Apogee Duet Kicks Ass

[GPH]

Congrats on the Duet, I'm sure you'll love it. I haven't had the chance to compare to 1000+$ DACs, but it's certainly a great value for the price.

[Smeggy]

Hehe, I think someone's excited

Congrats on the new baby, err, Duet. I'm sure you'll be very happy together.

[Contrastique]

Thanx! Now I just have to be patience....and that's pure agony lol although it's already much sooner than I expected to buy one. Glad the Behringer is two steps closer to the trashcan!

[jp11801]

Indra I think you will be very happy with the duet, make sure you get 1/4 inch to rca (female) adapters while you are waiting so you can plug and play after the postman arrives.

[Pars]

The problem with DIY Duet cables is that Apogee seems to be using a non-standard receptacle that isn't playing nicely w/ the VGA connectors that I've been able to source. Their receptacle is so shallow that normal male plugs can't seat fully and the retention screws can't reach the embedded fasteners. <snipped>

Seems to be a DB-15 connector? When looking around on Digikey, there also seemed to be a DB-15HD? Not sure what that is about... When you mention that the plugs you tried wouldn't seat fully, you mean the pins?

[n_maher]

Seems to be a DB-15 connector? When looking around on Digikey, there also seemed to be a DB-15HD? Not sure what that is about... When you mention that the plugs you tried wouldn't seat fully, you mean the pins?

I'm not sure there's a difference really, I've seen the same pin configuration referred to using both designations. And when I say that it won't seat fully what I mean is that the pins are fully captured by the socket (or at least seem to be) but the socket doesn't allow enough penetration so that the captive nuts in the chassis can be fastened to and fully secure the connector. Because of the shallow penetration (heads out of gutters please) and lack of permanent connection the cable has a tendency to become easily dislodged. I should have a Duet in my hands by early next week and will hopefully have a little time to look into the situation further.

[deepak]

Dyspareunia, serious business with connectors :'(

[Contrastique]

Indra I think you will be very happy with the duet, make sure you get 1/4 inch to rca (female) adapters while you are waiting so you can plug and play after the postman arrives.

Yeah, that cable part is something I just don't get...I really tried to find an answer but your female thingy got me confused for real..this is probably a real dumb question but here it is anyway:

You (can) connect the 1/4th to either of these, right?

And you recommend this cable..?:

But in order to attach it to my amp I will need this..not the female RCA?:

Or have I totally lost it now..?

[Fungi]

Either works. With the female version you can use your own RCA. With the male version you plug it straight to the amp.

[grawk]

Yeah, that cable part is something I just don't get...I really tried to find an answer but your female thingy got me confused for real..this is probably a real dumb question but here it is anyway:

You (can) connect the 1/4th to either of these, right?

And you recommend this cable..?:

But in order to attach it to my amp I will need this..not the female RCA?:

Or have I totally lost it now..?

Neither of those is what you want. Those are 1/4" stereo to 2 rcas. You need 1/4" mono to rca

[Contrastique]

Neither of those is what you want. Those are 1/4" stereo to 2 rcas. You need 1/4" mono to rca

And you say that because if I would use one of the cables I mentioned above I would send a monosignal to my amp?

So I would need something like this, just not necessarily combined in 1 cable, right?:

[grawk]

right

[Contrastique]

Thanx

[OrJazzM]

Question, would the duet be able to function with a custom balanced breakout cable or balanced adapters to the current breakoutcable? I'm not asking which would be better between the two but whether the duet can be used in balanced setup, thanks.

[grawk]

The duet is not a balanced source, so you'd need to use transformer or other balancing circuit to use it in a balanced setup

Question, would the duet be able to function with a custom balanced breakout cable or balanced adapters to the current breakoutcable? I'm not asking which would be better between the two but whether the duet can be used in balanced setup, thanks.

[OrJazzM]

Thanks Grawk, umm...I guess when you say balancing circuit I'm assuming you mean through a preamp? The reason I ask, I'm considering the Emerald Physics CS1 speakers, the digital crossover they use has only balanced I/O. The manufacturer encourages the use of balanced connectors.

[grawk]

In that case you could do it. Just wire pin 2 + and pin 1 and 3 gnd.

[aardvark baguette]

new breakout box

Apogee Duet: BREAKOUT box simplifies connections - Engadget

$100

[deepak]

Mac/Duet user:

"I'd never let that fugly box close to my desk, let alone my duet"

[Dusty Chalk]

Get yours now with 1/4" or RCA outputs for $100 apiece.

That said, kind of hard to argue with 'jesus christ that thing is hideous'.

Oh, great, their website ain't any better:

What's the name of the company, duet:Breakout?

Oh, and good luck contacting them -- their email link is misspelled.

[aardvark baguette]

Mac/Duet user:

"I'd never let that fugly box close to my desk, let alone my duet"

Good point.

[GPH]

That's fugly.

[n_maher]

Yeah, I caught wind of that box a few days ago. It strikes me as utterly worthless. Think I should send Engadget a proper breakout cable?

[n_maher]

Find me a contact and I'll do it.

[Contrastique]

Yeah, I caught wind of that box a few days ago. It strikes me as utterly worthless. Think I should send Engadget a proper breakout cable?

Absolutely!! Your cable makes that box shiver and shrink to zero...god that IS ugly...they forgot the target product the Duet is designed for is Apple I suppose....