by G. Goa . 3 out of 5 stars

The Apollo sounds fantastic. It's sturdy and of high quality. The plugs for it are like nothing I've ever used before and have brought my production to a whole new level.

Unfortunately, my system is crashing often and it drops all of the plug-ins. Every time this happens I need to powercycle the Apollo and restart my host. Support thinks it's my firewire port as it's one of the only things left which we cannot test because my iMac only has 1 firewire port. There is not way of telling unless I get a new computer. My FW port worked fine with everything else I've used it for.

Support was good once I got in contact but the delay was far too long 4-5 days both times. The staff is great but I really would like a live chat feature.

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by E. Garcia . 4 out of 5 stars

Apollo Quad

Pros:
- High quality interface
- Great transparent pres
- Thunderbolt add on ability
- Console app is easy to use and has recall
- Easy to use design
- Hi-z inputs are good and handy

Cons:
- Limited IO (Multi-unit support will be nice when it comes along, although I doubt I would ever need both a Quad and a Duo)
- Console doesn't control DAW input levels
- No software routing matrix
- Only plugs go through thunderbolt. Audio still in firewire realm
- Headphone section is kind of mediocre (Would be better if you could send separate mixes to headphones)
- Would have preferred monitor section to be XLR instead of TRS

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by Q. Michael . 5 out of 5 stars

Malgré une sortie des drivers qui a trainée en longueur (pour windows) , je ne suis pas déçu d'avoir attendu ! Cette carte est excellente , super finition , le son est incroyable , hyper précis , dynamique avec une très bonne stéréo , (bien au dessus des rme fireface 800 , babyface et echo audiofire 12 que j'avais avant)..
Egalement un bon point pour les DSP et les plugs UAD (mais si on achète cette carte c'est aussi également pour ça !) .
Petit bémole quand même sur la stabilité des drivers , mais ils sont encore tout jeunots ... C'est excusable . J'espère aussi une amélioration des routages de la console ! Très content de mon achat !

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by B. Brito . 4 out of 5 stars

Infelizmente tenho que usar o delay compensation do protools com os plugs da UAD para compensar os muitos atrasos dos plugins,e não estar conseguindo usar minha project mix como controladora por estar conflitando com a Apollo quad... mas do resto achei a melhor compra minha dos ultimos tempos e creio que irei adquirir muitas outras coisas da UA em breve... Pena a apollo quad não vir com mais plugins já na compra. Mas de qualquer forma estou muito satisfeito. Bruno Brito.

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by A. Medina . 4 out of 5 stars

I like so very much....a couple of things... To be perfect for me, I would like to see the MIDI port and combo connectors XLR and 1/4. But it's working for me very nice!

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by A. Williams . 5 out of 5 stars

The Universal Audio Apollo is everything the buzz has promised - powerful processing, pristine audio, straight forward operation. Easily configures with DAW (I'm running Nuendo 5), and the dual headphone outputs coupled with the Console app, make it a breeze to move from tracking to editing and mixing with a quick turn of a dial. For the first time, I find the DAW recording process flowing uninhibited from idea to execution. And of course the plug-ins. Yes, yes, and yes. I have encountered some recurrent issues with taxing the FW800 bus, even after adjusting the bandwidth much lower. I'm sure when I move to a Thunderbolt hard drive, or perhaps the card for the Apollo, this issue will evaporate.

Powerful. Quality. A Bargain.

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by M. Gustavsson . 5 out of 5 stars

It has it all.

I was surprised as soon i heard the sound quality.
Open, clear and I can hear where everything is placed in the sound field.

The mic pres are excellent.
They sound comparable to a lot more expensive pres out there on the market.

The fact that I can record direct with a plugin on it without latency thats revolutionary.
UAD plugins are top notch and creating music have been so much easier now and faster.

I can use the monitor our direct the my speakers and thats convenient.
No need for an extra monitor unit

Its like UAD have taken the best of everything and put it in one box.

Complete!

Need to say no more and now i can sell hardware i no longer use and buy plugins
for that money instead.
It cant be better

Thanks /Mik

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by A. Burrell . 4 out of 5 stars

Fantastic interface, really clean and open sound and a real step up from my previous interface. Running my bass through with a little compression gives me a sound that is better than any of my amps.

It only needs a couple of software changes to be perfect for me:

1. It needs to allow routing to outputs other than 1&2
2. It needs to allow me to change the DAW input levels

Apart from these, really enjoying it.

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by R. Andersen . 5 out of 5 stars

This piece of gear has revitalised everything in the studio. It just makes all recording session fluent and efficient. The pre-amps are ultra clean and make everything sparkle and that combined with the UAD plugin DSP processing and the console gives super control of the sessions. I look forward to the thunderbolt card release as this will undoubtably change everything even further.

Thank you Universal Audio.

The Apollo is the new heart of the studio.


Best Regards,

MoX

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by E. Van De Bovenkamp . 5 out of 5 stars

I Love it from the moment i heard it.
It is clear! and that is perfect for use with the uad plugs!
no problems with installing.
looking great easy to use.
what can i say more.
i'm very exited about it.

eric van de bovenkamp
piano player from the netherlands

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by M. Van Hoen . 5 out of 5 stars

I'm most impressed so far, especially with the DSP and the plug ins. I only wish I could afford to buy more! It seems like a solid piece of kit, and I'm pleased with the audio quality.

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by N. Gowland . 4 out of 5 stars

This is the best single purchase I have ever made, turns out my hard earned money has been very wisely spent because the quality of my recordings have finally arrived in the pro domain which is really good news as I have struggled for years to get the sound I so desired. I recently recorded a solo classical piano album with DPA mics and my new Apollo and the results are astounding. My only grumble is how few plug ins were included as standard for my £2k plus which is the only reason I can't give it the full 5 stars, and y'know if plug ins weren't so prohibitively expensive for us small guys we would all buy and use them more, anyway enough of the politics overall absolutely thrilled with my new Apollo.

Thanks UA 4*

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by B. Rogers . 4 out of 5 stars

I like it very much, and the ability to monitor with low latency and use UA plugins (which I loved already) is great.

*However,* the lack of matrix routing (in this case, the inability to route both the console inputs *and* existing tracks to the same 1-8 output pair, combined with the modest headphone output level is a problem for me (and probably other people who are having to track drums in the same room).

I hope this will be addressed soon! Having to use an external mixer or replace my (fairly standard Sony 7506) headphones with something with slightly lower impedance is a bummer.

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by D. Smith . 5 out of 5 stars

I just purchased a UA Apollo. Of course the first thing we do when we get a new interface is listen to all our mixes done with the old hardware. Well, I was blown away at the clarity & detail the Apollo brought to my system & I was coming from an RME Fireface 400 that I was really happy with. But the Apollo just really opened up the top end, added an extra level or definition to the midrange (for the first time my dynaudio BM5s are not sounding boxy in the mids!) & opened the soundfield's width & depth.

I just just completed my first album mix through the Apollo & the UAD plugins included & I must say the mixes are sounding great. They're translating better & faster. Less mix corrections are needed as making better choices right off!

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by R. Gruber . 4 out of 5 stars

+ nice unit powered with uad plugins
+ good monitor d-a converters
+ low latency plug in usage (only uad plugins)
+ good preamps
+ stable drivers

- no aes/ebu
- no midi
- scale of the monitor output knob by low levels
- no monitor output readout (like rme ufx)
- no dim button
- pushing the mono botton by 0dbfs masters ends with horrible overs
- slow drivers by using virtual instruments (i really hope that the thunderbolt option gives me the same performance like rme and my old motu soundcard).

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by M. Murray . 4 out of 5 stars

Appearance:
The UA Team has done a great job with the overall appearance and feel of the new Apollo. The front panel is very clean and organized well.

Durability:
The 1U model is held together with steel and aluminum plates. You can toss this thing around. Guaranteed it will still hold together.

Functionality:
The unit works seamlessly with the very popular "console" app provided. The routing that can be done in the back end and integrated with your DAW is amazing.

Sound:
Whether you're running old or new mixes, or even songs from your itunes library this unit does a great job at clearing things up and making your music come to life.

Cons:
Would have loved to have seen more "Free" UAD plugins, considering the price.

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by C. Jacobs . 3 out of 5 stars

With this unit I am able to make better mixing decisions. I love the sound to the point that I don't believe I need to purchase a summing box. The only issue is I have to bypass the headphones 1 & 2 because I get a scratchy sound when I adjust the volume on both HP jacks. I've, tried it in different outlets, different headphones (3 different) but the scratch is still there when adjusting the volume knob. I've even returned the unit and got another unit and same thing. I thought I was going crazy so I let other people listen to see if they've heard and they've also heard the sound. UA is awsome and offered to fix the issue. I appreciate that but I just can't ship my unit out and wait a week to get it back. too busy.

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by K. Richards . 5 out of 5 stars

When I set out looking for a new audio interface I wanted something that had mic pres, top notch converters, thunderbolt compatibility, two sets of headphones and the incredible UAD processing. The Apollo is all of these things and more. Its effortlessly easy to use and sounds absolutely incredible. I would have liked it to have midi I/O as well as a dim switch on the unit itself, but these are minor things. One thing I didn't know until I got the unit however, is that the ADAT ports are not two separate ports. At 44.1 and 48 kHz port 2 mirrors port 1, at high sample rates using both ports allows more channels. Apart from that it was everything UA says it is. All in all its a fantastic box that lives up to the UA name, and I'm very pleased.

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by J. Hazelby . 5 out of 5 stars

The Apollo is pretty much what I wanted. I mainly record acoustic instruments and vocals, but need the flexibility to do drum kits from time to time. The Mic preamps do what I want - provide incredible fidelity of the boosted signal so all the richness of an acoustic guitar remains after the considerable gain increase. Monitoring live with an 1176, a 1073 and an EMT Plate is wonderful. As a player it really gives you confidence to play expressively. I don't like to commit to a sound on recording so I love the flexibility of just monitoring with the plug-ins and fine tuning from within Logic later. All the analogue warmth (of which I'm a massive fan) can be added with the plug-ins and they do this very well indeed.

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by J. Weisbin . 4 out of 5 stars

Awesome!

Having said that, just a few slight criticisms:

The Word Clock connectors are too close to the MON outputs, making it difficult to attach a BNC T-connector. It can be done but it's a bit of a PITA. BTW the manual says that WC in is echoed out with a slight delay (40 ns I think), so a T-connector is recommended. I'm clocking from an Apogee Rosetta 800.

Would have been nice to put at least one pair of XLR mic connectors on the front panel.

The decision to have two separate headphone busses also seems a bit odd to to me. I would have been happier with, say, 10 pairs of inputs and only 9 pairs of outputs (analog 1-8 and one headphone bus). It would be the same number of AD/DA's and roughly same cost I think.

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