Apogee Electronics Groove - 24-Bit 192 kHz USB DAC and Headphone Amplifier For Mac and PC
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A bit overpriced but nevertheless great DAC/Amp
I bought this to use with my Sennheiser HD-650s and my Mac Mini. It works great, the build quality is excellent, the volume buttons are very sturdy, the led lights are helpful, the audio out jack is tight. The most important one: the audio quality is simply perfect. But to be honest, the audio out of my Mac Mini is almost that good and the Mac Mini drives the high impedance HD-650 without any problems with volume slider at 50% already loud e... Show More
Reviewed on ThomannMusic.com
High Impedance headphone get the volume boost needed
Bought this after reading a lot of reviews and examining my limited resources. Brings my 600ohm Sennheiser HD400 from the 1980's back to life on my MacBookPro. Makes me remember why I bought the headphones with clairity. Simple plug and play. Volume control nice but redundant as it goes up and down with volume control on the Mac keyboard too. Not a 5 star product as it is not powerful enough to blow out your ear drums so to speak, not suprising since it is USB Powered so there is a limit to volume. Consider it a safety feature so it does not blow out your ears.
Reviewed on B&H Photo Video
No difference in sound quality :(
When connecting it to my mac, I didn't notice any improvement in sound quality using my Sennheiser Momentum. I also tried to download high quality 24-bit tracks from the internet. But it didn't seem to make any difference... After about 1 day , the groove started to make strange noises. By disconnecting it from the computer and leaving it at the table, the noises did go away when trying to connecting it back again. However, the built in amp was really good! The sound quality wasn't also affected by cranking up the volume at high levels.
Reviewed on ThomannMusic.com
Great for what it does !
This is the best portable DAC I have found, really good sound quality for low latency... The only thing you should ask yourself is: do I need it ? Because without the DAC, using Asio4All and the builtin soundcard can be enough for a lot of use. This is maybe a bit pricy for just a little improvement in sound quality ? If you need to mix/master on the go, that might be really useful though. If I had to find a con, I would say the Apogee gets very hot very quickly. It's apparently normal, but it's good to highlight.
Reviewed on ThomannMusic.com
Good for the price
Very easy setup and it sounds great. Been using mine for a week now with the Sennheiser 650's and it's a great combo. Very detailed yet smooth sound. We come a long way with technology over the last decade in pro audio. To get this type a sound 10 years ago you would of had to spend around a $1000 for a headphone amp/DAC combo and it wouldn't of even been portable.
Reviewed on B&H Photo Video
The Best Headphone Amp.
Drives my Grado RS1e reference headphones like an amp that cost multiple times the cost of the Apogee. My appreciation to Apogee for delivering an exceptional product.
Reviewed on B&H Photo Video
