Apogee listened to us about what we wanted changed on DUET....
I've been keeping up with the posts on that thread almost everyday. Most of the negativity comes from people that are disappointed that the Duet 2 doesn't sound like the Duet Classic. Why would it ever? It makes sense that it wouldn't, it's a completely new product internally and externally. I do realize most people are saying that when compared to one or two audio samples that have been provided, but that's all it really is: one or two samples. I do however really like all the input people are giving, be it negative or positive.
If mine sounds bad I'll just return it and look into something else. I hope I like how it sounds though. Admittedly there has been a good bit of negativity from a few users that already have theirs, which has made me question my purchase a little. When all is said and done it really depends on the individual and their own ears and gear they use with it. But now that I have something to base my decision on it will help me a lot.
I'm also extremely interested in how things will pan out in some of the reviews (hopefully unbiased) it will be getting.
......We didn't mention Build, we had no reason too.
Forget what I said about build because soundwise it's beautiful, you will not be disappointed, you're going to be coming up with fresh new original compositions and feeling really inspired all over again like when you first bought DUET home to meet the family.
In 2007 I bought one of the first DUET's based on ...looks, there were no reviews at the time - luckily it sounded amazing too, I jumped on forums here and there and raved about it and how truly great it sounded with my Shure SM7B, I started that DUET/SM7B revolution I reckon.
Apogee listened to our DUET problems and addressed them with DUET2, we had no DUET1 "build" problems so they didn't address that, instead some of you using outdated macs complained about latency problems, latency really ? hands up who had latency probs ? time for a mac upgrade man, we never did, so maybe they got to bogged down on latency and didn't think build would matter too much, so I blame you latency folk...just kidding, the build is good still just not as good.
Anyway Apogee are a great company and will listen again when we mention these build woes, so Apogee if you're listening, I love this unit and will swear by it again but I'm not going to "big up" something just because I'm stuck with it so I'm going to be honest and say - plastic doesn't belong on this unit, will it scratch over time, sure it's plastic and plastic scratches and this time around we're looking at the unit more because it has a display so this time we'll notice, glass it should have been.
Dust on the OLED is a problem and hopefully Apogee will address this before the next "batch" are off the conveyerbelt because dust seeps through where the plastic top slots into the aluminium, this needs sealing, talk to the apple ipad team don't talk to ROLAND/EDIROL.
Spray painting this silver to give us a "sheen" look is not a great decision, keep it solid, keep it raw like the DUET, I want a "carved from a solid piece of aluminium" Macbook Pro/duet illusion - why then spray it silver.
Lastly I want a perfect "cut" where the plastic top drops in, a couple of my corners don't match up, I want a precision robot building DUET3 in China next time around maybe in Foxconn.
DUET2 doesn't need any work in the sound department but it needs some fine tuning in build, it's still a top product and if you don't own DUET or they're no longer available or want to keep up with the joneses then buy it.
