Revision to Flagship Design Offers Thunderbolt Connectivity to Mac OS X, Touchscreen Control

On the eve of NAMM in Anaheim, CA, Apogee Electronics today introduced the Symphony I/O Mk II audio interface. Building on the original Symphony I/O, shipped in 2010, the new hardware adds a Thunderbolt connectivity option, touchscreen control, and front-panel metering for up to 64 channels.

All of the device's I/O settings are selectable from the front-panel TFT display, Apogee said. A new Dual Sum A/D stage is said by the company to offer lower distortion and greater dynamic range, while a new analog output driver can handle the elevated operating levels of vintage analog gear without losing fidelity. Apogee rates its latency at 1.35 ms via Thunderbolt and Logic Pro X.

The Symphony I/O Mk II comes with one of three interfaces — Thunderbolt for Mac OS 10.9.5 and above, Pro Tools HD 9 or greater (Digilink), or Waves SoundGrid Network (Ethernet). The Thunderbolt version is now shipping worldwide in four different configurations, Apogee said — 2×6 ($2,295), 8×8 ($3,295), 16×16 ($4,295), 8×8 plus an optional eight-channel mic preamp module ($4,690) — as well as an empty chassis with no I/O modules included ($1,695). The Pro Tools HD version is coming this spring in the same configurations and price points, and the SoundGrid will arrive this fall, the company said.