Rupert Neve Designs RNDI-S Stereo Active Transformer Direct Box Reviews

This is my second RNDI-S. I use both of them in my studio and on the road for my guitars, a '70 Gibson hollow body and an Ibanez with a Roland synth. The Neve DI's reveal so much detail and color that was barely available before with more mainstream DI's. Ultimately our sound starts with our instruments, they're the most important part of our rigs. The Neve DI's make the most of the instruments and are absolutely worth the price. Highly recommended.

Everything sounds cleaner and fuller with this DI! I'm primarily using it on my Nord, but I'm also finding clever uses for the 3.5mm, like sending out mixes through this and my TG2 for summing. Highly recommend!

I love what this box does. You can put it anywhere to saturate your signal with beefy Neve transformers. It's a luscious experience. I used it first on my Kirg Triton and, everything got larger. Then put it in front of a Focusrite ISA 1 (that already has a nice transformer) and it sounded like a 2000 preamp! Love this box!

I have been using this in my set up for over a year now, and I would have paid double if I knew how much I would love it! It is a permeant feature in my home studio!

Everything about this unit is excellent!

The RNDI-S is magical. If you want to record a signal of your synths' true personality & color look no further than this brilliant device.

i have 4 of the mono DI's and 1 of the stereo ..... sold all of my other DI's

the best DI around , now in stereo

I was a little skeptical about this purchase, being that I really wanted to use it on my 2 bus not necessarily the conventional way(thinking that it would add some saturation and depth).

I'm running my Fantom 6 and everything else into my apollox8, flexing those inputs to the dbox +/2 bus lt which are currently running through my dangerous compressor (been to lazy lately to hook up my patch bays.

I'm running the outputs of the dangerous compressor (xlr) to the inputs on the rndi-s (balanced Trs).

This thing sounds warm it's almost as if it stabilized my stereo field by adding the little nuances to the separate sounds in the mix enabling you to clearly differentiate between the levels and weights of the various sounds (depth).

I have yet to track anything out yet but I'm excited about the possibilities. These transformers are the real deal, great purchase.

Takes my pedalboard to the next level of clarity and headroom.

Excellent piece of gear. Very solid construction, zero noise, crystal clear signal. I probably didn't need two channels, but better safe than sorry.

If you need a DI you can't go wrong with Neve.

I did some tracking last night with a Korg Grandstage through the RNDI-S and holy smokes brothers and sisters this box is amazing. Normally I add a lot of pro grade plugins on my piano track, but with this box in front of it, I added nothing and it sounded perfect. So good in fact, I had to come here an write this review. The price is steep but worth it. If your looking for the best DI on the market - you've found it.

So THAT is what my nord is supposed to sound like. So THAT is what my Montage should sound like. So THAT is what my bass and wurly should sound like. Game changer.

It does what it's supposed to do and it does it well. I use it for studio recording. Perfect for getting my guitars into my interface cleaner and more accurately than the built-in hi-z input and lets me run my synths/keys through preamps for color. The RNDI-S adds just a tiny bit of musical sonic enhancement through its transformers. I would describe it as open and clear. It's expensive, but very nice and I doubt you'll worry about the price once you've hooked it up.

Works exactly as described. This DI sounds particularly wonderful on electric bass guitar and an old fender Rhodes. I"ve also used it to split a dry guitar signal feeding to a cranked amp. Very worth it and well built. Nice addition working off of phantom power and not a battery or wall wart.

I mix FOH for a prominent country artist. We tour and play over 200 shows a year and we go through a lot of gear. I ran into someone who was using this for his bass DI line and I heard him do a comparison. I was sold instantly. So I finally bought one to use for an acoustic line in between the output of a Shure UR4D and the input of a Midas DL431. It literally took the tone and changed it immensely. Sounded like I had plugged it into a console in a studio. So I started progressively changing every DI on stage over to RNDI's. Today, I use 7 channels of RNDI for all my direct signals on stage. I haven't changed them all over just yet, but I swear I'm getting there. Eventually every DI line on deck will be RNDIs and I've never been happier, truly. The tone is truly untouchable.

I am in the process of transferring MIDI sequences from my older workstations... Korg Triton Studio and Yamaha Motif ES. I want the get the most authentic transfer into my DAW... Presonus Studio One 3.5. This DI is worth the price. It makes the older tracks sound punchy and thick. Just what I was looking for to add to my studio! Thank you Rupert and Sweetwater!!

After several years of regularly buying gear here, this fantastic unit got me to write my first review. The missing "half-star" is because the ground lift did nothing for my setup; but that might be my setup's fault. Anyway, I needed a DI to both record and practice with; switching between a keyboard and a guitar. I run DI into my interface with each; and then, playing live, I re-amp the signals into my hardware effects chain from there before the signal gets to the amps. I intend to blend the dry DI signal with the re-amped version when recording later. I had the opportunity to audition the single channel Neve DI, toe-to-toe with another highly regarded DI box also made by a tried and true company, because I was in the process of returning both to upgrade to the stereo Neve reviewed here. I got it in the mail today and gave it a wurlitzer. Playing a few of my keyboard's tones through the RNDI-S resulted in an immediate and sonically gigantic improvement - noticeably better than the other company's DI box - especially through decent headphones (my keyboard amp lacks oomph). All the electric piano and organ tones were just gorgeously transformed; acoustic piano tones didn't sound as authentic to my ear through the Neve however. I play the electric stuff more anyway.
As far as my guitar amp went (and its tone, not so much my talent!), the RNDI-S skyrocketed it to the next dimension; the place I'd been trying to coax it for a while now without success. I used to get so frustrated with that amp, which I felt was the culprit in a closed-off, dull, and sluggish sound. It seems that the Neve here fixes whatever issue in the signal chain that was preventing the amp from singing its fullest song. The resulting guitar sound now saturates completely and lights up the whole room - not just the inside of the cabinet. I was pretty floored by it all. I will just say that for the next few months or so, I will probably be getting out of bed in the morning thinking of doing things now made possible in my setup by this amazing machine. Good stuff.