Apogee Duet 3

When I upgraded my MacBook earlier this year, I had my heart set on the Duet 3. I previously owned the original Duet and Duet 2, and really loved using them. However, after several months of using the Duet 3, I must admit defeat...I hate this audio interface.

Although the Duet 2's design was minimal, at least it had proper visual feedback on the unit (you always knew what the knob was controlling). The Duet 3 uses a small purple LED dot to indicate whether you're controlling speaker, headphones, or input 1/2. This has proved very fiddly and annoying, especially when setting mic/inst levels. There's a single left and right meter for either mic/instr input level (which combine for stereo playback). There are no numbers, and things can get confusing and irritating pretty quickly.

Also disappointing is Apogees silly decision to remove the assignable function buttons from the interface (for mute, dim, mono etc). These were really handy, and I used then all the time on the Duet 2. There are basically no controls on the Duet 3 besides gain/level adjustment.

So because of these issues, I really need to keep the Apogee Control 2 software open on my desktop permanently, and I control all my levels and functions from here (I almost never touch the interface). I might as well have bought a bunch of good preamps, it would be the same user experience.

The second big strike against the Duet 3 is the buggy firmware. This was an issue at times with the Duet 2, but it's even worse with the Duet 3. I keep all the software/firmware up to date (running M1 Pro MacBook on OS Monterey), but I still have to regularly unplug it/plug it back in because it disconnects or stops running the sound if I leave my computer for too long.

My impression is that the Duet 3 is not completely stable, and suffers from minimalist design taken too far. It's been a poor user experience overall, and I'm sad to say I'll be selling the unit. It's a shame, because the audio quality is great, but it's just not worth the aggravation .

I wanted a product that I could use on my 3 computers: Apple Mini M1, Apple MacBook Pro, Windows 10 desktop. Good news is that Duet 3 works on all my platforms and it is super easy to switch between my computers. But this also shows an issue: switching produces a loud crackling sound when you plug in/out the Duet 3. Something I never had with my cheaper Roland product. Once it is plugged in the sound is perfect, so just be aware when you plug in/out Duet 3.

What I like is the hardware DSP plugins. I did not have this on my Roland.

I use a Shure SM7 mic, I can use it without a FetHead but then you need to turn the gain close to max, hence I keep using my FetHead.

I love the breakout cable, this reduces the cable clutter on my working-from-home desk. I have all my cables hidden under my desk and have more space and cleaner desk.

The software is clearly still work in progress, it has all the must-have features working so that is the good news and it works on my 3 platforms. Install was smooth. What is not working is the help functions and the resizing of the windows has some issues on a MacOS. Nothing serious but one would expect that, for this price, the product would be finished.

I reported the software issues to Apogee and the support service does reply the next day, so no complaints on the Apogee support. Apogee seems to be aware and working on it...

Long time user of the Duets for portable needs but sadly Apogee have been producing unreliable products for a few years now.

Bought for work on the road and despite being a thing of beauty, of solid build and packaged with a great deal of thought, it just isn’t ready for production. This has been the case ever since they tried to merge PC and Mac suitable gear into one and just can’t do it.

Audio recording is completely distorted every few minutes using the cables and constantly using the breakout box (bought separately). I’ve had to return both sadly.

Hopefully Apogee will correct these issues soon.

Duet 3 has an exceptionally detailed output sound with huge dynamic range, and two crystal clear sounding inputs. AD/DA conversion is absolutely the best I’ve heard among interfaces this size. Same goes for the zero Ohm headphone amplifier, which flattened my headphones’ frequency response and provided phenomenal clarity.

I also really like its minimalist and futuristic design. Some people don’t like the breakout cable, but I actually love it, as it allows me to hide all the connectivity behind the desk in a “set and forget” kind of way, keeping the desk nice and clean. If you’re on the go there’s a high quality travel case, also a great addition.

When it comes to drivers and software, I have not experienced any hiccups or dropouts or anything like that, everything works nice and smooth. Just make sure to update the firmware upon installation.

There are no outputs for the second pair of studio monitors and no MIDI I/O, but since I only need one pair of monitors and can easily record MIDI via USB it’s not a problem at all. I actually think that having these extra I/O would defeat the purpose of Duet, which is to be compact but best-quality-for-this-size audio interface.