Just purchased a used Prime 2 unit. (Practically new) My old unit is a really old Hercules controller w/virtual dj.
Using my same headphones, I plugged into my prime 2 and it sounded very lackluster and if you try to turn up, it just sounds muddy.
I really love this controller but this really is a deal breaker for me. I wonder if the Prime 4+ is better or if this is a Prime issue.
What headphones are you using? have you tried different ones and have you tried the other headphone port? What type of music file are you playing? do you have it gained correctly?
Ive been using a Prime 2 for DJ gigs for nearly 3yrs now and never had an issue with cueing through the headphones.
Itās very possible the headphone socket you tried may be damaged seeing as the unit is second hand, but as Stu says, try the other port or other headphones to rule out the equipment.
In the setting, then mixer tab there is a headphone output level adjustment perhaps it is set too high. 
In addition, if the headphones have a low impedance like 8 ohms, with a high output setting combined with the gain of the deck, the listening quality may be significantly deteriorated.
Iāve tried three different headphones. Just purchased a really high quality pair and same results. I was also able to try the other port and had the same result.
Even though it was used from guitar center, it was in excellent condition. Practically unused. I honestly think, if you didnāt know better, you wouldnāt think there was anything wrong with it.
My old controller sound quality is really good with the same headphones and now itās a step down for me. I donāt see any settings for output levels for headphones in the mixer. Not sure if they took it out.
When you turn up music through the headphones, the bass is weak and just gets more muffled the louder you turn it up.
Ive just tried to replicate this for you. Firstly im running my tracks with the level meters 2 lights from the top, i picked a standard issue house track with normal sort of house bass. Im using a pair of Sennheiser HD-25s and i turned the volume up, it sounds nice and clearā¦ at around 11 oclock on the dial its too loud to keep on my ears but still clear.
There is a chance someone has knocked the headphone port and damaged it, then returned it to the guitar centre and they havenāt then tested it properly before selling it to you.
Seeing as they stopped making the Prime 2 well over 2yrs ago, you have to question just how ābarely usedā it is. Ive not seen a new one in stock at any DJ shops for a long time.
@Jeff_Gates are you sure all effects are disengaged and all EQs are central?
Howās the sound from the main outputs? Iād assume if a config setting was affecting it (like limiter for example) then it would be audible from the main outs as well.
Do you notice the same difference in sound quality between your Prime 2 and the Hercules using the line outs to some speakers or an outboard headphone amp?
Yesterday, I went over to a friends house who had a relative controller by Pioneer to test. She had really good headphones. What I found was that even her controller was lacking. Iām beginning To think that my little Hercules must had been packing a punch with some sort of an amplifier or something. The sound quality coming through the Hercules is superb and really allows you to hear every note clearly. And the Bass is not muffled in it too.
Iāve tried the different ports, different headphones and I get the same result so Iām sure itās not anything to do with hardware. My friend tried to convince me that you have to adjust the eq settings to achieve the sound Iām wanting but, I feel like Iām Overcompensating when I really donāt need to. Everything should sound fine with all settings leveled in the middle.
I ordered the Prime 4+ to see if I notice a difference but, Iām going to assume that itās the same.
Looking at the manual, they show that there is a headphone gain setting in the unit mixer settings but I donāt see one with The new 4.0 update.
Like I said, I really love this controller and want to keep it but this has got me baffled.
@Jeff_Gates I notice youāre not answering any of the questions people have been asking, trying to get to the bottom of it.
You said initially that you used the Hercules (what model?) with VirtualDJ. Are you also using VirtualDJ for your comparisons, with the Prime 2, the Pioneer etc?
With the Pioneer test, was that standalone or with software? Which model, which software, which headphones?
I have a Hercules 4 set controller. Itās a older version of Virtual Dj. Nothing new.
The Pioneer is a standalone. A old one but not very old.
Iāve really left a lot of specifics out of the replies because I believe it is irrelevant because Iāve have tested various models, connections and controllers.
Thanks for your help
You might want to compare the Prime 2 running internal mode versus using it as a controller to see how the sound changes. Both the Prime gear and the Pioneer stuff should all be configurable as controllers. Engine OS firmware sound quality is not great and seems optimized for processing efficiency. Certain older VDJ versions were both measurably bit-perfect at zero pitch and used very good speed & key change coding. You are potentially comparing some of the most lackluster-sounding audio processing around to the best possible, especially if youāre comparing zero pitch or keylock off. Maybe if youāre doing really aggressive stuff, the difference isnāt going to be as noticeable. Iām curious if you notice the headphone sound issues on the Prime 2 if you bypass Engine OS.
I had a Hercules DJ Console 2 (along with a pair of headphones) I gave a friend right at the start of the pandemic when I was about to move from Dayton to Cincinnati. New owners of the house I rented a room in seemed spooked by the coming COVID housing market and instead wanted to rent out the whole house in one lease. My buddy only had a laptop, Serato, and some 1200s. His mixer was busted, I think. The Hercules was suited to a variety of situations, including DVS and as a controller. Seemingly indestructible after all these years. So many options on it. Nearly military-grade bubble buttons on the circuit board, apparently. That little thing sounded great. The ADC and DAC stages were nice, and, of course, as a controller / interface the DSPās done inside the computer software itself. Squatters came into his house when he was gone and cops wouldnāt get rid of them, so he lost everything in there, including the sound gear.
Anyway, one of the things the Hercules allowed was the headphones feed from the rear line outputs. While I didnāt need to use it much at the time, this allowed me to run it to a nice headphone amp like the O2. My old Biamp SCM mixers when I had them allowed that, along with the PPD 9000 and I think DB4. So, if you can talk InMusic into allowing routing the headphones feed to the booth, maybe that could help improve your sound situation. Piping the headphone jack itself to a headphone amp isnāt really an optimal signal path. With my post-COVID ear issues, I try to get the best sound I can at the lowest usable volume, and I often use high-end headphones, including electrostatics.
Honest opinion, it looks like you are using your headphones way too high volume wise, just from the things youāre saying.
Im not assuming how long you have been a DJ, but as someone who is into his 25th year, look after your ears, donāt use things like bass as a benchmark for how good cueing is, its a dangerous game to play. On average when im DJing back to back, id say I have to turn the cue volume down 1/4 of a turn from the other DJ, and thats every single time ive played with someone else.
Itās far more likely the Denon and Pioneer are outputting sound to the headphones at a much more acceptable level than anything made by Hercules.
@Jeff_Gates so I guess thatās a ānoā on the VirtualDJ question then?
Reading back, it could be said that youāve eliminated the headphones being the problem because youāve tried three (or more) different ones. You also eliminated the Prime 2 as being the problem because apparently the Pioneer unit sounds bad too.
Whatās left? VirtualDJ. The Hercules was used with VDJ but none of the other equipment was.
When was the last time you actually heard any of these headphones with VDJ and the Hercules?
I think itās unfair to be doing a comparison if itās not been recently, and if VDJ has not been used with the Prime or the Pioneer.
[thinks] Maybe the Hercules headphone signal has a āloudness curveā or similar on it, to āenhanceā the sound on a budget unit, likely to be used with budget headphones.
Now youāre hearing a flat signal it sounds lifeless in comparisonā¦
Itās not a volume issue really. Itās quality. The quality in the Denon is so low and balanced that youāre forced to turn it up to capture more. My Hercules doesnāt require it to be turned up loud. Only if the dance floor is booming. Hope that explains things better.
Great troubleshooting strategy! It would make sense that itās a standalone controller thing BUT, back in december, i was trying different controllers, old ones off amazon, but newer than the Hercules. (a slight upgrade) Mainly because, they were the only ones that would work with my version of VDJ.
Anyway, i remember volume levels being an issue then too. So, i would guess itās not VDJ. But thatās a good guess for sure.
I dont think you said what gain level you had the music at on the Prime 2? min is 2 lights from the top on the level meter. Can you try that and see if it makes a difference.
Iāve mentioned several times on this forum over the years that I notice Engine OS seems to require a louder volume to hear the same amount of detail than reference. I believe this is in addition to the treble roll-off from an efficient anti-aliasing low-pass filter and might contribute aliasing echo causing intermodulation distortion that adds a kind of scrim or mud over everything. The slight improvement to the roll-off a few years back may have made this aliasing echo worse. Itās most noticeable, IMO, with dense musical content that has a lot of information going on at a lot of different frequencies at once. Itās less of an issue with sparser acoustic or minimalist electronic music with a lot of dynamics. Itās almost like the additional signal-correlated IMD + noise causes the perception of both data and micro dynamics compression. On a positive note, though, I think perhaps Engine OS can come off as sounding less etched and tinny than some of the competition and sort of tapestry-like at loud volumes, but itās incapable currently of sounding as open, fast, and detailed, especially at lower volumes, than what I would call reference, and it can very rapidly come off as congested.
I think you may have described it well. Itās hard for me to put into words. I go back and forth with the controllers and itās a noticeable difference.
But Reticuli, heās now saying that everything except the Hercules sounds bad.
We still donāt know when he last heard the Hercules either, but IMO itās seeming more and more likely that the Hercules output has some EQ to āenhanceā it, whereas the other hardware is flat.