Having played with an S4 on display I really feel it is well constructed.
I’m debating whether to get an S4 or Denon MC6000. Owning Denon’s over the last 5 or so years they have been well built and I’ve never had hardware problems with them.
For all you S4 owners how are your units regarding durability/reliability? Have you had hardware issues with them?
I’m reading the FX buttons are giving problems sticking/not responding and some other issues with lights and fader’s.
From a scale of 1 to 5, 1 being very bad and 5 being excellent, what would you rate the S4 regarding durability/reliability?
The headphone jack has crappy connections. The plug needs to be in a sweet spot to play cleanly in stereo. It’s a big sweet spot though.
I also find the browse and deck buttons to be touchy. Sometimes it’s like they don’t fully click on if you press and release too fast causing for example deck “a” to switch to “c” then back to “a” immediately. Also not a big deal but used to screw me up a little more.
Other than that I haven’t had much issue with my s4. So far no problems with FX buttons or faders on mine.
That might be an issue with your headphones. I had an old pair of mdr700s that just won’t work in my S4 unless I jiggle the plug for literally 30 seconds and if I nudge the connection at all they go dark.
On the topic of the FX buttons being a little iffy, they are. I’ve had mine for shy of 4 months and it’s worked fine up until about 2 weeks ago when the button I normally map the beatmasher to decided that it wouldn’t always respond or would occasionally deactivate itself while I was drumming with the beatmasher. All other buttons work fine, but that second button to the left is just a bit off every now and again. It’s fine, now I map the transpose stretch there because I really never use that on the fly.
The build of the unit is phenomenal, really couldn’t ask for a better build controller shy of the NS7. The weight is a bit of an issue, but that’s probably only because I carry it around in my super heavy Odyssey flight case.
Headphones are definitely the first thing to check in a situation like that. It is more of an issue with my Ultrasones than it is with my Shures since the jack is a slightly different shape between the two. Kind of dumb that the port on the S4 isn’t more adaptable to deal with small differences like that though.
I have the S4 and am happy with it. Though it’s light and plastic and the durability expectation is not very high. There are reports of X1s wearing down after an year of heavy use. Not that they stop, but the feel of the plastic pots is changing. S4 is using the same components.
Still better than average is my vote.
I’ve also played with an MC6000 and think that it’ll last longer. It feels solid and great for sure. Still the Denon won’t be my choice, due to the layout being more busy and tight for me. Also, I don’t actually need it’s mixer features (which are great, btw).
Hmm, I may like the S4 however I must admit that between the plastic built, the soft buttons that may get stuck on occasions (how’s that’s supposed to be performance orientated??? very practical…) and the buttons that may or may not respond (that started only a few weeks after I got the unit), I’m not that quite happy about the built quality.
So I put average, not even above average. I had in the old old past Gemini and Behringer products that were better built than that…
I’m serious about my gear and I would have happily paid a higher price for a higher built quality.
I’ve never had a problem with Denon hardware the only thing is the S4 has more buttons and encoders to play and customize Traktor with. I also don’t like how the MC is set up but reading these forums and Denon’s I’m getting a feeling the S4 is not as well built which is a shame.
I’ve had a Korg Zero 4 and I read all the reviews and like an idiot I bought one cuz nothing at the time matched it’s features except Ecler. Wasn’t happy with it so I sold it and got my Ecler EVO5.
I had the same issue with the sweet spot issue with the headphone. I found that the issue that I was running into stem from the fact that the litte nut On the headphone jack was tighten down two much. Ty loosening the nut. I bet you that will solve your problem.
Ive got one unusable channel (A) which makes it almost useless to use unless I pull 4 deck mode up on the screen and forego the large track list for the small one. Having to use 4 deck mode with a tiny track list is frustrating but I can work around it. I’ve got about 6 buttons that stick down and dont click like the others, sometimes they stay down when I press them, causing unwanted software reactions.
I wasnt happy that the fader died after 3 weeks of use (probably used a total of 5 times for half an hour each before it broke).
I dont like the hastle of sending hardware back if I can work around it, I just wont buy another hardware product made by Native Instruments ever again.
0/10 - Support (Non existant, NI have completely ignored both cases I opened months ago, not one single email reply, not even in my spam folder)
0/10 - Hardware Quality (This ones a no-brainer)
6/10 - price (8/10 if it wasnt shit quality)
8/10 - Software (when I dont have to disable the network driver to get it stable I’ll give it 10/10)
My review total: 33%
Before flaming me for flaming NI and the S4, just keep in mind that first impressions mean NOTHING and that noone in the world can truly comment on the S4’s quality. The thing hasn’t been out for long enough to stand the test of time.
CRAP! I’m really liking the S4!! But this is all bringing back memories of when I was looking into the Korg!!
Maybe I should hang on to my EVO5 and Denon for a while and wait till the next NI controller comes out?
My Denon HS5500 is plastic and metal but I’m very happy with it. Very solid. I’ve owned other Denon’s so I might just keep with what I know is good, for me Denon is the best in the market even though Pioneer is what most top Dj’s use.
dude, the S4 is really great - if you like the layout and features and the capabilities, go for it. You won’t regret it for sure. i’m like 95% sure that it’ll make you happy for quite some time.
The denon has great built quality (it feels so, so nice), but I just don’t like the layout. I knew that it’s not my controller right from the start. I don’t care what a great build it has. My S4 feels great too and I don’t actually have any issues with my unit. Just think that you’ll probably get a unit from the 5th month of manufacturing, which will presumably have most of the early production defects solved.
If you still hesitate, take a look at NS6. It’s the only one, which probably has higher potential than the S4.
other than that, mines great
