DiscoverThe Pro Audio SuiteOutboard Gear: Investment or Indulgence?
Outboard Gear: Investment or Indulgence?

Outboard Gear: Investment or Indulgence?

Update: 2025-09-15
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This week on The Pro Audio Suite, the team dives into a question every engineer, producer, and voice actor has wrestled with: is outboard gear still worth the space and the spend?

From vintage LA-2As and Neve compressors to Avalons, VariMus, and the rise of clones and plug-ins, we break down:

  • Whether classic hardware really goes up in value

  • Why collectors, commercial studios, and voice actors see things differently

  • The surprising role of AI in modeling old gear

  • When plug-ins are "close enough"… and when they're not

  • Tales of gear that doubled in value (and some that didn't keep up with inflation)

Join Robbo, AP, George the Tech, and Robert Marshall as they debate if that rack of gear is an investment or just taking up space.

Recorded with Source-Connect, edited by Andrew Peters, and mixed by Robbo.

🔗 Find us online at proaudiosuite.com

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Outboard Gear: Investment or Indulgence?

Outboard Gear: Investment or Indulgence?

The Pro Audio Suite