Reddit mentions of Radial Pro DI Passive Direct Box

Like you said, it's not strictly necessary. I do think there are benefits for tone, however - and I didn't become a believer until I got a better one. This is the one that I am using now ($99). It's definitely a purchase I wish I had made earlier.

There are some other benefits with DIs - having a thruput is really helpful, both sonically and in terms of workflow. Personally I like to record amp and DI simultaneously, especially for bass. When recording guitar, even if you don't want to record an amp because you are in a small space or whatever, running the thruput to a little tiny practice amp is great for monitoring without latency.

Edit:

To try to quantity the improvement in tone with the Radial compared to a cheap DI or running direct into an interface: the bass DI has more low end, and the guitar DI sounds like a clean and dry electric guitar instead of a buzzy cigar box with rubber bands. If your interface has a Hi-Z input the difference will be less drastic (because there is no impedance mismatch), but even taking that into consideration the improvement has been really worthwhile for me.

The professional way to do this, is with a DI box. I think these are the best:

Radial Pro DI Passive Direct Box https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000A8J3N2/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_gNYlDbW95JSWJ


But in a budget, an impedance marching transformer will do the trick:

Shure A85F Transformer; Low Z, Female XLR to High Z 1/4-Inch Phone Plug https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0006NMUHW/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_GJYlDb4PE0T99

Edit: didn’t want to leave out the a solution.