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

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.UPDATE JULY 2024:Having gone through and listened to more various high end dongle dac amps since I first published this review ie: Fiio KA17, Hiby FC6, Cayin RU7, Ibasso Elite and DC06Pro the Groove is still my go to No1 device for critical listening. Yes it has no fancy filters, LCD display , high low gain function or balanced outputs but it doesn't need any of that the beauty is in it's simplicity!You can literally plug any headphones into this and the clever patented current drive circuitry will adapt to the impedance of ANY headphone, it drives my Audio Technica R70X (470ohm load) superbly at 50 to 60% volume on my windows 11 depending on track ( I listen LOUD) but conversely drives my low impedance headphones Meze Neo, Philips X3, Austrian Audio Hi X65 among others just as well at lower volume around 20 to 30% volume.Don't be put off by the age of this technology now coming up for 9 years , it's been around for a while and it's longevity is a testament to it's quality....if it ain't broke don't fix it!

tl:dr: The Apogee Groove is the Real Deal.The Groove is a deceptively simple portable DAC & headphone amplifier, that delivers breathtakingly high quality audio into the right headphones (see below) for such a small device. Its target market is professional audio engineers who need a trustworthy and neutral-sounding playback source when away from their studio, but it also delivers the goods - at a sensible price - for audiophiles too.The Groove is a plain black minimalist rectangle of aluminium, with just a single micro-USB input and a 3.5mm stereo jack out. It has two rubber-covered buttons for volume control, which allow for finer control than you might expect. There's also a column of 3 LEDs that shows audio levels. This might not seem like much, but they're cleverly designed - they light purple to show the playback volume you're setting via the buttons, and green to show playback level. The green LEDs show different brightness according to level, which again deliver more information than you might expect. If the source input level is pushing the Groove close to clipping, the top-most green LED flashes red to remind you to drop the input level a bit.In keeping with the Groove's simplicity, it ships with just a fabric storage pouch and two USB cables (A- & C-terminated respectively). If you're using it with Windows you'll need to download the driver from Apogee's website - apparently Macs don't need a driver. The Windows driver supports both WASAPI and ASIO audio architectures. Please note that the Groove is a power-hungry little thing (it gets quite warm during use), so won't work with phones or tablets.Sound-wise the Groove seriously exceeds expectations at this price. I won't blather on with the usual audiophile subjective comments, other than to say that it's as transparent, neutral and revealing as one could possibly wish for. It's fundamentally trustworthy, and if you're looking for a step up from this you'll probably need to spend ten times its price.An important caveat: in keeping with its professional audio roots the Groove is at its best when driving higher-impedance headphones - Apogee recommends Sennheiser's HD 800, HD 650 (as used by your humble scribe), or Momentum. If you have a pair of these then you're in for a treat.

I have a pair of AKG712 Pro headphones and needed a headphone amp/DAC to power them. I was a little nervous about buying the Groove as I couldn't find any reviews about this unit anywhere online, also it isn't mains powered (USB only), so I was concerned that it wouldn't be able to power the 712's sufficiently. I have previously owned a Duet 2, so I was hoping the Groove would also deliver the same level of quality. When I received it, I certainly didn't feel let down and was pleasantly surprised by the build and sound quality. I would say that the Groove sounds slightly better than the Duet 2 through the headphones. It is clear, consistent and incredibly detailed, you couldn't ask for any better performance at this price. There is absolutely no system noise seeping through this unit, it's dead silent. There's also enough volume despite it lacking mains power; I wouldn't say there was an abundance of power, but there's easily enough to get the volume you desire with a some headroom to spare. If you want it any louder you may have something wrong with your hearing - I would suggest going to an ear specialist! For info, I'm using the Groove on my Mac Mini, so it's always mains powered, I haven't tried it out on a laptop as yet, so I'm not sure if the Groove performance would be impacted on battery power only. I did test the Groove on a PC tower and it performed equally as good as on my Mac, it was also just as easy to configure on both Mac and PC.

Great sounding, runs a little hot for my taste, though wish I'd waited and bought the Chord Mojo, which sounds better and can be used without a PC

Bought as an interface out of a Mac instead of the standard output, vast improvement.