Unlike a studio profile, which contains the sound of the whole signal chain (amp, the cab/speakers and mics/mic positions), a DI profile is just the amp (e.g. just the head portion) - sounds horrible on it's own, but the idea is you can either play it thru a real cab, or load an Impulse Response (which rig manager will convert to a "Kemper Cab" file) into the cab section. The benefit of this you have more control over the sound. The cab/speaker/mic/mic position choice has a huge effect on the tone, so if you find a DI profile of an amp set up at least close to how you like it, you can then pair it with any IR you like to get a whole range of tones. I've found that this is an easier and quicker way to get the tones I'm after, as opposed to scrolling thru tons of studio profiles where the cab/speaker/mic/mic position choice may or may not be to my liking. btw, a Merged profile contains a DI profile, so you can swap the cab section and get accurate results. You can also swap the cab section in a Studio profile, but here the Kemper "guesses" which portion of the sound is the amp and which is the cab - doesn't yield as good results in my experience. If you're happy with studio profiles, you can probably ignore DI's - but if you're not quite finding the tones you're after, the DI plus IR method can be quite a revelation!
Thanks for the explanation! I'll give it a shot sometime.
When you get the DI do you get to set the mic/position? Or does it come set in the profile?