Strymon PCH X1 | Active DI Isolator

Putting a typical direct box on a high quality analyser can reveal all manner of hidden issues - units sold as premium often exhibit audio behaviour that is anything but, especially in the low frequency region or in measured total harmonic distortion. If you disregard all of the technical mumbo jumbo it just boils down to this: the audio running through your direct box is often being treated poorly.

Strymon's phantom-powered and transformer-isolated PCH X1 and X2 active direct interfaces are different. Designed to be pristine-sounding before any other feature, these are units that you can trust implicitly to handle your audio, no matter what kind of signal it is. Other direct boxes can distort low frequencies to the point where a low B on a bass guitar barely resembles the input, but the PCH X1 and X2 remain flat from far lower than that (10Hz) to well above what dogs can hear (80KHz) within a half of a db, as well as remaining clean and quiet throughout that range. 

Along with pristine audio, PCH X1 and X2 were designed with a host of real-world features that make them ideal as direct interfaces and line isolators. Housed in a bulletproof 3mm extruded aluminium chassis for protection, it doesn't matter if you're using them on a loud stage or in a quiet world-class recording studio, X1 and X2 balance your audio perfectly - and they're small enough to fit just about anywhere.

X2 is really two X1's in the same enclosure, so their audio performance and behaviour are largely identical. Each channel's audio passes through a custom transformer, eliminating most ground loops and offering true galvanic isolation. Each unit also features a ground lift switch per channel to combat hum, as well as a three position high pass filter that allows you to roll off low frequencies at two different points: 80Hz for taming rumble, and 240Hz for more dramatically carving out space in the mix for low frequencies on other instruments.

X2 features a phase reversal switch for reversing the polarity of the left XLR output, as well as a Sum switch that sums the inputs together and passes them to the left outputs (the right XLR output mutes to let you know Sum is engaged), allowing you to interface with both mono and stereo scenarios on the go without having to rewire anything.

Both the X1 and X2 feature a non-buffered Thru output in addition to the balanced XLR out, allowing you to feed the input signal to an additional device like an onstage monitor or instrument amplifier separately from the balanced output.