ApogeeGROOVE - Portable USB Headphone Amp and DAC, Bus Powered for Mac and PC, Made in USA

I researched my purchase of the Groove for some time, looking at a variety of options. These included much larger units, some of which feature tube amplification stages. The price range I considered was from around sixty dollars to verging on a thousand. In the end, the preponderance of positive reviews, as well as the claims of easy compatibility with a variety of computers, swayed me. It is something of a leap, initially, spending the best part of three hundred bones on a device approximately the size of my index finger.Let me say for those with limited time - if you're willing to use high quality source material and have a good set of headphones, the Groove is well worth the cost. (That's for the tl;dr crowd.)I purchased the Groove to serve as DAC/Amp for my Alienware 17R3, feeding a set of Sennheiser HD700s.Initial thoughts: I found the Groove to have rather sparse packaging. It appeared to have been opened, though nothing inside indicated that the device had been used. Perhaps the plastic round that sealed the box had simply let go because of the prevailing cold on my porch. In any case, the device came complete with all parts and documentation, and was in working order.The Groove, while diminutive, has an element of great solidity to the chassis. It is no-nonsense, all metal, and has surprising heft. Both the USB portion and the headphone jack fit quite snugly, such that you have to apply more pressure than is typical to fully engage the headphone jack. That's good, in my book.It's necessary to complete the registration to download the Windows driver for the Groove. Yes, Windows vaguely recognized the device prior to driver installation, but it couldn't be made to function in a plug-and-play manner. I'm told Macs don't have this issue.Once the drivers were installed and Windows was apprised of my wishes to use the Groove for sound, everything worked as expected.With a device like the Groove, my feeling is that you won't know that there's anything you're not hearing until you listen to a familiar piece of music and start hearing nuances, or the lifting of veils that had previously lay across the soundscape. My laptop has a fairly high performance sound card, a SoundBlaster Recon 3Di. I'd been quite happy with the sound with the small Sennheiser PX100s before setting up the rig with the big cans. It had lots of potency, driving my headphones to all comfortable levels well before fifty percent power, and having a lot of slam.Well, you don't know what you don't know. Until you do. But don't let me get ahead of myself...First of all, don't make all judgments of the Groove on the first hour of listening. It will take some time to open up, and because it is a neutral, balanced delivery, it doesn't create drama out of nothing. You have to take the time to let it prove itself to you. In the absence of bombastic bass, oversaturated mids, or zing-y highs, it takes a minute.The Sennheiser HD700s are not amongst the hardest of large headphones to drive. They are *laughably* easy to drive for the Groove. Anything above 20% volume may be foolhardy in regards to maintaining your hearing. Of course, this depends upon the recording level used in your source material, and the dynamic range employed. Classical and older recordings may require a bit more punch to come through at full song.Another note. With a Windows machine, you may not want to do a lot of tries at A/B testing between your onboard audio and the Groove. It caused me to have to restart after I'd done it once too often. Anyway, the Groove will beat your onboard audio by such a wide margin that you won't need to think hard about it. Trust me.The Groove, at first, demonstrated its clarity, deep black noise floor, and effortless drive. However, in the first few records, it did induce a very slight fatigue. This was a fatigue that was difficult to ascribe to any audible phenomenon, but was nonetheless present. I found that, after several hours of listening to less critical sounds (games, videos, etc.), this went away, and the Groove ascended to an even higher plane of enjoyment for me.What to compare it to? Well, I pay it a compliment by saying that it compares favorably with the headphone output of my Onkyo CD player, which features Wolfson 24/192 DACs, having every bit the drive, clarity, and power of the output of that full sized device. Again, remember that this is a device just bigger than a pack of Juicy Fruit gum. And take my word for it, if there were a lot of faults to be found here, the Sennheiser 700s would allow me to do so.I don't have a lot of experience with other DAC/amps, so I can't put them all into perspective for you. However, I have been an audio enthusiast since I was old enough to reach the turntable on my dad's stereo. I have heard some fine systems, including B&W, Wilson, Conrad-Johnson, Mark Levinson, etc.. I have some fair clue about how great Hi-Fi sounds. I am sure that there are devices that would be more to some tastes, in that they might have a tone or flavor, being warm or analytical, dynamic or laid-back. I would say that the Groove seems to introduce the bare minimum of editorial to the signal chain, just giving you the music and the sound of your headphones.In use, the Groove is exceedingly simple. It can be altered in volume either by the buttons on the device, or by the volume slider on the Windows Tray. I like the buttons, as they go up by one percent intervals, which is nice and granular. A pet peeve of mine is a volume control that moves in such large minimum interval that it is difficult to find a happy medium between too quiet and too loud. No issues like that exist here, at least in my implementation. I suppose, with the very highest possible efficiency 'phones, it could. However, Apogee has to make the device such that it can power much more challenging transducers, so I think they have done as well as can be done with this aspect.I find the almost anachronistic feature of a reactive led column indicating program intensity to be, for whatever reason, highly amusing. It calls to mind the spectrum analyzers of the 80s, like the old JVC my father owned. There is something timeless about a reactive display of some sort. A V/U meter, or the like. I appreciate the inclusion of this element on an otherwise all-function device.The Groove appears to draw a fairly significant amount of power, so using it while on battery power with a laptop, or using some clever workaround to use it with a portable music player or phone will likely result is a fairly significant reduction in runtime. The device, while at idle or in use, remains slightly warm to the touch. I have never felt it get hot, per se, but I have also not run it for any length of time above around twenty-two percent power. Your results with a much more challenging load, or powering an input to a larger device, may vary.I should note that I used only full-quality FLAC rips from commercial CDs during my critical evaluation. I did use it for less critical listening, as well. Introducing realistic, non-boosted levels to gaming sound was...interesting. I don't believe that a high fidelity rig is necessarily vital for that purpose, but I suppose it would depend on the game. Streaming videos featured the sound quality at which they were recorded, which is to say anything from abysmal to quite good. The Groove may tidy up low bit rate sound and give it the best sendoff it can, but a bad recording is not going to be miraculously saved by euphonic sugar coating.After all that bloviating, I can say this much: The Groove is a fine product. Even the rarefied pinnacle of the headphone kingdom will probably be, at the least, give its just dues by this little device. Are there better options? Perhaps. I would be inclined to believe that most of them are larger, more complex, and possibly more difficult to implement. Using a fine pair of headphones and the Groove, it is entirely possible to get revelatory sound from your computer. For far less than a thousand dollars, you can have a setup that will keep you up deep into the night, just listening to that one last track, that one last disk. For me, that's pretty good return on investment.

I have been listening for the past few days with my Sony MDR7506s and Bowers & Wilkins C5-S2s on a MacBook Pro. My needs were for a portable DAC that could be used both at work and for on-the-road, where I often have to edit podcasts without a chance to get back to my main setup. I think the Groove fits this need perfectly, it won't be needed for your home studio but it enables a level of portability for work that I've dreamed of.The Good:- Apogee is known for their quality and this will further their reputation- Installation on Mac OS was instant- Compared to the noisy output on my MacBook, this thing is dead silent. I have full confidence when editing with this that I have a good reference.- Casual music listening with my B&Ws sounds amazing. The bass sounds much more crisp and I can hear far more detail. Whether a quiet classical piece or boomy EDM remix, these adapt very well on their own. I don't see myself wanting to fiddle with EQ at all on this.- "Constant Current Drive" isn't just a marketing term, it's awesome. When comparing between the headphones and my portable in-ears, I was shocked at the quality in both. The MDR7506s have a flat response and this makes them sound even better. I was pleasantly surprised to notice that the C5-S2s, which sound great for listening to music but have a profile not suitable for editing well on the go, had a response not far from the Sony's when connected to the Groove. My travel bag just freed up a lot of space since I will be able to edit with the B&Ws.- Build quality is stellar.- Rubberized bottom grips very well. I anticipate my laptop sliding before this when placed on the pull down table on planes.Notes:- The price is higher than other USB DACs, but it is worth it. This is as close to a "one-size-fits-all" device for someone who travels a lot that I've seen. It definitely has enough power for headphones needing a powerful amp but is crisp still with in-ears.- I've noticed the same as others have with heat, it definitely warms up after a few minutes. The exterior being metal probably acts as a good heatsink for the electronics which . It's not too hot, but warm enough that I wouldn't want it sitting on my leg.- The LEDs provide good feedback, but are quite bright and I do not see a way to shut them off. Distracting for casual listening at work.- This doesn't work with an iPhone or other mobile device because of it's power needs (requires 500mA). Expect to see a 5-15% decrease in battery life on most laptops when not plugged in. Nothing horrific, but this definitely sips some power and is worth the heads-up.If you are on the fence about paying the additional cost, I would recommend making the jump. A device like this is built to last and provides a quality of sound I haven't seen close to before for mobile. The only real way to improve on the sound from this would be with your source files and headphones. This will be a device that I can see traveling in my bag with me potentially for the next 10 years, something I almost never could say about any other electronic device. Enjoy!

premesso che utilizzo già una scheda audio apogee Quartet collegata al mio Mac da 10 anni, scheda audio fantastica........ormai datata ma pur sempre un prodotto di una notevole qualità.ecco, il Groove è nettamente superiore come pulizia audio rispetto a quello integrato nella mia scheda audio.Apogee non smette mai di stupirmi.super consigliato!!!!

Ich habe mir den Apogee Groove für meinen Sennheiser HD 660S gekauft. Den Groove habe ich wahlweise an meinem iPad Pro oder an meinem MacBook mit USB-C Kabel angeschlossen. Apple Music umgestellt auf Hi-Res Lossless Audio mit bis zu 24bit/192kHz umgestellt um das bestmögliche aus dem Groove zu kitzeln.Und was soll ich sagen: so habe ich meinen HD 660S noch nie gehört!Echt Wahnsinn was dieser kleine DAC und Amp da rausholt. Super klarer Sound und die Bühne ist deutlich größer als zuvor.Daher: klare Kaufempfehlung für alle die einen guten Kopfhörer haben und mal wirklich hören wollen was der Kopfhörer so kann wenn man ihn lässt.

Bought this in 2023 8 years after the Grooves release in 2015 and this little dongle like device is simply stellar in its simplicity and sound it pumps out.Used with my Hifiman Sundaras it has plenty and plenty of output power driving them LOUD at around 50 to 60% on windows 11 to give you some idea of the output this little beast can inject into headphones.Sound is exceptionally clean with a hint of just the right amount of warmth , open spacious no harshness whatsoever from the 8 Sabre based DAC chips, yes maybe the technology inside is a touch dated compared to more modern DACs amps but how it's implemented and also more importantly the proprietary patented 'current drive' technology used by Apogee in the amplification stage goes a BIG way to how this can drive 90% of headphones out there .....with ease.Comparisons with all my previously owned dac amps like Dragonfly red, cobalt, topping DX 3 pro, Fiio K5, K7 , Ifi Zen can V2 , Cayin RU6, THX Onyx, Ifi Nano ISD Black label amd Micro shows them all a very clean pair of heels.I'm using this in conjunction with the IFI defender (excellent) and then IFI isilencer then into the Groove.Don't be put off by the size of this device it's the technology inside that counts and it's 5 star***** stellar.

Mixage et mastering en voyage , parfait .

No está a la última (no presume de redenderizar MQA, etc)… pero no le hace ninguna falta (creo que hay mucho marketing con esto del MQA: a veces “mejora” el original, pero no siempre). El Groove proporciona potencia y musicalidad. Sonido muy coherente y dinámico, claro y abierto sin ser, de ningún modo, duro. Me atrevería a decir que es de los mejores, si no un claro “best buy”. Lo apreciarás, sobre todo, si escuchas en plan “audiófilo”… sin obsesionarte. No obstante, hay que tener en cuenta dos cosas. Por un lado, absorbe mucha energía del portátil o el móvil; por otro, tampoco (Apogee lo indica en su web) es que sea muy amigable de los IEM con “controladores de armadura”. Frente a los Fiio o los ifi portables —también muy buenos—, el Groove quizá ofrezca una mayor coherencia. Con el Groove, la música está en primer lugar. Como suele decirse, el mejor árbitro es el que no se hace “el protagonista”.