pinnahertz
Headphoneus Supremus
- Joined
- Mar 11, 2016
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So I could use a DI box (active or passive?) And take XLR-RCA cables to feed my headphone amp?
Typically overkill, but yes. How you would wire the XLR>RCA differs depending on the specific DI box.
Why would you even consider an active DI? The key here is something called "common-mode rejection ratio". A transformer has that, even the cheap ones, and to a fairly high degree. An active box has to fight some pretty tight component tolerances and selection to achieve CMRR even close to a transformer, so the good ones are expensive. Then you have to be concerned with the cable wiring. Some boxes require cutting the wire to XLR pin 3, others don't.
Here: this is what I use, I thought it was discontinued, but it's still available. I've tested it, its frequency response is flat down to 20Hz. Used them for years, and keep several handy.