulges every detail in a mix, Symphony is the ceiling. Anything else is second behind.

I've had this unit for about 3 months. Really loving it so far. I hear details I haven't heard from previous interfaces. I'm coming from Focusrite Liquid Saffire 56, Mbox Pro, Audient ID22. It has a nice sounds that tends to sit right when I listen back on many sources. I have a few cons that wouldn't allow to to rate 5 stars. First, there are only 1 pair of monitor outputs. At this price point its a bit disappointing. 2nd is the connectivity. There are 2 audio combijack inputs and Adat in and out (which theoretically gives me more ins and outs). But workflow-wise it's a pain. But those issues are shame on me. I knew what I was getting into it. The last 2 issues which are shame on Apogee, are that this unit tends to run hot. I've contacted Apogee support and they assured me its normal. But I question the longevity of this device. Lastly there is still no desktop control app so I'm stuck doing everything in the interfaces touchscreen. Which is not a deal-breaker but why no desktop control app?

Other than those issues I'm very happy. I'm hoping that Apogee would release a bigger brother to this device that would solve all the cons I have.

This product is absolutely stunning. Love the functionality and love the plugins. But APOGEE IF YOU'RE READING THIS, PLEASE RELEASE THE ENSEMBLE IN Thunderbolt 3/USB C. This will fill a gap between the Symphony Desktop and the Symphony Rackmount Unit. Everyone is copying this format anyway - from Focusrite to MOTU. I'm wondering why the Ensemble was discontinued, as its literally perfect. If you guys need a 2 channel interface with expandability for tracking, the Symphony Desktop definitely fits the bill, but I took it down from 5 stars because I have a ton of high quality outboard analog gear such as a Smart C2, preamps, and Distressors. I need more I/O for that but I don't exactly need a 6k+ Symphony Rackmount. What we need is the Ensemble in USB - C//Thunderbolt 3 form. Even if it was exactly the same as the old unit but with USB C/thunderbolt port, I'd be hella stoked.

The great:
This thing sounds awesome and setting it up with Ableton 11 was a breeze. The touch interface is intuitive, and I can't speak highly enough about the DSP plugins. Great build quality too!!!

The not so great:
I was hearing popping and white noise on the monitors, even with no inputs connected and the outputs turned completely down. It turns out the USB connection with my PC was creating a ground loop. After reaching out to Apogee support, I received a response, 5 days later... They incorrectly said that the USB "is" ground isolated, and an isolator dongle would not resolve my issues. I decided to buy a Topping low-latency USB isolator anyway and it magically cleared up all my noise issues with no noticeable latency. Using the same USB cable, when I remove the isolator, the noise returns. I relayed this information back to Apogee support 3 days ago and not surprising, still no response. I'm thrilled with my purchase but frustrated that I needed to buy a $ dongle to make the unit work as advertised. As expensive at the Symphony Desktop is, they should have isolated their USB ports. Apogee's could use some lessons on improving customer support as well.

If you're using the Symphony with a laptop running off battery, it will work great. Otherwise, plan on experiencing noise issues unless you purchase additional hardware.

So let me start off with the pro's of this device:

1. Preamps sound great and clean (until they don't, see below in the cons).

2. The converters on this device are amazing. I sold another DSP rack mount interface with recently upgraded conversion and thought it sounded amazing. Then the apogee symphony desktop (ASD) came in and completely changed how I perceive how an interface should sound. It's incredibly open sounding. Honestly blew my mind a little bit.

3. It works on pc and mac, which is fantastic and its got really good latency for a usb device.

4. It includes some cool digital pre's and EQ/Compression.

Now for the cons:

1. First unit arrived DOA. It was a "demo" model that had been returned for not powering on. Support tested it and was able to turn it on, so I bought it. When it came in, it wouldn't power on. Gamble and a loss, but Sweetwater's awesome customer service got me a new on in a day or two. They are the absolute best with customer service, hands down.

2.on pc, the unit would just disconnect randomly. Day 1 it was perfect, the next 3-4 days was me constantly reconnecting it, turning it on, off, swapping cables, etc... Eventually I took it off the pc and connected it to my mac. Its been stable on the mac.

3.Randomly, when I'm in digital calls with work, the preamp's will randomly max out and distort my voice and blow up the ears of people on the receiving end of my feed. Really not cool.

4. Touch screen is cool, but very limited. Almost annoyingly so. They said they plan to release a desktop app to control it, but it isn't out yet and controlling this unit with the screen is less than intuitive. Routing is limited, quickly fixing that issue in point 3 takes longer than it should because I can't just reach for a knob or move my mouse. I gotta poke the screen on the channel and adjust with the knob. Not a super long process, but when the mic is blasting and the other person is wearing ear buds, a second feels like 20 minutes. It makes me concerned it may happen mid session and blow out a client's ears or ruin a solid take. (I think, again, the desktop app would help fix this since there would be some software control).

5. During my first client session with this unit the mic pre's wouldn't send signal to the DAW. I messed with it for approx 40 minutes. Tried changing input and output gain, rerouting IO in the DAW, changing pre's, double, triple, and quadruple checking everything was routed correctly. When I just about gave up it randomly started to work. Sweet, singer got in the booth and the touch screen went white and the unit froze. I had to end that session early and it was incredibly embarrassing.

6.This one is extremely minor, but for some reason they have the 1/4 inch outs reversed. Left is Right and Right is Left. Not a huge deal at all, but I got a crisscross of cables going on and it's just stupid. (literally not a huge deal, but I'm being thorough at this point).

Overall this unit is a dream as far as the listening experience, but I'm sending it back. I'm too paranoid of the unit stopping on me mid session again or just not sending audio into my DAW. If the unit works perfectly, it's still a 4 until the release the desktop app. Its possible I got 2 duds in a row. There are a couple happy reviews here, so that very well may be the case. If I can't find a solution for what I'm wanting in the next year and they release the app on the computer, I may give this another go, but for now its a no for my needs.

I was really looking forward to this product. After going through the clumsy update process a few times the input on channel one maxed out (clipping) with nothing plugged in. I restarted the unit and it seemed to resolve that issue for the time being...but it has happened in the middle of sessions a few times since blowing out my ears...total bummer. I see some of the other reviews saying good things about the preamps. I have had the opposite experience. The neve alloy preamp is way too saturated for vocals even with the input way down. The AP57 alloy preamp is useless. It's just distortion. The stock preamps just don't sound good. Zero clarity, warmth or sparkle you get from other less expensive interfaces. This interface is no where near as good as Audient, UA or SSL. I'm going to return it in case I got a dud. The unit runs warm to hot and that's not good for longevity. This interface is expensive and truth be told, it just doesn't sound good on vocals. I use a C12, TLM 103 and an SM7 and it just craps out on all of them. The vocals sound strange and unprofessional...with an unusual artificial sound. Like I said, I was really looking forward to this interface. Apogee really messed this up. Long wait, over promise and under deliver.