Richard Crowley wrote:

"Robert Morein" wrote ...
Thanks, this is what I'm being told from multiple sources. It appears
that an active direct box is a more optimal solution. I'm looking at
http://www.samsontech.com/products/p...1754&brandID=2

What bothers me is the price.

I didn't see any price listed. You are bothered because
whatever the price is too high or too low?

Are there noticeable quality differences in direct boxes? Does the
street price of $50 automatically imply it will be a POS?

Not necessarily. Dunno anybody who holds "Samson"
out as a model of audio quality, but the last Stewart
direct box I bought was ~$75

The Whirlwind IMP2 is at least decent and runs about $45.
The Whirlwind with the Jensen is excellent at about $175.
The radial has the same Jensen and is about $150.
You can get the same X-former direct from Jensen for about $80 & use your
own box.

Then there's the active boxes like the Countryman. For about the same money
as the Jensen-equipped boxes, you get input impedance as high as an
elephant's eye. That's what I mostly use with passive pickups (and ALWAYS
with piezos). But watch out for some or the cheap actives, as they can be
noisy. Just like with passive DIs, you get pretty much whatyou pay for.