Great for the Price

This is a great unit for the price. As you will see while looking at different reviews of ART products they are famous for having a really tight battery compartment, no change here. Regardless if you are using this unit off battery power or off phantom power you still need the battery connected. That being said, the Xdirect has a nice sound. It would not be my choice for a permanent installation, but to have in your gig bag you can't beat it for the price. There are still guitars out there with out a built-in preamp and are still using passive pick-ups or maybe you need to up the input to your favorite head phone distribution system. When you buy a direct box you are looking for something that is going to translate your signal with quality and sonic purity and this unit does a nice job of that. Yes you will find better sounding units, but you will also find a lot higher prices with those unit. In this price point you would be hard pressed to find another unit that provides you this quality, so pick yourself up one today.