What ist the difference between active and passive?
People often claim that “Active DI boxes are always better than passive DI boxes”. It is true that you can use cheap electronic components to tweak up a “doorbell” transformer and so reduce its ear-piercing frequency response. The question is whether such an active DI box actually produces a better sound than a passive one. We believe that even inexpensive electronic musical instruments have adequate output level ranges to produce satisfactory, if not excellent, results using a passive DI box. A passive DI box is therefore the right choice for most purposes. However, some instruments without electronics, such as passive bass guitars and acoustic guitars fitted with a pick up but no preamp, require very high input impedances which can only be supplied by an active DI box. Experienced professionals also use active DI boxes when transmission routes are severely distorted. The DI box produces higher levels, which can be reduced at the microphone input on the console by pressing the PAD key
