XDJ700 vs 1000MK2

If you want to use them with software, the XDJs are your only choice.
If you want to use them with USB-sticks, the XDJs are your only choice.
If you want to use CDs, the 1000s are your only choice.
If you want to spend over 2K on a system that can do less than your beatpad2, but has bigger jogs, go for either player with a 450 mixer.

Frankly it’s not what I would do. Buying a Pioneer (if your set on them) XDJ-RX is a better bet. If you are willing to try something else, the Denon MCX-8000 is worth a second and perhaps third look. Both come in a lot cheaper than the options yous asked about and provide more functionality.

Just my two cents as usual.

Wait! You ment the XDJ1000s mk2, not the CDJ1000s mk2!

Misread that one I guess, LOL.

In this case forget what I said in my first reply about the CDJs.
You could …. ! …. save up some more, hang in there a little longer and go for the Denon Prime series of course. Modular, big jogs, the best laptop-free implementation I have seen so far and while I’d always suggest finally getting two players, you CAN get away with using one in the beginning as they – like controllers – feature dual layer capability.

Oh well, plenty for you to think about I guess.

In general.

And you are welcome.

As for the Prime series, Tiesto, Laid Back Luke, Oliver van Helden and Paul Oakenfold can’t all be wrong about these units.

And I feel your “how to tell the mrs.” pain. I promised the MCX8000 I got september last year was REALLY gonna be the last major controller purchase. 😀

Fedde ! Put your hands up for … DENON! LOL

Hey! If it’s a choice strictly between the two, it’s up to you what features you can live without. Feature wise, the XDJ-700 besides that it’s smaller, is comparable with the CDJ-2000 Nexus, and the XDJ-1000Mk2 with the CDJ-2000NXS2. The 700 also lacks the Jog center info display. Other physical attributes that are pros on the 1000Mk2, is digital output and compatibility with the DDJ-SP1 in hardware mode, which means you get the pads to use for all the 8 hot cues. Even more use if you choose to use the DDJ-SP1 in RB DJ mode.

I don’t agree with the statement that the XDJ’s won’t be in the clubs. The large clubs will always go for the top-of-the-line, but I’ve already seen the XDJ’s in smaller clubs ‘n’ pubs. According to rental companies they prefer the XDJ-series because of less buttons. It’s always the buttons that ends up needing replacement that now are on the touchscreen instead, except for the Cue/Play.

Club standard! Yeah… As stated it’s more and more common that you need, or at least can, bring your own gear to the club but make sure you get paid to do that. If they have usable gear you can’t really charge to bring your own gear, but if they have nothing you need to get paid to bring your own. Once you bring it for free, you’ll never get paid for it. Pioneer IS the standard and as they last 4-5 years even in a harsh club environment, don’t expect Denon to become the new standard how ever good they are. Unless you are a mobile DJ who always bring your own equipment, you will want to have what’s in the majority of the clubs. The big name DJ’s who’s ”changed their rider” have been paid to do so and, it’s in the title, rider. When you can send a rider to the clubs you play in, you’ve made it and don’t need to buy anything anyway.

What Denon don’t have, is entry level hardware for people to start and grow within as the needs go up or down. I have both the CDJ-2000 Nexus’s and the CDJ-2000NXS2’s and don’t use everything they can do. I wouldn’t use anything more on the new Denons really, so there’s no reason for me to change, even if I were to bring them to every gig, which I don’t. In 4 years when I’ll be looking for my next replacement gear, I’ll know if it’s gonna be a change for a new brand. That’s when I know if the durability and reliability are on par with the Pioneer DJ’s pro gear. Which ever gear you choose it will be fully compatible with digital DJ:ing and in most cases you will also get the licenses to at least one software for you to use out of the box.

Nor do I 😉 , Mr Vintage. First, I only ever have an opinion and give advice about stuff I use all the time. Second, I always start with answering the question asked and anything added to that will be related to any other answer contradicting what I know and have experienced. And, yes, I have used almost every modell of Denon cd-players made as they were club standard in the booths here in Sweden since 1993. The turntables left the clubs here almost instantly over a period of a year starting 1992 and during 15 years from that, the larger DJ-agency’s had in their contracts that there were to be Denon in the booths. I’ve owned only one, a DN-2600, and it was OK for the money. The only reason I turned Pioneer to begin with was the poor quality of the Denons, and the better design coming from turntables. They rarely performed a 4 hour gig without read errors due to poor internal build. That went on all the way ’til the last set, a pair of 1200’s, were thrown out from a club I still am resident in. They were bolted firmly in to a crawl space in the corner of a bar and couldn’t be moved without an extensive toolbox at hand. So I used them, with anxiety, almost every weekend for two years. During this time we made every firmware update available and even got a couple of betas but they never could read CD’s in a proper way. Several times every night you had to abort the track intended and quickly choose another CD and hope for the best. I do know how to burn records the proper way and I’ve always used the best media available and never ever had I a problem in my Pioneer players. I went so far that I started to bet with the Denon dudes when we played together how long it would take before he had the first kakakakatetetepapapapa hickup read error. When, not if.

Because of the contracts, Pioneer didn’t became common in the booths until after they released the CDJ-1000Mk3, but as soon as they did, everyone who played in clubs suddenly turned Pioneer, quickly. Not because Denon lacked innovation, they did not, but because of bad performance and no reliability at all. I can’t speak for the later single units, except the mentioned, because by then Denon were out of the booths. Now, a lot of people speak of the new Denons as they are the holy grail, when in fact there’s very little you can do more. I love that they have put in more power to the units making improvements possible over time and I really want them to succeed because I firmly believe that competition drives development and pricing in the consumers favor. I don’t really think prices on high end gear will drop but new tech will be pushed down to more affordable models. Talking entry level single units, you mentioned the 350’s… Why? they were surpassed by the XDJ-700 a year and a half ago. If you are about going single units along with a mixer like the DJM-250Mk2 or the DJM-450, you get the chance to experience everything as you get the full RB DJ/DVS licence. I don’t tell people that they should not go that way because every other way will be restricted. Especially if it’s someone on the rise wanting to enter the clubs and don’t want to go the mobile DJ route at all. With a kit like that, you can choose which way you wanna go. Add a couple of turntables, export your music to a USB and bring that and your headphones only, bring your laptop and run it as case for all your music or take over the whole NXS2 setup with only one usb cable running RB DJ. If you are on the pad-hitting producing side, connect the DDJ-SP1 and the Toraiz and bang away… Just because I’m on the old school side only playing music others made, doesn’t mean I don’t see what can be done if time were endless… So far I’ve not seen anyone do anything with the new Denons that have not already been done with the Pioneer gear. Not even using the dual layer. I believe I’ve seen every clip available and when using more than 2 tracks they so far use 3 or four units… So it reduces the layering to back up only, or they’ve hired the the wrong DJ’s.

When at it, I would love a live video of someone using all the tools at hand on a high level, or for that matter any controller, showing the use of all or some of the tools in a 2 hour set. Not a controllerism 10 min set, but actually a set directed towards dancing people in a normal club. Links would be appreciated, but it has to be where someone does all the stuff I can’t do with my old stone age Pioneer CDJ-2000NXS2/DJM-900NXS setup, really showcasing the benefits 😉 . I want to be impressed.

This week i mentor in two different DJ-schools, play a 5 hour club set for 20 y’ish students on Wednesday, 4 hour top 40 for grown ups on Thursday, 4/5 hour set of Rockabilly/50’s/60’s music Fri/Sat and end the week on Sunday with a 4 hour club/party set for very mixed ages. I do a large variety of DJ’ing and over a large area, driving about 1000 km over 5 days so I really can’t have stuff breaking down on me. In a couple of those gigs I’m expected to bring my own equipment and I do get paid to do that. On the other gigs there’s already Nexus/NXS2 in the booth so I’ll only bring media/headphones and I can keep my workflow just perfect. To not get paid when I have to bring my own gear is not an option. If there’s a usable option it’s my choice.

My daughter, 13, just had her first gig last friday, playing for 1-6 graders and I let her use my retired CDJ-1000Mk3’s/Behringer DDM-4000. The plan was to let her use my RaneSL1/Serato for the music, but of course it didn’t work. Something all of a sudden made it not work, Serato couldn’t find the connected device. Spend a couple of hours trying to fix it and even installed it on another computer and there it worked just fine, but that’s not a computer to bring to a gig. Had to go with a couple of mp3-cds and my also retired CD-case. Stickers pointing to the usable tracks made it easy for her to find the music so the event went perfect. That’s why I don’t trust computers in the booth. Yeah yeah, I know, I have a windows 10 computer and all the s**t it brings to table, but a $4000 MBP as a primary and a $2000 MBP for backup is not within my budget, and old as I am, I still probably wouldn’t trus’em 🙂 . At least not a week like this.

I appreciate your knowledge Mr Vintage and your inputs, but this is why forums are so important. Even that we have 30+ years of experience as DJ’s and neither of us are afraid of new tech, we have vastly different opinions about how things work and I’m confident that your solutions work just as good for you as mine do for me. This gives everyone who reads this better understanding of the options available to them when pursuing their dreams in the booth. There’s no general solution that’s best for everyone, but there’s a lot of good options to choose between depending on your own preferences. Now, have a very happy Easter and I’ll follow your comments as usual.

Todd Oddity, I may not have the knowledge to express myself clearly in English, but i suspect you wouldn’t prefer I used Swedish. I clearly think it’s a great new player Denon has come out with, but for me, it’s not revolutionary and I have checked the specs and pretty much every article written and every review made online. But I have obviously not used it and I’m looking forward to do that in the near future. I also know every ins and out of the Pioneer NXS2 system. If you found the CDJ-100S in a club, someone obviously didn’t read what the purpose of that player was. Definitely not club environment, but bedroom Dj’s, for which they were fine. Pro gear is called pro gear for a reason. The dual Denons were all Pro gear according to Denon themselves and that’s why I only compare them to Pios alternative Pro series. I agree totally with your opinion about the CDJ-100s, and would never have used it in a public event. Same goes for the CDJ-200 and the CDJ-400. The entry level now is the XDJ-700 but if there’s room enough I’d never go below the XDJ-1000Mk2 which has taken the CDJ-850’s place…

Summary, I didn’t intend to downplay the new SC5000. I’ve made enough eyeopeners for it in several forums. But, as it is not out for us normal people yet, I will not rise it to the skys’ until I have had the chance to test it properly myself. What I value the most is always usability, reliability and durability. I was afraid the’yd put the pads on the 2000NXS2 as the started with the CDJ-RX, and I was very happy they didn’t. I don’t like cramped surfaces where I may accidentally trigger something by mistake. In my opinion. it’s better to get that function with proper sized pads on a unit like the DDJ-SP1. I know I have all that with my Pio gear. You are very welcome to point out the features you think I must have missed or what you think is the revolutionary about them. I could very well have missed something important or misinterpreted any description that would make me go WOW if I got it. I still wait for something done with the new Denons that impress me in a live working situation.