Apogee Groove - Portable USB DAC / Headphone Amp for Mac and PC

Groove™ Portable USB DAC and Headphone Amp

Groove takes the same high quality audio technology found in the world’s most prestigious recording studios and delivers it to your laptop. Connect Groove to your computer’s USB port and your headphones or powered speakers to Groove’s audio output. It’s that easy. Groove’s output provides ample power at any impedance and Apogee’s Constant Current Drive™ technology makes your headphones sound their best. You’ll be amazed by the difference in sound quality – the precise stereo image, punchy bass and stunningly clear high-hats.

Built upon Apogee’s 30-year history of award-winning digital audio technology for music creation, Groove unlocks the highest possible quality of any headphones or powered speakers you have, allowing you to listen to the music you love with incredible lifelike clarity.

Apogee’s digital audio technology has been trusted by professional recording artists, producers and engineers from around the world to create countless GRAMMY® and OSCAR® winning recordings since 1985. For the first time, Groove puts this same technology into a compact, durable, easy to use interface for consumers, providing a music listening experience of unparalleled quality, as it was originally captured in the recording studio.

Groove’s unique circuit design; Constant Current Drive™
Groove’s Constant Current Drive output stage is a truly revolutionary approach to dealing with the wide impedance variations of headphones available on the market today. With Constant Current Drive topology, Groove’s output stage’s voltage is dynamically “molded” to the impedance variations of the connected headphones, thereby smoothing out frequency response non-linearity that occurs with traditional headphone outputs.

Quad Sum DAC™
Groove also features a Quad Sum DAC design which employs four digital-to-analog converters per channel to achieve the highest dynamic range and lowest distortion (THD+N) of any device in its class.

Features

• USB 2.0 connection to Mac and PC
• Up to 24 bit / 192kHz audio
• ESS Sabre DAC
• Constant Current Drive™, Ultra-smooth frequency response for any headphones
• Quad Sum DAC™, 4 DACs per channel for highest dynamic range and lowest distortion
• Asynchronous clocking
• Max output level: 225mW into 30 Ohm
• Multi-color LEDs for status and level indication
• Powered by USB
• Top panel buttons for adjusting output level and muting
• Compact and portable (95mm H x 30mm W x 16mm T)
• Premium aluminum build quality
• Built in the USA