New Music Gear Monday: Universal Audio Apollo X Series Audio Interfaces

Universal Audio has always made some great audio interfaces and now the company has taken the to the next level with the release of the new Apollo X Series. The newly upgraded units provide 50% more DSP processing power and even better A/D and D/A conversion along with Thunderbolt 3 connectivity to your Mac or Windows PC.

The entire Apollo product line just improved the dynamic rage capabilities with a brand new AD/DA converter package that provides up to 133dB of dynamic range. Then there’s the additional DSP, with the units getting a new HEXA Core processing, featuring 6 UAD DSP chips providing 50% more processing power than in the past. This allows you to run more UAD plugins in real time, which is a big deal if you’ve ever known the frustration of being in a situation where you need just one more plugin but don’t have the power to insert it.

Immersive audio is the future and the Apollo X Series will soon support surround formats up to 7.1, complete with built-in speaker calibration and fold-down (estimated release by the end of the year). Plus each interface now has something that users have wanting for a while, which is an integrated talkback microphone so you don’t lose an input having to set one up through the interface.

What’s more, there’s actually a new model in the Apollo X range called the X6, which features 2 Unison-enabled mic pres and 6 line inputs, along with 8 line outs. This product is aimed at postproduction and electronic music clients that don’t need a lot of mic pres, but might want to the additional outputs to be able to easily do surround mixing.

All told there are now 4 Apollo X units. The top of the line is the 16 line input  X16 which carries a retail price of $3,499, the X8P featuring 8 mic preamps goes for $2,999, the X8 featuring 4 mic preamps goes for $2,499, and the new X6 which carries the lowest price of all at just $1,999. All will work with either Mac or PC with a Thunderbolt 3 connection.

You can find out more by visiting the dedicated webpage, or checking out the video below.