Quote:
Originally Posted by Sting
I see Universal Audio has released the Arrow which is considerably cheaper than the Apollo Duo MKll. Since there has been a delay in upgrading my system but I’m ready now to hit the purchase button on both iMac and interface I wonder would the Arrow be a better bang for buck purchase as my interface or would the Apollo Duo MKll still be the one to go for quality wise? iMac will have two thunderbolt 3 connections, i7 processor and 1TB SSD plus 8gb memory 27inch.
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If you don't need the interface primarily on the road where it would be a lot more convenient to have it bus powered, go with the Apollo Twin Mk2 anyway.
Very reliable "sources" have confirmed to me that the Arrow offers the best audio quality by far up to 500 bucks but also that they don't use the exact same
converters like in the Apollos. The Apollos still do sound noticably better.
I have set up a small but professional studio for a friend last summer using an Apollo Twin Solo Mk2 for the audio interface and although I know a lot of the
expensive gear this little box blew me away as for the audio quality.
If you are on a budget stay with the Twin Solo Mk2 for $699.- and optionally add one ore more Thunderbolt satellites later if you will need more DSP power
in the future. The Arrow by the way offers only one DSP as well.
I promise you you won't regret the 300+ for the Twin Solo Mk2 at the end of the day. Another option the Twin does offer are the 8 Adat Inputs which allow you
to expand your system by any external multipreamp channel later. The Arrow does not have any Adat Inputs.
As for Thunderbolt 3 (Arrow) versus Thunderbolt 2 (Twin Mk2) you won't even notice any difference finally. Thunderbolt 2 is super fast/low latency already.
You just will have to get an TB3/USB-C to TB2 converter but as I could see last summer this ain´t any problem at all. Works perfectly fine.
One thing left which caught my attention in your post was that you have 8GB Ram in your iMac only? For PT12 you really want 16GB at the minimum to have
PT working as it is supposed to (disk cache etc.). As you go with a beautiful large 27" i7 Quad iMac you even may consider putting in more like 24GB or 32GB
memory. If this simply will be too much money get not less than 16GB Ram at least for PT12 finally.
Everything else (i7 Quad, 1TB SSD) should be perfect for a nice, current, well working Pro Tools system.
The best of success to you and lots of fun with your cool new studio.