Here\’s a good shootout – the first one blind (and I\’va had preferences, more to that later):
Here are some more, but not a blind test this time:
Ok, and it\’s amazing how close they are, isn\’t it? And to reveal my preferences: in the first one with the bass alone I thought \”C\” was the best, while together with the drums I clearly preferred \”A\” and also \”D\” (maybe in that order).
Don\’t know if that was tested in a live situation with some 50 or more meter cable which would make a difference between some active and passive DI boxes (and basses, for a passive Fender Precision you\’d rather have an active DI on these distances I think).
So my choice, considering that I also play an upright with a passive piezo pickup – and these want high impedance interfaces, preferably 10 MOhm, I\’d either go with the Rupert Neve RNDI (which sounded the most \”musical\” in my opinion), or the Radial PZ-DI with which you can select the input impedance from 220kOhm, 1, and 10MOhm. The RNDI has 2.2MOhm in its \”instrument\” setting I think. Both cost about the same, \”middle priced\” which is under 300€/$. But maybe a 95€ Radial SB-4 \”Stage Bug\” (5MOhm input) would do almost the same job, and very nicely. And something like that fits into each bass case 😉
Also interesting: the comparison with a (very good) audio interface which shows that for normal home use and with asymmetric instrument cables about 3 or 4 meters long you wouldn\’t need any of these. Just like Marco from the local music shop said: costly diminishing returns…
As always, thanks for reading.