Apogee BOOM - USB Audio Interface Review (real-time audio processing) 

Correction / additional info: The dynamic range of the mic input is stated with 122 dB(A) and after some more testing I found out, that this is true when the sample rate is set to 96 kHz or lower. This seems to be achieved with a dynamic range enhancement. With this trick up its sleeve, the BOOM catapults itself to the top of the mic input DR chart. Because most people use sample rates of 96 kHz or lower, you will see the higher number in future graphs.

Fantastic review Julian. Thanks for highlighting where this falls short. Seems like I'm not able to believe the published specs from apogee which is really disappointing. Going to have to add additional testing on my end to ensure I'm not being misled in the future. Great work.

As always, great video Julian. Was looking forward to see the review on this interface.

Perfect, science and data based review, as always!

I would love to see you put your charts and graphs in a Google Sheets page to share and update as you take more measurements, particularly round-trip latency per interface. Appreciate your no-bullshit content and can't wait for data on the Volt 476P, EVO 16, and SSL2+!

I've been so excited for this video to come out

Very much appreciate your honest reviews.

Love your attention to detail and testing methods especially when it comes to noise floor and dynamic range, thanks for caring! I know it's in an entirely different category but I'd love to see you review Apogee's Symphony Desktop just to see how it stacks up against all of these interfaces you have here. Some of the results surprised me!

Exceptional review. Well done. Instant sub.

Thanks for keeping it objective where possible.

Julian comes through in the CLUTCH as always. Final seconds in the ball game give Julian the rock he's gonna bring the game Home. Great job on the review as always man blessings!

Bloody brilliant analysis…..Facts and science…thank you!

havent even watched the full video yet, but i just had to say that opening was too funny. I just know this will be a great video as always!

Thanks for reviewing buddy 🙏

Julian Krause thanks for always been truthful and hope you keep it up forever. Too many audio RU-vid channel these days are mere advertising forum.

Hallo Julian, ich mag deinen Kanal und ich hoffe sehr, dass das ARTURIA Fuse Studio es eines Tages auf deine Werkbank schafft. Habe es selbst seit 2 Wochen und bin extrem begeistert. Es hat ein paar Features, die kaum woanders zu finden sind. Deine Messergebnisse und deine Bewertung wären die Creme de la Creme. btw mach weiter so, i like

Really like your analysis ! I would love to see a review about the new Neve 88m!!! Keep it up...

I purchased it, got it yesterday and now, after having seen this very good review, I‘m thinking of sending it back, because of the minuses, too many for this price, which is much higher in Europe than in the USA.

Second! Love this guy's analysis of interfaces! Science!

Thanks for the great content and useful info, Julian. Top shelf, as usual. Have you considered testing the Behringer Flow 8? It’s a great dual purpose tiny digital mixer at a great price.

Great review as usual. Julian Krause is the King of Audio interface review. No one does it better.

You are my hero. Thank you

Great review, Julian! I’m not specifically interested in the Apoge Boom, but I always enjoy watching just to learn what really goes into all these products. I wanted to know; have you thought at all about reviewing the Neve 88M? I’m so curious to know how a 2-channel interface from a company with such a Steller reputation stacks up against the rest. However, I know the price tag is pretty big…

Sehr lustig die "Boom" Einspielungen. Und wie immer top Review.

A another J Krause vid, quality stuff, you know I really like the part aboBOOOOOOM........

excellent stuff julian! i would love your assessment of the cranborne audio 500R8 with their camden pre. the spec sheet is excellent but i’d still really love a third party comparison.

Great review as always! PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE do the Cranborne EC1. They claim “reference grade headphone converter” but really curious how it stacks up with the competition 👍

Nice job

THANKYUUUUU

JK, the king of audio interface reviews!

YASSSS FINALLY!

Thanks!

Intro goes hard!😂

Hi! Julian. I like very much you reviews, big respect. When Apollo X twin? I think you should review this interface because of his popularity in middle/higher price range. Greetings and keep your beautiful work for us.

Thank you

THANKSSSSS

I’m really shocked that it has such hight level of preamp noise! OMG can’t believe how and why Apogee has decided to release such bad product! I used Apogee Duet in 2016 and is was really AMAZING one of the best and cleanest pres that I ever tried, it had 75db of clean gain. Now it’s really sad to see such downgrade in Apogee products. I think the only way that Apogee can retain their Boom customers is to release a revised version that fixes all issues then offer special crazy discount for the older Boom buyers. Otherwise they will loose many customers. And thanks Julian for such honest review. BTW, looking forward to seeing reviews on UA Apollo interfaces 😃

Would be great to hear your views on Tascam's New PortaCapture X8 Handheld Recorder. Thanks for your excellent reviews overall which help guide us to products that deliver satisfaction and dependability.

i love the cloudfet headlifter😂

Danke!

I kinda like the Apogee....💥💥💥 Looks very nice with the purple theme.

Hi Julian! Great review once again! Could you also review the Mackie Onyx Artist and Producer editions? Thanks!

Hi Julian, it is a very detailed review with very high quality. It is very disappointing that this interface has such a noticeable preamp noise but I think it is a universal problem of Apogee interfaces as I can hear obvious preamp noise from Duet3 on condenser mics comparing to iD4. Is this because Apogee used cheap preamp or this is something changeable by firmware update?

Julian, I appreciate your great HONEST reviews, which are hard to come by these days. QUESTION: There is a growing software base for iPad for recording and (more importantly) for guitar fx, and other instrument fx. I am an electric violin player who wants to use my iPad for fx. I am struggling with picking an audio interface with super low latency. I would plug my electric violin into it, and connect it to my iPad. I think you're expertise is more in the area of recording, rather than live performance, correct? I don't know if this a topic you would consider discussing or not. Thank you!!! There are two major software options that live performance musicians use: (1) DAW software like Logic or AUM ...or...(2) Pedalboard software like Amplitube, Bias Fx, etc.

Thanks for the video. You have done a video about using Equalizer APO to corect the room response of your speakers, is it possible or even practical to use Equalizer APO and its ability to add VST plugins for processing your microphone "live" if you want to use it with a streaming software or simply in a voice call?

After watching this I guess I'll be sticking with my audient id14.

Have you considered (unless already doing it) using a USB isolator with an active USB hub powered by a quality external PSU to test the performance of the USB audio interfaces without the interference from the computer power lines and ground loops? That would show how good the the interfaces are in filtering the USB lines (for externally or USB powered interfaces) and maybe might show how to get best quality audio from (or into) your interface.

Julian, I tested the boom with a dynamic mic, it SOUNDED way better, fuller etc than my audient. No background noise... The converters are NICE.

Hi Julian, may I ask how you measure the dynamic range of this device and why Apogee claimed 122dbA line input DR while you measured 113dbA? That's a huge difference isn't it.

Maybe I missed that part in review. Correct me if I mistaken, Is its ADC based on Cirrus Logic CS 4272? Frequency graph looks same as in the Scarlett, Minifuse and Volt.

Hey Julian, thank you for these awesome reviews. Do you have a chart of all reviewed audio interfaces? I'm looking for a portable interface for my livesets, don't need a lot of ins or outs just low latency is important. Any recommendations?

When UAD Apollo, Steinberg AXR4 or Avid Carbon?

We need now a review on the Lewitt 6 :)...Thanks ;)

Julian let me ask for something, with these real time effects could you check the frequency response of those effects at say 48 and 96K because we have found that using some built-in effects like the UAD Unison plugins use a hard cut off aliasing filter at 24K not 48K when at a sampling rate of 96k. So when an interface uses EQ for real tie effect would you consider adding a test to make sure they are working at high sampling rates correctly. That would be awesome. Also yes IEMs are becoming hugely popular and noise information for those using them would be GREAT!!! Cheers great review as always!!

Love your reviews, they are super helpful! I was wondering, does the apogee boom have the ESS-Sabre32 converters? I can't seem to find any information on that and it was unfortunate that you were unable to get into the Boom to show us.

Another not so good audio interface on the market. With useless features and lacking what's needed. Great professionally detailed review as always Julian.

Hi Julian. Is the noise likely to be an issue on Sennheiser HD6XX? This looks like a great option to have an interface for my guitar amp modeller that also doubles as a decent dac and headphone amp. It's currently half price on Thomann too. I currently have an 8i6 Gen 3 which I don't think has a great headphone amp and it's drivers drop out over USB on Windows 11 a lot, so I am looking to replace it. I need nothing more than a couple of inputs for my modeller, headphone out, and monitor out. Motu M4 is another option, but at £169 the Apogee is tempting, especially with the more powerful headphone amp.

Sweet, Apogee Duet 3 next?!

Ahoyyy here Algorithm!! Julian has stuck his head out (BOOM)!!

Thank you for the review! How does the boom compare to the element 24 by Apogee in your opinion?

Have you checked out the Neve 88m?

Wirst du was zum Lewitt Connect 6 machen? Sieht interessant aus und ich wäre auf dein Fazit gespannt :D

0:15 “Live in fear” what a savage

Do you have a list somewhere on the web that ranks all the interfaces you have reviewed?

Julian. Would you recommend the Boom, over the Motu m4 or Audient id14mkii, if just using for in the box DAW production? I presume Boom converters would be the better choice? Thankyou

Booom booom boom 😂😁 in this video i Can hear 😎 boom 😎... Btw good Review n good SC 😎... U also

Tested the boom with SM57. The background noise is minor. It has the fullest sound in that price range. Guess, the ADC is superb. My audient id 14 MK1 is thin compared to it. Boom is perfect for vocals. Got it for 180 euros. Best deal ever for a professional tool.

Will you review the evo 16?

Hi Julian, I was wondering if you have any plans for an interface review of the Roland Rubix 22?

👍🏻👍🏻

Hey Julian. I want to know, what is you opinion about the sound quality of the DA conversion of this interface vs Antelope Zen Core Go?

Any chance that you could do a video/spreadsheet that summarises RTL figures for all interfaces? As a guitarist, it's more important to me than a few dB here or there on noise. 5-7ms at 48kHz is about perfect.

Will be cool if you can do the new Lewitt Connect 6 when it comes out

Julian, I really need you to answer me. I will make electronic music using only one condenser microphone, 130ohm headphones and midi controller. Should I prefer Motu M2 or Apogee Boom? And thank you for all your reviews ❤

Hi. Can you do the review of Yamaha ag06 mk2? Sugestion: You don't mention if the soundcards have asio multi-client which is important for who uses the audio interface simultaneosly with the DAW. Thanks for the excellent work.

Can you review the AXE IO and the MixPre 3 II?

Julian, first of all, thank you for your content, I appreciate it very much, sorry for bothering you but I would like to have your opinion, I am a beginner broadcaster and I am looking for an interface, my budget is 200 usd and I had thought about the audient id4 mkii , but you being an expert on this subject, could you give me your opinion, which interface would you buy with 200 usd for voiceover thank you very much for your time, your content and your answer

SANKYOU!

say, didn't you have a review of the connect 6 up for like half a day? Whatever happened to that?

Can tell me sir why apogee boom not support with virtual dj ?

Hi, Julian. Can you review the Creative AE-9? I know that you are all about recording interfaces, but i think that this device will be interesting for you.

The *boom* joke is hilarious also, 9:37 hahah a kliksphiphs reference

Changing the color categories on the hp output graph would be great. As of now I think it can be a little deceiving for those who dont understand the numbers.

make a video on the Apogee Symphony Desktop

I think it's s router so when the wifi isn't working you plug the mic and your scream at it don't need to use the headphones 🎧 🤯 🤟😜 nice review

based on all the reviews and data you've collected what would be your all around best interface? How would you rank the interfaces if all the data was considered and combined into one total rating of interfaces? Will you be doing the new Neve interface or AVID mbox studio/

Can you review rme ucxii or Apollo twin?

How come higher sample rates have lower latency? Is that because the interface is built for its maximum sample rate and the internal processor has to step that down? Say your interface can do 192K but you're running it at 48K, does the extra latency come from the processing needed to be done to step down the 192K to 48K?

Any intent to review the Apogee Symphony Desktop?

Excellent review! Glad I'm not considering this item. A quality Apogee would've hit the spot. They struck out. Hoping Presonus puts out an upgrade to their better interfaces instead of the low end items they keep punching out. Time to upgrade their specs that have been passed by by so many other companies' products.

Nice one Julian as always - BTW: Is the crossover on headphones a bug or is it a feature?

awesome reviews if its possible please make chart for latency on 48khz and also make chart accessible on gdrive tnx

Welp, that was disappointing :/ Still looking forward to see your analysis on Yamaha's AG line :)

You need a Sound Devices USBPre 2 in your chart. Its a ridiculous difference in price to the others, but would interesting for comparison.

With an asking price of over $400, crippled IO, janky UI, a toy-like looks and useless integrated effects, I was wondering what I was missing. RU-vid as a whole seemed to ignore these things and said it has a DSP. Thanks for the analysis.

Hey Julian, I am looking for an audio interface in around this price range to put between my DAW/PC and Monitor Controller. And to pair with my headphones and monitor speakers. I am currently using a Behringer Control2USB as monitor controller (I don't know much about monitor controllers and on how much they could change sounds, i might upgrade to a pre-sonus central station in the future if it's actually benificial for my sound). I already noticed I can hear more detail in sound putting my FIIO BTR5 between my PC and the controller than feeding USB in it directly. My monitors are monkey banana gibbon 5s and a gibbon 10 sub to accompany it. My headphones currently are a Audio Technica ATH M50x and an OLLO Audio S4r. I am looking to record hardware synths as well so i need an input for that (think of a gameboy using a midi controller and a Yamaha An1x). Would the boom be the right choice for me? Or do you have other recommendations to look at?

Please review the apogee duet 3 🙏

Good spec based review. BUT there is a difference between technical specifications or measurements alone and real world experience. In reality the Boom converters sound absolutely stunning. I worked with Focusrite, Audient, Black Lion Audio Motu and other Interfaces before. I could immediately hear a difference in clarity, stereo imaging and frequency response. The DSP Channel Strip is one of the best plugins on the market easily comparable to Waves plugins or UA. So in my opinion, as long as you do not need more than 1 Mic Input this is a superior sounding device, easy to use and well built too.

Hey Julian! What about Apollo Twin X? We wanna see it

can you please do a review of dbx 286s preamp and Art StudioV3 with all the latest techniques like frequency response and all and how they compare with audio interface inbuild preamps like ssl 2