Rupert Neve Designs RNDI

I've been looking for a new DI for tracking bass and guitar. After some hefty research, I narrowed my options down to the following:

- BSS AR133 (EUR 105,-)
- Radial J48 EUR (235,-)
- Neve RNDI (EUR 299,-)


I plugged my Ibanez SR650 into each of these DI's, into my Focusrite 44. I tracked some parts in both active and passive setting. My findings:

BSS AR133: It doesn't look very slick. With its huge rubber sides, it does look indestructible. The sound is clear and transparent, with very low noise.

Radial J48: It looks good, and also definitely feels sturdy enough. The sound is noticeably warmer than the BSS, more analogue sounding. It sounds great, but definitely colored.

Neve RNDI: Looks wise, this is clearly the winner of the three. Like the BSS, it sounds very clear, even, and moderate in the lows.

The BSS and the Neve sound the most natural and clear, which is what I am looking for in a DI. I want the cleanest sound possible to feed to a pre-amp. However, the sound difference between these two is very small to my ears. So small, that it doesn't warrant the price difference.

Hence, my choice is the BSS AR133. It sounds great, is super sturdy, and very affordable. Recommended!

What i have to say? This is Neve. That's all the words.
I start to use this in my studio on practically all of electric instruments.
When the entire sound path consists mainly of high-quality equipment, from musical instruments, cables (by the way, i use Vovox cables) to your workstation, preamps, etc., everything falls into place and starts to sound as it should sound with maximum correct and clean sound transmission. Since using RNDI, I absolutely no longer need any high-impedance input on my card. RNDI really gives me a clean, natural sound with the right amount of bass, mids and highs on bass and electric guitars.
Once again, RNDI is a very transparent and honest di-box. If you need to transfer and convert from a high-impedance to a low-impedance signal without any distortion, as well as maintaining the quality of the source sound, then I recommend it for purchase!
I did not find the disadvantages of this di-box, it does its job perfectly.

I got this mainly for bass guitar on stage, but will also use it for other stuff in my studio.

The build quality is superb. I won't hesitate to bring this DI box on tour.

The tone is also great. Slightly fatter/rounder sounding than other active DI boxes in my arsenal. For example, the Radial J48 comes across as slightly cleaner, tighter and more "hi-fi" sounding, whereas the RNDI provides a slightly softer, fatter, "larger than life" tone. We are talking about relatively subtle differences, I could easily use either of these two DI boxes for ANY instruments. For bass guitar... If I had to choose one it would probably be the RNDI. It seems to slightly soften the transients compared to the J48, which can be nice on a direct signal.

One thing to be aware of is the relatively low output of the RNDI. The output is FAR lower than on ANY other active DI box I've tried. The output is comparable to a passive DI box. If you're in a situation where you for example have to use a poor quality mixer with noisy preamp, the RNDI might not be the best choice.

It's also worth notice that there is no polarity switch, no pad and no low cut, which are more or less standard features on many other DI boxes.

Apart from that: Absolutely superb!

(I haven't tested the RNDI in speaker mode, probably never will, but it's a nice feature I guess).

I bought it with the idea of using it as a complementary DI to my REDDI, to track vintage / modern analogue synths and drum machines through different preamps.
I needed something that would be rather on the "clean" side comparing to REDDI, more transparent, something that would handle fast transients much more naturally. Being a devoted user of a tube DI, I was surprised by RNDI with its very elegant sound across very wide frequency spectrum, nothing was missing from the signal, I did even a comparison between RNDI and a tubeless DI used in one of the best converters on the market, super transparent device with amazing preamps, built in UK. I configured two channels: one for connecting instruments to the converter directly using its DI and its gain control, the other one with RNDI and the converter's preamp.
Initially it was very hard to find a difference after level calibration but I found that RNDI really shines when the synth sound is quite harmonically rich, poly modes with fast envelopes. Same with analog drum machines. To me, some elements of the sound are more apparent and detectable. It definitely doesn't hide subtle details in midrange or lower. As expected, low freq. range is more than solid. Absolutely amazing.

I am very satisfied with the product!
Let's start with the sound as I believe this is the most important thing.
I use it in front of a cheap interface like Focusrite Scarlett 2i4 2nd Gen.
The DI sound you get from RNDI is very clean, wide, transparent and balanced! Unlike the DI signal that you get straight from the interface ( very mono sounding, boomy low end and harsh highs ). I play guitar and bass through the RNDI straight to the Scarlett 2i4 and then into amp sims and of course it's not like you play through a real amp, however RNDI is definitely helping you getting closer to that feeling!
In my opinion if you are taking yourselves serious about recording you should definitely get one.
The build quality is great, it will last you very long time.
It feels heavy in the hand, sturdy.
I am not sure about the speak cabinet option as I do not really have a real amp, but I am planing to get one and update this review with time.