DI boxes

[Pbassred]

DI boxes. Active versus passive ( not counting the really high end, valve driven gear).

Pros/ cons? Can anyone hear the difference?

I already have a Behringer pro DI - works ok but the battery compartment is just rubbish.

[BassBod]

Passive bass - active box. Active bass - passive or active box.

From the ones I've used it seems like you get a better sound from a cheap active box than a cheap passive box. Much depends on what you want it for - I use a sansamp a lot, but I often use it as an amp substitute or overdrive. I also use a radial Pro-DI (medium price passive) but this normally comes after a preamp send (to keep phantom power away). Both can/do sound excellent. You can easily over do the eq/emulation on the sansamp, so it pays to get to know it well (you can also switch it all off!)

Another thing I've learned - an active DI that clips (runs out of headroom and distorts) sounds awful, but a passive DI can be more forgiving. For a live situation, with a loud band, I'd prefer to use a good passive DI run from the amp.

Have a look at Orchid electronics - they have a cheap(ish) active design that I've also used for 10 years, and there's nothing wrong with the sound at all.

BB

[elros]

I prefer passive in most cases. The passive ones are always transformer based - they have to be, as far as I understand it - and are thus isolated from the other side. It makes things easier when trying to solve ground loops and such.
The active ones aren't usually transformer based, probably the more expensive ones are, but in the cheap class I definetly would choose a transformer based passive one in most cases.
Like the Countryman DI or the small Whirlwind ones.