I just got one a couple of days ago at the Apple Store in NYC when I was visiting for the holidays, and I must say that the quality of the sound is stunning. This isn't really an informative post for anyone in particular, but if you've thought about getting one but were afraid of the $500 price tag, DON'T be. It's well worth it... Next on my list is a quality pair of reference monitors. I was thinking about $200-250 a piece. Any recommendations? Hope all is well with the regulars and admins here! Happy New Year to you all! Jamie

krk vxt4 worth considering, or the krk v4's second hand

Thanks, Lighter! Believe it or not, I was giving a serious look at the second generation KRK Rokit 8 series. Reviews of those are quite positive and seem to display happy customers for the most part. I actually do have a question, however, about hooking those up to the Duet. I'm by no means an electronics expert, so I'll try to pose my issue as clearly as I can. I've noticed that the outputs to the powered monitors are "unbalanced." I've done some reading about the differences between a balanced and unbalanced system, most of which was way too technical for me. What I gathered is that the most noticeable difference is the reduction of noise through the balanced versus the unbalanced line. I would like to have the cleanest sound possible when I do get some monitors, and wondered if anyone here could confirm or deny the benefits of converting the outputs of the Duet to TRS or XLR inputs, or if simply leaving the Duet alone and connecting through 1/4" unbalanced inputs is sufficient for the clarity of sound. Of course, I would rather minimize the number of connections between the Duet and whatever else it is connected to (computer, microphones, monitors), thus avoiding any third-party boxes that claim to balance the Duet's output signal. Thanks all! And Happy New Year! Jamie

I'm an Apogee user and a KRK-5's user too. Love the combination! I use the 1/4" Balanced connector and get very decent results. For me it's more important to get the room accoustics / dampening sorted ;-) & of course Happy Belated New Year! Best Rounik

Hi Rounik! Hope your new year is going well so far! When you say 1/4" "balanced" does that mean you are running the cable from the Duet output into the TRS input on your KRKs? From what I've gathered, going from the Duet's outputs into either balanced input on the monitor won't make it balanced at all. Jamie

Hi Jamie, Thanks! Happy New Year to you :) Yes, you're correct... it won't make it balanced. However, I've had no adverse effects using it this way and it seems many others concur... while the rest need to either convert to balanced or use a Mixer etc... If I had experienced issues with it then I'd definitely have gone with a balanced option and possibly invested in the Breakout box designed for the Duet: [url]http://www.duetbreakout.com/[/url] But as of now I get no ground hum and everything sounds good to my ears. I do use high quality, short cables... 1.5-2M I think. I've looked up a few other threads that relate to this issue, which you may wish to check out: [url]http://www.gearslutz.com/board/low-end-theory/345964-apogee-duet-unbalanced-output-concern.html[/url] [url]http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=359177[/url] [url]http://www.soundonsound.com/forum/showflat.php?Cat=&Number=774934&Main=774093[/url] [url]http://www.gearslutz.com/board/music-computers/448629-apogee-duet-noise-issue.html[/url] Hope that helps Rounik