Apollo 8
Customer Reviews
Apollo 8
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S. Sarikhani
Great interface, not so good drivers
This interface is one of the best specially paired with an external clock to bring out some mids and butter up the punchy lowend a bit while making it a bit less thumpy and more precise, it sounds amazing but apparently the intelligence agencies love making it pop and crackle and they are compiling with them
h. mayanja
best audio interface
what else to say , this my third uad apollo purchase
I. Kiyashko
the final stop (Maybe=)
I used to own the silverface Apollo & i didn't like its AD/DA conversion, so that was sold. I also used to own Prism Orpheus & Apogee Symphony MK I. With all of these options I found the sound somewhat flat with not enough detail and "air". This interface sounds great although on paper the converter specs are not really the best out. Which proves that there is way more to conversion than plain dynamic range specs etc.
But the greatest surprise came ... in the headphones amp section! I own a pair of Sennheiser HD800S. At first I tried them with Apogee Groove - really flat and impossible to work on. So I purchased the Sennheiser HDVD800 amp/DAC especially engineered for them. Flat and boring, hard to work! Bought a crazy Wireworld usb cable - a little better. I also used Sonarworks calibration - a little better... But none of them made me say AHAA thats the reference sound. Until I plugged them into the Apollo's amp!
The separation / dynamics / transients / air - all of these are absolutely superb! I couldn't believe this was happening with a stock interface headphone amp, tried 770pro's and other cans. Wow! I have previously been to a great headphone dealer & tried many many super-expensive amp/phones combos, and to be honest this one is by far the best reference-quality I heard. What?! Yes, exactly. So don't believe someone's hype & specs, hear the stuff first. And this interface is to stay & I will expand this system in the future for outboard gear. BUY and enjoy.
K. Butler
Amazing
I love UAD, the Apollo 8 & 16 are what I’m rocking and the sound is great, plugins sound amazing ...thanks uad!!!!
S. Burns
Mostly happy...
So, I have a lynx l22... the 8p clock runs the lynx amazingly! The d/a on the lynx seems noticeably larger, deeper, and it has a bigger image. The UAD output sounds very 2D to me until you bypass the output gain stage... once you do... it seems to have a little more detail than the lynx, but it’s still not as fun to listen to.
Regarding, a/d, the 8p line in converters seemed to edge out the lynx... the 8p feels more accurate and coherent... the bass is deeper, the highs both, more present and smoother...
In all, I’m very happy... ultimately I’m still doing my final d/a with the lynx on the UAD clock, while taking advantage of the UADs awesome a/d converters...
Adding the plugins and the thunderbolt drivers to the deal makes it worth it.
Side note: the first one I got had a nasty problem with channel 1!... UAD was quick to help and I managed to get a pristinely operating replacement... I feel shipping mistreatment probably was the culprit... the exterior box arrived punctured and the inside one was dented. Can’t blame UA for that...
The unison preamps are remarkable too... not quite the “lushness” with the 610 emulation I was hoping for, but definitely clarity and depth...
Overall, I’m very happy with the a/d and not so much the d/a. I feel they should work on this for future models. My analog volume trim pot was a blatant ugrade over the Apollo’s volume trim... I bypassed the UAD output gain stage for a very obvious and instant improvement in depth and transient response. That was disappointing, because I was hoping to utilize the fcn button...
m. sofffa
Wow
Right off the bat, I cant believe how great the sound is with this thing. However, Making you run to another store to buy a thunderbolt cable after dishing out an already 2200 dollars was a low ball move. Not to mention not one plug in is free they cost over thousands of dollars for plugin bundles. I am happy with the actually recording of my instruments and the way they sound though.
L. Nina
Adapter
Why it gives so much work adapter uses thunderbolt/fireweare 800
m. darge
perfect
perfect
m. darge
perfect
perfect
w. rosario
Excellent
Upgrade from Mbox to Apollo 8 best choice of my life ...
D. Flanagan
Apollo 8
As with all of the UA products they work seamlessly. Great product and an exciting cutting-edge company. I highly recommend all of UA’s products.
M. Alnajdi
Professional sound quality audio interface
This audio interface have awesome sound quality.If you need HD audio quality you should buy this gear. If you need little UA plug-in on your project you can buy (apollo duo ) if you need alot of plug-in on your project you can buy (apollo quad). You can use UA plug-in during recording or after record as you like. Really awesome audio interface.
A. Hayes
Money well spent on an upgrade from the previous Apollo!
I had previously owned an Apogee Ensemble before purchasing my previous Apollo, and though it sounded good, I still favored the Apogee, until the Apollo 8, it sounds better than the Apogee now to my ears! And I love all the additional monitor feeds, I can now easily switch between my JBL near fields , my big UREIs and my Avantones. THANKS!
J. Sheridan
Once again, reliability and quality!!
I have owned the silver face Apollo (firewire) since the first week the units shipped (2012) and have been in love with it . The unit has been on and center stage, 6 out of seven days a week since!! I have 3 of UA's 4710D's connected to it since 2012, (with a total of 24 sharc chips from the various UA-D2 pcie cards in the system) and have just upgraded to the APOLLO 8.
NOW with the Apollo 8, I am blown away by the sound. Noticeably clearer and deeper sound with the first test, an acoustic with piezo into a radial pz*di, followed by a stereo electric guitar, hi-z direct in. Listened to them together and WOW! Sweet separation, and noticeable space for both to move freely and not be all over the top of each other. If what I am saying makes better sense this way, it can be felt as well as heard. Amazing sound quality and space. THEN, a quick hi-z connect with a Rick 4001 bass, and again, plenty of space!! Moving on to a miked antique baby grand piano, (matched pair of km-184's and matched pair of 414's) through the neve 88rs in unison, and I am hearing through the studio monitors the closest sound ever like what I hear at the piano. Thank you UA!!!!
L. Turner
Simply The Best
I love the sound quility of the Apollo 8. The plug ins are awesome and I totally love them. Keep bringing us world class plugins UA!
C. Jeffrey
Just a Beast
Awesome upgrade and first investment made on UA. Apollo 8 QUAD is a beast period atleast for me. This interface if set up right can handle it all from Tracking(latency free into UAD plugins/even without plug-ins the built in pre's sound super clean and smooth ) to the final Product, one can instantly make pro hits. I am truly amazed/mind blown by the sound quality(Crispy clean). Amazing Unison technology to top it off. The team at UA did an amazing job and just a beautiful interface to have.
C. Pires
Great in everything
Great in everything
R. Chirinos
Apollo 8
I recommend is a great deal for amazing price, definitely this is what I need from long time
T. Mukawa
The sound of UAD is great! But, Windows WDM drives have problems.
I am using Apollo 8 Quad to do DTM with Mac pro and Windows ASIO application.
The sound of UAD's UNISON is Great!
Quad DPS will provide you the best environment when recording with multiple plugins.
On the other hand, Windows WDM drives have problems.
It can not be used for guitar or vocal lesson using Skype in Windows OS, because the quality of WDM driver is bad and noisy.
I am dreaming of solving with the next update.
T. Mukawa
The sound of UAD is great! But, Windows WDM drives have problems.
I am using Apollo 8 Quad to do DTM with Mac pro and Windows ASIO application.
The sound of UAD's UNISON is Great!
Quad DPS will provide you the best environment when recording with multiple plugins.
On the other hand, Windows WDM drives have problems.
It can not be used for guitar or vocal lesson using Skype in Windows OS, because the quality of WDM driver is bad and noisy.
I am dreaming of solving with the next update.