I'm just about to make this decision, like as of this week. I realized how stupid it was for me to buy a NI Komplete A6 AND a POD HD500, each as an experiment to see if I would go digital - when obviously buying one after the other I did. Now I'm trying to sell both and get an actually high quality interface. I was thinking Duet 2 just because everyone acts like its magic for macs. I always considered the babyface, but that wouldn't be in the price range of selling my pod ($300) and KA6 ($150). If I can get a nice coupon I figure the new duet 2 can be around there.
I know the Duet 2 acts as a headphone amp; the RME is the same, correct? And which do you guys think is better for direct guitar, not mic'd? And a thing I've gotten used to using the NIKA6 is using Guitar into i1, out o2 into stereo fx pedal back into i3 and i4, thus requiring three inputs, which the Duet can't do. But I guess I could go mono. Still doing some research, this is some stuff I gathered, thought was interesting, and figured would tack on here: -Duet 2 seems to have a higher input impedance and headroom. 10db more output than RME.
I heard a direct recording of a bass guitar and the apogee sounded much better imo (even though the volume difference was poorly compensated by the tester); I couldn't tell a difference between the two for a mic'd guitar.RME has a flatter output. It seems pretty much universally agreed upon that apogee adds some highs. So, at least I think: apogee wins in (when direct), RME wins out (if volume isn't a problem).
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Click to expand.The thing is I do need MIDI, but I'm planning on buying the old Duet 2 anyways and getting a cheap MIDI interface. It takes up an extra USB slot, but I should be fine. (maybe) My biggest concern is I would like to listen to all of my music through a nice audio interface, but my music library is on a PC; my music making is on a mac. That's really the only reason I'm considering paying extra for the RME.
Also, I'm not sure if I would really want to replace my macbook with another mac - in which case I would definitely buy the RME. Both my PC and my macbook aren't too far away from being replaced, and I really have no idea whether I'll jump pure windows or pure OSX.
I don't know of a single user who was ever disappointed with their purchase of an RME product. I'm still using the RME Multiface on my latest computer and I purchased it over 10 years ago. They are STILL updating the drivers for it for the latest OS releases and it still sounds amazing. I'm sure the Duet sounds good but you simply can not find better quality, engineering, flexibility and support then with RME - they are in a league of their own. Never underestimate driver stability and compatibility. Many of these companies hire third parties to write the drivers and it shows. RME have designed their own drivers from the ground up for both Mac and Windows and they have had more than a decade of fine tuning - super-stable, super-low-latency.
Regardless of what you choose, I hope your purchase works out great for you! Edit: Oops, I see you already went for the Focusrite. Good company too - I have their OctoPre hooked up to my RME. Good luck with it. The 16 seems just too much for me, and the converters (at least from what I've heard) aren't as life-changing as RME's or Apogee's. And that snake seems lethal. The problem for me now is that I'm stuck on the flaws of each interface rather than the benefits.
Like the babyface apparently doesn't have a real headphone amp, and it's instrument direct input isn't as strong as Apogee's. It's also tough because everyone only talks about the mic pres, but I only use directs, so I'm interested in the preamps for instruments.
Every other company tries to just go 'cleanest,' while Apogee brags about their own as having character, and from what I've heard it does sound the best. But I'm also pretty sure I won't buy a mac the next time around; so I might just buy the duet and flip it down the road. I wasn't impressed with the converters on the forte. They were good-I guess, but not price justifying.
Listening to my FLAC records on sennheiser HD598s was practically identical to the headphone outs on my computer (not too surprising since the headphones have low impedance). Sound improvement was definitely negligible especially in comparison with my NI KA6, which has more I/O and works at a slightly better latency (but noticeably sounds just barely cheaper, to be fair). And those pro's of the KA6 make the RME seem like the best upgrade. But the 'extra I/O' of the babyface, for me at least, is a scam when it will practically cost another $500 for on par digital inputs; and it goes back to RME's turnoffs for me. I'm stuck in a pessimistic loop and I can't get out.
EDIT: think I'm going to invest elsewhere at the moment. Returning the forte tomorrow, maybe buy the RME down the line. The 16 seems just too much for me, and the converters (at least from what I've heard) aren't as life-changing as RME's or Apogee's. And that snake seems lethal. The problem for me now is that I'm stuck on the flaws of each interface rather than the benefits.
Like the babyface apparently doesn't have a real headphone amp, and it's instrument direct input isn't as strong as Apogee's. It's also tough because everyone only talks about the mic pres, but I only use directs, so I'm interested in the preamps for instruments. Every other company tries to just go 'cleanest,' while Apogee brags about their own as having character, and from what I've heard it does sound the best. But I'm also pretty sure I won't buy a mac the next time around; so I might just buy the duet and flip it down the road. I wasn't impressed with the converters on the forte.
They were good-I guess, but not price justifying. Listening to my FLAC records on sennheiser HD598s was practically identical to the headphone outs on my computer (not too surprising since the headphones have low impedance). Sound improvement was definitely negligible especially in comparison with my NI KA6, which has more I/O and works at a slightly better latency (but noticeably sounds just barely cheaper, to be fair). And those pro's of the KA6 make the RME seem like the best upgrade. But the 'extra I/O' of the babyface, for me at least, is a scam when it will practically cost another $500 for on par digital inputs; and it goes back to RME's turnoffs for me.
Rickenbacker 360 Apogee/duet For Macbook Pro
I'm stuck in a pessimistic loop and I can't get out. EDIT: think I'm going to invest elsewhere at the moment. Returning the forte tomorrow, maybe buy the RME down the line.