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Any reason not choose an Apogee Duet?

My new mini mac arrived this week so its time to get serious about a DAC. (If you've thought about making the plunge, there are good deals at the Apple Store Clearance section)

Is there any reason not to select the apogee duet? The price is about 1/2 of what i'm willing to pay... and it provides a good ADC converter by all accounts.

My biggest worry about buying without audition is bass response. I just can't live with a forward sound. I need bass that I can FEEL.

Thanks in advance for any feedback or suggested alternatives.
dhoperos
danlib1
819 posts
 
I owned the Apogee, and it was good. But better was the next DAC I bought- the MHDT Labs Havana. You can't find better for the money in my opinion.
mcmanus
82 posts
 
The nice thing about DACs is that they are easy to ship and swap out. I'd get the Duet and another one. Sell the one you are less happy with and buy another one. Do this until you have found your sweet spot. I did this with about 6 from $300 to $2,600 and ended up with one that was $1,100.

Being able to swap out gear at close to purchase price is one of the great features of Audiogon.
stubby
73 posts
 
Mcmanus - "Do this until you have found your sweet spot. I did this with about 6 from $300 to $2,600 and ended up with one that was $1,100."

Would this be the Exemplar Mini DAC? I tried finding info on this DAC but wasn't successful. Is this a modified Mini?
dhoperos OP
9 posts
 
Excellent, thank you. This is great- now I don't have to buy one dac, but I get two! I'm looking forward to this...
smiley1z
3 posts
 
The Duet looks pretty sweet. Its limited to no higher than a 96kHz signal though. Download the User Manual and check it out. I'm thinking of the Mini-DAC because it can handle the higher resolution 176.4 files.

Evaluating 2 DAC's at a time sounds like a great idea if you are working with a 30 day return policy.

You could also buy one DAC and see if local audiophiles are willing to bring their DAC over for a listening session.
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