Worth having a go of this, will show up if you have the hearing capable of picking out the differences or not:-
At worse it’ll highlight if you should bother with Tidal/Spotify HiFi!
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Yep, as I suspected I can only score 60-70% on average which is not statistically significant. I’ll still continue to buy lossless music mostly though for collectionist purposes.
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Same with me, more so I know there is nothing missing, rather than I can hear there is nothing missing.
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Pretty new to all this but when I see professionals discussing sound quality based on an MP3 file… one word comes to my mind… “lol” 
I recently acquired a pair of Denon SC6000M 
which are now plugged to my Mastersound 4V analog mixer and oh boy … the sound is good 
… Masterclass… get an analog mixer and you will love your sound again.
Important point… most music nowadays (easily over 90%) is poorly mastered… The creation process is all done on a computer, and it will never sound anything like good old records with proper recording studio and sound engineer… let that sink… there will always be limitations and lack of dynamics… blame the source. 
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Can second that. Tried the SC6000 with a Playdifferently Model 1.4 - sounded great, at least to my ears way better than the SC6000 with the digital Xone DB4 via Spdif.
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I’ve been using the SC5000s since 2018 with an analog mixer, Rane Empath, and yes the audio quality is not as good as my previous 2 set-ups: Pioneer 850s and Traktor with a midi controller. In all set-ups, I was still using my Rane Empath, so all that has changed over the years are the players’ converters.
However, in all my years DJing, even after switching to my current SC5000s, no one has ever come to me about the sound quality of any songs played. But as someone who is familiar with the music I’ve played both in my home studio and on my PA system, and familiar venues’, I have been bothered by what I perceive as a difference in audio quality of the Denons. This was noticeable when I first purchased them and I conducted side by side tests matching volume settings etc., with the Pioneer 850s using mp3s, wavs, key lock on/off, pitching up down different %, etc., etc., and the sound difference was immediately apparent. The Denons have what I consider a more digital (possibly the sound of aliasing) presence, which I don’t prefer from the previous players I have used.
I am disappointed that Denon did not remedy this issue with the new SC6000s according to these posts. It is not enough to keep me away from upgrading to them in the near future, I think they have succeeded in many more aspects when it comes to future proofing their ecosystem. As mentioned earlier, this issue was brought to attention years ago, so to see that it has not been successfully corrected with recent firmware updates nor with the new players, tells me Denon is not going to fix it (or is incapable) for whatever reason.
I am simply commenting here to say, yes there is and always has been an audible difference. But will anyone outside yourself (or other perceivable DJs with less hearing loss) notice? Most likely, No. Or at least not enough to care about going up to you in the middle of a set and striking convo with you about it. They’re more likely to ask 'what are those?’ Should Denon (InMusic) care? Absolutely. They have attempted addressing it once within a past firmware update, but have not fixed it. At this point (mid 2021), it is either a non-issue to them, or they can’t fix it with firmware updates.
I still love almost everything else about them and will continue recommending them over competitors. It is okay to ask for improvements, especially audio related. We are talking about music after all.
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As I’ve said previously, the distorted Prime playback processing might benefit from the lack of fidelity of analog mixers as compared to high-end digital mixers that could be too revealing.
Edit 9/30/2025:
And weirdly, there might even be some positive trade-offs to using already rolled-off MP3s on Prime, though certainly there are some negative trade-offs, too. Nonetheless, Prime is treating lossless almost like lossy formats, and you get aliasing artifacts added to lossy tracks played back, too.
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Conversions, not just the converters. The software running on the players is much more consequential than the DACs used.
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I honestly can gasp anything… but saying pioneer have a better sound!!!.. I would find it astonishing… Pioneer have been colouring the sound for years and its by far the worst audio quality in the industry, subsequently they have the worst sounding mixers (post DJM-800)…
People would always have the choice of using external converter via digital output (at least on the 6Ks)
p.s. Not saying your statement is untrue as a direct product comparisons, I probably trust your judgement, but over all as comparing the 2 brands… it’s a no brainer.
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What exactly about the DJM800/850 do you believe sounded better than the DJM2000/900NXS/900SRT?
References:
https://forums.pioneerdj.com/hc/en-u...Horrible-Sound
https://forums.pioneerdj.com/hc/en-u…-Phono-Preamps
https://forums.pioneerdj.com/hc/en-u...y-really-poor- https://forums.pioneerdj.com/hc/en-u...y-really-poor- https://www.reddit.com/r/DJs/comment...rity_decrease/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_XZccfOleuM
Answer:
I don’t believe it… I know… for the record, I never mentioned DJM-850 I said post DJM-800.
Pioneer simply has done 2 things since… Used the worst pre-amps you can imagine (especially on phono…well documented everywhere but not just) and… they added sound colouring (high mids) to every living thing called “Pioneer”.
I was told (not sure how accurate is this) it’s different on recent models… I’m yet to verify it.
The DJM800 and 850 shared the same dsp, digital signal path, and analog signal path (u less you switch to usb). That’s why I grouped them together. The difference between the two being firmware.
I did the same for the 2000, nxs, and srt.
The links to the pio forums are broken as per usual. Voice your objective observations here instead
I agree about Pioneer’s phono preamps, but phono is not what you should be using to demonstrate sound quality on a digital mixer. You want to use digital inputs and measure the sound post d/a conversion on the master.
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Yes. That exactly. The DACs will be either upheld or held back by software.
And in agreement with your previous comment about analog mixers combined with Prime players. That is specifically why I chose the fully analog Rane Empath mixer years ago, to ‘warm’ the sound of my previous Traktor midi set-up in the early oughts. But in saying that, I can still hear the difference of the Prime SC5000s. I’ve been holding out on whether or not to complete my Prime series with the X1850. Although I would love the full integration and built-in FX (currently using Pioneer’s RMX500) and all the other bells & whistles, I am weary of hearing more of the digital audio I dislike. I guess I’ll have to rent it out one day to compare for myself as nearby music stores never have one setup for demo.
I agree about Pioneer mixers sound, I have never owned nor wanted one as many of my friends had them and I didn’t quite like the sound, but most of the functions were legit.
I have used my Rane Empath (fully analog) mixer with all my past set-ups to current time with my SC5000s. The Pioneer players I was referencing were the CDJ 850s, which I used to play CDs as well as files on flash drives; 320 mp3 & WAV. So I was able to compare the audio from each media player connected to my Rane mixer with the same music on 2 separate flash drives, volume matched. The difference was instantly audible. I preferred the CDJ 850s less digital (harshness?) over the SC5000. And of course the key lock pitch adjustment just has too much digital artifacts when getting past +/-25% on the SC5000s compared to the much older CDJ 850s. I don’t ever use that much tempo change during normal mixing, only occasionally for effect transitions. But that digital crunchiness is definitely non appealing.
Again though, I will reiterate… it is not unplayable nor completely unpleasant, just different leaning toward the digital (not my personal preference). And more importantly, I do notice it because I know my music and am familiar with my own equipment and playback system. Others coming to this Prime platform or DJing in general may not have the same experience of years of listening. And others as who have commented above may have already lost some frequency range of hearing over the years so they don’t notice it as much. All that is valid. These are my experiences and preferences that I am sharing.
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Some time ago I did a frequency response test with my Pioneer XDJ1000Mk2 (WAV) --digital–> DJM900NXS2 [master out]–USB–> PC, and the result was an almost flat line, +/- 0.2dB, I just repeated it:
I wouldn’t call a deviation of +/- 0.2dB as “sound coloring”.
EDIT: Okay, I see the topic of the linked posts is mostly for PHONO input, that maybe another story…
Exactly lot of people think that, Sorry but Pioneer does not “colouring” the sound in case with the CDJ, don’t know about the DJM There are more neutral than the SC5000/6000 on the papers for the frequency response
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To be fair… I never suggested the players do… the mixer does… and it’s not an opinion, it’s fact. Their mids are all over the places… on all recent DJM mixers.
If you know your sound… u will pick it up on the spot… it simply kills all dynamics (Pioneer specialty). Could be down to many reasons possibly… poor quality pre-amps.
Check out a couple of recordings comparison between the Pioneer S9 and TTM… exactly the same gain and neutral EQ… world’s difference.
It will explain my points better and this issue exists across any recent Mixer (excluding the V10 I never tested)
Listened and all i can pick is that the S9 sounds flat (is that a bad thing)
TTM has brighter highs.
Anyways how does phono-pre amps come into play with regards to this topic?
What does it look like for the SCs?
It doesn’t sound flat… it sounds broken. Beyond that believe what you wish, I know the original recording. And NO it is not vinyl record… it’s been sampled.
Thats a wee bit dramatic lol.
I own both the S9 and S11
previously owned the Rane 62 and 72.
Day to day DJing with a mix of DVS, SC5000, SC6000 … everything sounds alright to me.
I do come across post like yours not rating Pioneers phono-pre amp…but folks like Koco, Skratch Bastid and Marky who all play vinyl seem to be happy with it
Folamour who even plays disco, funk (more dynamic range music) seems ok with it.
Well i suppose you know what you are on about. I’m not an audiophile.