DB-MKII Dual Premium Direct Injection Audio Box Passive DI Unit Hum Eliminator w/Input Attenuator to Connect Guitar & Bass,1/4'' Impedance Transf. Connector Balanced & Unbalanced XLR

Bought to match the unbalanced output of a TV with the balanced input of powered monitors. Yes, you can ground one side, but you also lose 14 dB of gain when feeding a balanced input with an unbalanced source. A passive device, so no power needed. Also isolates the units so that you don't get the hum of a ground loop. A good solid metal case. Well worth the money.

As a Professional Stage & Lighting Technician, Sound & Studio Engineer, Professional Audio-Visual Production Specialist and Musician I cannot stress the importance and necessity of having a good Direct Box in your kit! I think most of the people reading this know what a direct box is used for and how it's utilized in a professional application! However, in case someone is just starting out and not too familiar with what a direct box can do here's a quick synapses!! A direct box can take an unbalanced signal from let's say an Acoustic Guitar (TS) and allows it to connect via a Balanced Connection (XLR) directly to your mixer/board! If you refer to the pictures that I've attached to this review you'll see a typical application for a direct box! Here's where it gets better! If you have Two Instruments that utilize unbalanced outputs such as a Keyboard or in my example an Acoustic Guitar you can now plug BOTH instruments into this DBMKII because this unit is actually Two (2) Direct Boxes in one! The convenience of this unit alone is well worth it because now you can carry one less Direct Box in your Kit! Anyhow in my example & test with my Taylor Acoustic Guitar this DBMKII unit performed exceptionally well! The audio quality was super and there wasn't any other strange or unwanted characteristics which this unit produced in my test! The quality of construction of this unit is Excellent as well!! IT'S AN ALL METAL CHASSIS WHICH WORKS GREAT FOR TOURING PROFESSIONALS LIKE MYSELF! I LOVE EQUIPMENT WITH METAL CHASSIS BECAUSE OUR ROADIES & TECH TEAM HAVE A TENDENCY TO THROW THINGS AROUND AND THIS UNIT WILL SURELY WITHSTAND THE RIGORS OF BEING ON THE ROAD!! I'm obviously NOT recommending that you throw this around in just merely pointing out that because it's metal it has a better chance of actually surviving a Tour! Overall I LOVE this unit! It's super convenient with the Dual Channels and the fact that it's in essence Two (2) direct boxes in one! I love it and cannot wait to take this on the road this spring and summer! I'm definitely going to have it at Coachella and Stagecoach and everywhere else we end up going! I'm rating this Unit 5 Stars based on Great Audio Quality, Ease of Use, the fact that it's 2 Direct Boxes in One, All Metal Chassis and simply a Great Unit!! ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Just got back off the road. Picked up this inexpensive DI box as a backup to my normal DI. I'm glad I did - old faithful quit on me halfway thru the shows. First impression - this thing is well made, solid metal, and built like a tank. It added no new noise to my signal chain (important for acoustic instruments), was as easy to use as my normal DI, and compared to what I paid for old faithful, it's HALF THE COST. I can't complain at all and plan to get another as a backup to my backup.

This DI box is fairly well built. The box itself is metal and has enough weight to it to stay put when on the floor. The jacks are a weak point. They are mostly plastic and in my opinion, they will likely be the failure point with prolonged use. The box functions as designed and doesn't seem to add additional noise to the system when in use. The 1/4" jacks seem solid and positive for holding an instrument cable. However, the XLR jacks have a lot of movement when a cable is plugged in. I believe this will be the first failure point with heavy use. I believe this is usable in a home studio where you don't do a lot of cable swapping. I don't think that it would hold up to continued cable swapping like a gigging musician might put it through. The dual pass through design is useful for using with a couple of instruments and seems to work correctly. The bottom line is, this is a functional DI box at a reasonable price. Aside from the plastic jacks, it is a decent design that works as advertised. If you are going to set it up and leave it, it will likely do the job. If swapping cables is a daily occurrence, you might want something a bit heavier duty. Time and use will tell.

I play dual keyboards in my band and always need DI boxes for a lot of the festivals and Casino gigs we play. This did the job effectively when called upon. The XLR connection points are solid and the 1/4” connection points work (more on that shortly). The attenuation switches are a nice add on to help dial things in when running to the mixing board and the ground lift does work to eliminate grounding hums when a conditioner is not available. I don’t like that the 1/4” jacks are plastic. The rest of the box is a nice metal casing, so I question why they decided on this aspect. I worry about them cracking and splitting after some rigorous use. This is specifically why I will relegate this to a backup role. The audio quality doesn’t seem to be diminished or jeopardized and most importantly, when my normal DI box took a dive during my gig, this DI box worked as expected to save my butt. Overall I’m happy with this DI box as it gets the job done without sacrificing audio quality, but why the plastic 1/4” jacks? Still worth it though.

This has a very high build quality. All steel construction. If you are using it for its intended purpose you could definitely use it to prop up the corner of a sagging house. I opened the thing up to check the circuit construction. All of the solder joints were clean. There were no obvious bad joints - no cold joints, no over of under solders. All of the component legs were clipped clean and short. Functionally it does what it should. Plug something in to one end, plug something else into the other. I used this to plug a bass guitar into a mixer. The sound quality was clean and full. The ground lifts did what they were supposed to. The leveling switches also work as anticipated. All in all this is a solid device.