Pioneer CDJ-2000NXS2 DJ Review

[gambit]

In the old days they did lug cases of CDs - but that is the very old days. As Somafunk says, it's been USB thumb drives full of mp3s for a long time - hence the 2000NXS2 is the last (top end) deck with the CD drive, the 3000 removed it:

CDJ-3000 - Professional DJ multi player

Enhance your creative power with our evolved flagship multi player, the CDJ-3000. This robust unit is powered by a new MPU and packed with specially developed high-quality components and innovative features.

www.pioneerdj.com

 

[Waxx]

In the old days they did lug cases of CDs - but that is the very old days. As Somafunk says, it's been USB thumb drives full of mp3s for a long time - hence the 2000NXS2 is the last (top end) deck with the CD drive, the 3000 removed it:

CDJ-3000 - Professional DJ multi player

Enhance your creative power with our evolved flagship multi player, the CDJ-3000. This robust unit is powered by a new MPU and packed with specially developed high-quality components and innovative features.

www.pioneerdj.com

Most serious dj's don't use mp3, they use flac these days as GB's are cheap and the sound on hi power systems is better with it. A 256GB scandisk usb stick cost like 25€ these days...

 

[Somafunk]

Just voted so I now see the ratings, why did folk vote for poor?, it has an obvious fault.

I voted fine as I’ve used one but it has its quirks in use and it takes time to explore and make the most of it but it was/is very capable, rather expensive for the majority of folk though.

 

[mhardy6647]

Fascinating. Gotta be a defect eith this unit, don't we think? Yes, I understand that some troubleshooting/sleuthing was undertaken (the best part of an article like this one for me(.

Now... mind you, I am speculating -- given the, ahem, use case for a component like this, perhaps (???) it is designed for an appropriate baptism burn in prior to use. Just a suggestion... but perhaps @amirm could contemplate, say, pouring a bottle of lager over the top, or maybe just shaking a bag or two of cigaratte (or whatever ) ashes into it. Such a pre-equilibration may be just what the DJ ordered to get one of these ready to rock 'n' roll -- umm. I guess I mean hip-hop -- at the club!

 

[EJ3]

Thanks for the photo.

Can you explain what the device is for? Is it for playing CDs? If so, does that mean all of your mates lug cases of CDs to gigs?

A DJ-specific HW UI and audio interface that controls your DJ app on the laptop would not need to be so big.

It's not about size at all.
As was clearly stated: It's largely about the aesthetics of the gear (although they also want it to be performant to a high standard).
I have no idea of why so many people always focus on size. I'll guess that it is where they live that causes that focus.
Those that do focus on small size, have their reasons, I am sure.
If the person wanted a small size, then that is likely what they would have.
Small size is not what this person wanted.
And neither do I.

 

[JayGilb]

Amir, Thanks for the review.

It was worth reading due to the smile it put on my face imagining you with a over sized jersey and backwards cap when testing it.

 

[Somafunk]

Amir, Thanks for the review.

It was worth reading due to the smile it put on my face imagining you with a over sized jersey and backwards cap when testing it.

I was more leaning towards a few ecstasy pills and gobo lighting/lasers emanating from the Amir compound as he spins up a long 8hr set ending with a classic sunrise tune.

 

[Multicore]

It's not about size at all.
As was clearly stated: It's largely about the aesthetics of the gear (although they also want it to be performant to a high standard).
I have no idea of why so many people always focus on size. I'll guess that it is where they live that causes that focus.
Those that do focus on small size, have their reasons, I am sure.
If the person wanted a small size, then that is likely what they would have.
Small size is not what this person wanted.
And neither do I.

I see. So @Somafunk 's mates who transport these to their DJ gigs do so for the looks. Good.

My other questions remain: what are they used for? is it playing CDs? and if so, do said mates transport also collections of CDs to the gigs?

 

[Somafunk]

I see. So @Somafunk 's mates who transport these to their DJ gigs do so for the looks. Good.

My other questions remain: what are they used for? is it playing CDs? and if so, do said mates transport also collections of CDs to the gigs?

No-one ever transports their personal decks to the club, the pioneer is pretty much the ubiquitous player in every club in the world so every dj/electronic music geek has their own at home

To your second question, yes they can play cd’s but more likely to be used with a usb of selected tunes connected to a suitable mixer then to a laptop running traktor or some other DJ software.

No one carries cd’s to gigs, apart from shit DJ’s who perform in flat roofed pubs or at inter related family/cousin to cousin marriages in backwaters

 

[AnalogSteph]

At this point, I jumped to my last test, which is distortion+noise vs frequency:

The sharp increase even in the good channel above 10 kHz was puzzling to me, causing me to run a bunch more tests. First was to run a wideband FFT at 1 and 20 kHz:

Clearly something strange is going on at 20 kHz. Somehow the noise floor goes down but massive amount of sidebands appear.

The most likely explanation I have for this is a so-so quality (DSP) resampler. That's not even distortion in the classic sense, it's aliasing. Remember that this unit has to be able to just about arbitrarily vary pitch, and potentially crossfade between two files of differing sample rates.

Mind you, the PLL clock generator seems to be a bit noisy as well, or maybe it's the DAC reference voltage that is. I see some odd-order mains harmonics modulating the 1 kHz tone, so the mains / transformer wiring may be coupling into some loop. I imagine nothing of the kind would be of utmost concern in a unit like this.

 

[EJ3]

I see. So @Somafunk 's mates who transport these to their DJ gigs do so for the looks. Good.

My other questions remain: what are they used for? is it playing CDs? and if so, do said mates transport also collections of CDs to the gigs?

Again, reading/comprehension.
He clearly stated that it is in his home audio system because he likes the aesthetics.
(it's not being transported anywhere)
I guess that it is nostalgic & reminds him of his days frequenting disco's
(That is my guess, anyway).
But the why doesn't really matter (except to him).
Obviously he had some concerns about it's performance.
Which was found to have some issues.
Now he has some choices: fix the issues if he has the expertise
or have it fixed by someone that has the expertise to do so.
(if you have some insight on those two choices, it would likely be helpful).
(Not being able to fix it myself & not knowing who might be able to fix it, leads me to not commenting on it)
Or find another one of the same unit that is more performant.
One of those three choices is what I would do if it where something that I wanted in my audio system.
Aesthetically, it is not what I would want in my system, however.
There are other choices (neither of which I would choose if I really liked the aesthetics of this one):
Use it as is & accept the issues. Which is not what I would do.
Or do like you say & change to something else to use for it's purpose.
(rather hard to do since a large part of it's purpose is aesthetic [what I would most likely do but likely not in a small format])

 

[Multicore]

No-one ever transports their personal decks to the club, the pioneer is pretty much the ubiquitous player in every club in the world so every dj/electronic music geek has their own at home

To your second question, yes they can play cd’s but more likely to be used with a usb of selected tunes connected to a suitable mixer then to a laptop running traktor or some other DJ software.

No one carries cd’s to gigs, apart from shit DJ’s who perform in flat roofed pubs or at inter related family/cousin to cousin marriages in backwaters

I see
I see
I see

 

[EJ3]

I see
I see
I see

Yes, for many (me included): it's not just is it transparent or is it small & transparent.
I think that we all hope for transparency.
And for something that is transparent AND fits our personal size AND aesthetic desires
(for me, that is the 1, 2, 3 order [but others may have a different order of importance].

 

[Buckness808]

This is actually really cool you measured CDJs I’ve wondered about these

 

[Waxx]

The rare times i still play as dj i use a mix of vinyl and recordbox (dj software) on a laptop (connected over usb) or an usb key with music on. Both are recognised by the cdj. But you would be surprised how many still use cd's. If they don't have cdj's i often use a laptop with a controller.

But dj'ing did change a lot over the last decades. I started in the 90's with vinyl only (with technics SL1200 and a Rodec mixer that was then a standard in Belgium), but today that is a rarety. The first 15 years of my dj career were vinyl only almost. It's only about 2010 that digital players were good enough to fit my playing style.

 

[Mart68]

shit DJ’s who perform in flat roofed pubs or at inter related family/cousin to cousin marriages in backwaters

Now you're making me nostalgic.

 

[Luca Sorrentino]

The root cause was a suspicious MKT

I had similar behavior in a NAD phono preamp, it was caused by a film cap too.
A NAD PP2i.

 

[Labjr]

I've never thought anyone really cared about sound quality of DJ equipment. Every time I've been to an event with a DJ, the quality of everything has been terrible. Ten years ago my class organized a reunion. I offered to advise and supply the highest quality music wherever possible. Nobody listened to me but instead, a classmate's relative was paid to DJ with MP3 files on a notebook and some cheap powered satellite speakers. It was awful.

 

[Chr1]

That's like saying that you went to see a rock/any band at a local get together once and the sound was bad.
And therefore you thought all bands had bad sound. There's both good and bad sound quality within all genres.

 

[contrailcowboy]

I've never thought anyone really cared about sound quality of DJ equipment. Every time I've been to an event with a DJ, the quality of everything has been terrible. Ten years ago my class organized a reunion. I offered to advise and supply the highest quality music wherever possible. Nobody listened to me but instead, a classmate's relative was paid to DJ with MP3 files on a notebook and some cheap powered satellite speakers. It was awful.

Just like the consumer listening market, some club and festival attendees really don't care about sound but a small percentage really really do.

Allen & Heath's Analog 'Xone' DJ Mixer line has the same attention to sound quality A&H is famously known for in its sound reinforcement mixing gear. AlphaTheta (Pioneer DJ's successor brand) makes a high-end mixer with the same ESS Sabre DAC chips we see in some Audiophile DACs, and an analog preamp by Rupert Neve Designs.

Most club-oriented amplifiers have the same IIR and FIR DSP you see in miniDSP DAC/preamps and high-end 'digital' speakers such as Genelec, Dutch & Dutch, or Kii Audio, and use similar class D designs to the most modern well-regarded audiophile amps. In some cases, such as Crown Amps, the designs are basically the same between markets. Some speaker designers who serve the club/dance market like JBL and Tom Danley also make well-regarded audiophile speakers.