In German Club - big event with over 28 djs. No signs of any other gear.
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I guess Iâd better post a proper pic of mine out in the field, micro brewery playing laid back grooves to the masses (a few people drinking beer made on site)
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Looks like Maceo Plex is back to Denon Players
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Literally made me LOL!! haha
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Pioneer mixer though, is he not a full Denon guy? I thought he was using the mixer at one point.
I donât know for sure. Iâve seen he playing on 92/96 a lot, and recently on V10LF
Come on, we can be honest with ourselves and others in saying that X1850 is the weakest link in the chain. Thatâs why you see peeps using 3rd party mixers wâ the SC6000(M)s on Beatport LINKâd sessions. Donât blame peeps one bit. SC6000s have a real chance at leveling the playing field, but untilâ Denon take the mixer line seriously and release something along the caliber of a Pioneer DJM, A&H Xone, Play Differently, Rane, etc⌠then the entire âecosystemâ is NOT going to gain any meaningful ground. Hell, if they would just resurrect the DNX1700 via a modern MK2 version, that would be more respectable. The X1850 looks like a toy. Whether itâs featureset is advanced or not, it âlooksâ like a toy. And peeps can say that doesnât matter, but I would argue that most people didnât even begin taking InMusicâs Denon DJ seriously untilâ the SC6000s came out. I know thatâs when I gave the Prime decks another lookâŚbecause of itâs more mature aesthetics.
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Primeâs got a kind of a subtle grime and muck that gets imbedded in the sound⌠darker, heavier, and sort of processed-sounding. The players are a little muddy and have a few types of distortion added, some of which shows in RMAA, while the mixersâ a little grainy with some completely different type of distortion that doesnât even show up in RMAA. Use them together and you get muddy and grainy. Iâve never used the system and gone, âWow, that sounds refined, delicate, and even pretty.â The average folk might not consciously notice it, but I think it has an effect on both DJs and the audience sticking around with/for the combo.
As a result, few people are probably going to use the Prime mixers with other gear. Also, the big draw was always the playback hardware, anyway. I think I did DJ out once using CDJs and the X1800, and it worked fine, but for the future it became obvious other people wanted a DJM, Rane, or Xone, and I had to admit that the X18xx line has a signature, for good or bad. It seemed necessary to turn it up to a louder level than some other mixers to hear the same amount of detail, particularly when blending signals. I used it successfully enough for the split cue side changing in that gig with IEMs. So, anyway, the mixers are seen as optional by most.
While the X1700 was certainly better-sounding than the X18xx line, I donât know totally why. Itâs not as if the new models are terrible, and the X1700 is, frankly, a high bar for comparison. Iâm sure they can probably get closer to that, but will probably not match the quality of the hardware, which was admittedly exotic for digital DJ gear. The source of the new mixersâ digital-to-digital signature is kind of a mystery. At least the X18xx line doesnât sound strident or artificial, and has a physicality. That said, I think the entire Prime line â players, mixers, and all-in-ones â could probably use improvements to their core audio processing maths.
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Yeah and for me the line fader are â â â â too, even the 900 Nexus 2 have a lot better build
The reason I mentioned the X1700 is because it was Denonâs flagship at the time. Denon need to release something that makes a statement if it wants to sway people over from the other popular mixers on the market. Itâs not good enough to be just good enoughâŚâknow what Iâm saying? Itâs gottaâ have a Wow factor! There has to be no doubt that itâs a flagship mixer.
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Yeah, I mean, they feel like the Xones but even shorter, a length which I havenât heard anyone compliment. At least the curve is adjustable, right? As a result, it is still functional. And my Mackiesâ faders are even looser and the 4ch version isnât even adjustable from the outside, so it could be worse. Glass half full. 
Me, I still want adjustable sweep effects dead zone and the ability to swap the function of those knobs with the up faders like on the DB4.
The X1700 certainly makes me say wow⌠so much wow I often just stopped DJing and would just listen to it when it was upsampling a 44.1khz CDJ SPDIF to 96khz. Anything back then before the tinnitus that could make me stop DJing and listen for pleasure was definitely doing something right. MP2015 might be clearer and even smoother, but the old Denon sounded prettier. Eitherâs sound is a tier I wonât hold the X18xx line to, but it can probably be improved.
The X1700 was a collaboration from Denton engineers and A&H engineers during the brief time they were part of the same umbrella company. While itâs FX sound a bit dated now, the overall build and sound of that mixer is still the pinnacle of any mixer Denon has ever made. When Denon was bought by in music they immediately stopped upgrading the firmware for the X1700 so they could try to foist the anemic X1800 on everyone. So happy I stuck with my X1700 after all these years, especially after all the build quality issues with the X1800 & X1850 mixers. The only bummer is I can no longer use the X1700 soundcard due to inMusicâs shortsightedness. The analog and digital inputs still sound great though.
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I agree with your opinion that X1850 is not on the same level as the old flagship model of Denon, the X1700, in several aspects. And Denon should have a competitor in the class of DJM-V10.
But you choose a very poor argument and I need to correct you on that. Not a single peep on the Beatport Link sessions uses a direct competitor to the X1850 (4ch, line+crossfader mixer with FX) like the DJM900nxs2. So itâs not about X1850 being bad in what it is and does.
If âpeepsâ did not use a X1850 (and a LOT of them did) they used either a 6ch/rotary/4 band EQ/isolator mixer, and the reason is simply that: they needed specific hardware functions that are not available in that class of mixers.
TL:DR âDonât judge a fish based on itâs ability to climb a treeâ.
When itâs about professional DJâs I usually say only wedding DJâs get to be that picky - and that is only because their clients are bridezillas who not only pay them to even look a certain way but put looks on the almost equal level as their DJ skills as a basis for hiring them.
Donât know, I think you also used a wrong argument here - for you it might have been the looks but objectively for others it was probably features like the bigger screen and jogwheel + price + hitting the market just in time for the pandemic.
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one thing I donât understand! in italy there is a female dj who works in a fairly well-known radio! in the live radio she and her colleagues use a prime 4! then when she came as a guest in the club where I play she requested the cdj 2000 nxs 2! my prime did not suit her!
At the end of the day IMO Denon only needs to focus on competing with Pioneer club mixers full stop. Nichy brands like Xone or the boutique brands (Play Differently, all of the rotary guys) have those DJs locked in for a reason. And theyâre not going to compete with Rane unless they also change Raneâs product focus, I donât think they need to make a battle mixer anyway, just make an engine based Rane mixer. Other than for the V10 Iâve not seen many DJs switch out of these other brands, a 92/96 guy is a 92/96 guy, etc, and Denon should not entertain making a 6 channel or 4 band mixer until they can make a world class 4 channel 3 band mixer.
The 900NXS (or whatever replaces it) is what they need to take down, I donât necessarily agree that the 1800s are lesser mixers to use but they do need better components, better build quality, and reference audio to be considered a better product.
Perhaps Jack OâDonnell should simply buy Allen & Heath from whomever owns it right now without changing a thing about their manufacturing & design prowess⌠except put me in charge of some new product dev I have Ideas for them that could crossover to the rest of InMusic, but current A&H is unresponsive to product ideas or job applications.
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Thatâs easy. The radio station will have a sponsorship deal with either Denon or an equipment supplier.