passive has the advantages of simplicity
... and reliability of zero power requirements ... grounding and any conflicting power supplies can almost be eliminated as a problem

disadvatages can be related to lack of energy or power transfer from some of the very weak sources like Strats (single coil) and Piezo pick-ups

active will provide a very high impedance input and some gain if required

can also provide for multiple buffered outputs

ACTIVE man...why pay so much for passive and then having to buy an amp for it too which costs bills.

You know man, sometimes, passive is ust exactly what you need.

Active isn't always the answer.

If you want to take a high impedence instrument like a Strat and change the impedence to low impedence and add a little ground lift...Passive is the way to go IMO.

Single coils, Passive DI to 150 Ohms, plugged into a vintage all-tube pre and into some beautiful vintage 8 inch speakers with those old warm magnets....

Mmmmmmm Good! Doesn't get quieter or thicker or more tasty than that for a deserving Fender Strat. :lol:

The CountryMan is a very famous FET high imp input active DI
... it still requires a Mic-pre to get to line level for the recorder

I think it takes a good transformer to handle some single coil pick-ups well.

Jensen and others have some fine Transformers that will make an excellent passive DI box
... some of these can be configured to RE AMP-lify the recorded DI'd signal

My favourite DI is a non-name passive unit.
you can never have too many passive and active adapter boxes.
8)

Since you mention Re-amping, i saw on a DI box it had a toggle button for In/Out. is this something that would be handy for re-amping of is this just a frilly gimmic?

-Blaumph

It could be just the thing

difficult to say for sure as I would need to know more about it

a re-amplifying unit can be as simple as a sheilded cable with the appropriate connectors and wiring at each end
a more complicated box provides the facilities to earth lift with level and impedance matching to get the most out of both source and destination

a simple idea is all the job may call for