Boasting some impressive technical specifications and versatile routing options, Strymon’s latest active DI boxes promise to maintain an instrument’s tone while being flexible enough to fit into just about any setup.
The PCH X1 and PCH X2 come housed in a chunky 3mm aluminium enclosure, with the shell extending past the front and rear panels to help protect their sockets and switches. Both employ custom transformers that offer true galvanic isolation, include a ground lift switch along with a 80/240Hz high-pass filter, and feature a non-buffered thru output in addition to their main XLR outputs. The PCH X1 is a single-channel unit, while the PCH X2 offers a dual-channel design intended for stereo rigs; the X2 includes a summing switch for interfacing with mono systems without any re-patching, and a polarity switch that affects the left XLR output.
Strymon say that audio quality was the primary concern when designing the new arrivals, and that pristine sound was prioritised over any other feature. It seems to have been a successful mission, as the published specs declare a frequency response that’s flat to within ±0.25dB between 20Hz and 30kHz, and only deviates by ±0.5dB between 10Hz and 80kHz! The noise floor is quoted as -123dBu, and THD at 1kHz has been measured at 0.0007%.
Pricing & Availability
The PCH X1 and X2 are available now, priced at $199 and $299 respectively.
