With so many sounds going directly to tape via DI boxes these days, the need for DI boxes is increasing daily — though not everyone wants their studio floor littered with little boxes. This product aims to overcome that problem, being six DI boxes in a mains-powered 1U case, with a couple of extra switches and sockets to allow it to double up as a mono line mixer or a 1:6 signal splitter.

For those unfamiliar with ARX gear, I can tell you that it's built in Australia to a high standard of design and construction. But, as an Aussie statement of obligatory poor taste, they've obviously allowed their preschool children to design the front panel, so although it's amongst the clearest front panels on the market, it isn't going to win any design awards.

Each of the DI boxes comprises a front panel high impedance input jack (2M ohms) and an adjacent high impedance, unbalanced output jack with a further balanced, low impedance XLR output on the rear panel. The gain control provides up to 15dB of additional gain; a clip LED is provided to indicate excessive gain. Each of the XLR outputs has a ground lift switch, with status LED, to help combat ground-loop-induced hum, and if your requirements only extend to having a rack full of DI boxes, that's about all you need to know.

A button on the rear panel selects between DI/Mix mode and Splitter mode. In DI/Mix mode, as well as functioning as six independent DI boxes, a mixed output is available on XLR and unbalanced jack. A front panel headphone socket allows the mixed signal to be monitored, but it's wise to start with the phones level control turned down, as this little monster can deliver up to 3W into a pair of low impedance phones!

To use the unit as a 1-in, 6-out splitter, the rear panel switch must be set to 'Splitter' and all front panel gain controls turned down. Now any signal fed into the balanced XLR input on the rear panel is split and sent to all outputs simultaneously.

In practice, the unit works exactly as documented and is very clean and quiet. My only comment would be that a few dB of extra gain would have been welcome for those times when you have to work with instruments and effects with the -20dB output levels that the Japanese adopt on occasions.

Purely as a way of buying six basic DI boxes, the DI-6S isn't cheap, but if you work in an environment where the requirements are continually changing — PA, equipment hire or live recording — the unit makes much more sense, it can be a line mixer one day, a semi-pro to balanced-pro level matcher the next and a rack of DI boxes the day after. It's a real problem solver, but in order to justify the expense, you need to have the right problems!

Further Information
ARX DI-6S £442 including VAT.

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