Which CDJ for a "high-end noob"?

DJ Gear & Hardware CDJ & Vinyl DJing
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Which CDJ for a “high-end noob”?

Hi all,

Looking for my first CDJ’s. A little about me:

Late 1990’s San Francisco rave scene. Used to bedroom DJ on 1200’s. I rarely touched them after about 2004. Lot’s has changed since then obviously.

That said, I’m the type who likes to make “sound” purchases. If I’m going to spin vinyl and it’s 1999, MK2’s and a Rane mixer. I’ll buy the 909 instead of the software synth if you know what I mean.

Much of this is obviously out of wanting good gear. The other half (yes, almost half) is that I like to buy things that have value/demand as a sort of industry-standard, making it easier to one day resell.

So that said, I know there’s oodles of CDJ’s out there. I figure stick with Pioneer. Beyond that, can anyone give me a crash course on the different generations? I see MK2, MK3, etc. It would be awesome to even get a breakdown of the evolution: “from 2000-2005 the CDJ XXX was king. Then more digital effects were added, blinky lights, laptop sync etc, so from 2006-2012 the CDJ XXXX and XXXX have reigned.”

I like this because I figure I don’t need anything crazy from the last few years as they all seem to be about digital tie-in etc. While this would be nice, I figure I should get comfortable with CDJ’s in general, perhaps using one from the earlier generations that led initial charge from vinyl…but like, the one that the clubs would have used, if that makes sense :wink:

I figure I’ll start out using my existing Rane MP22z mixer.

**TLDR:**what have been the industry-standard CDJ’s for the last decade? And which would be a solid buy to use for a year, then sell for more or less the same amount due to having a solid legacy?

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CDJ2000mk2

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Okay so if you’re planning on buying CDJ with a solid resale value and that’s really your focus, then it’s the 2000 nexuses. Realistically, they’re going to have the highest resale value in the future. They’re the new “it.”

If you’re just buying the decks to resell, though, IDK - I can’t really advise you do that. I’d prefer to pick the best CDJs you can afford and keep them as long as you can, if you’re really serious about DJing and playing on them.

I don’t know if you have any budgetary constraints, but obviously the 2000nexuses are at the high end of the range, since you can’t buy them used ATM and they come in at a staggering ~2300.

If you’re talking about this from a “I want to learn how to DJ on them and practice into the future” perspective, where you actually get the most value from the kit, it’s really dependent on price range. IMHO, rekordbox is a must at this point if you’re going in on new kit. Other than that it’s all budget. I may get flak for saying this, but legitimately the difference between the 850, 900 and 2000 (and 2000 nexus for that matter) are all luxury, particularly if you’re familiar with playing on vinyl. It’s really a matter of whether or not you have hot cues, whether or not you have reverse, slip mode, needledrop search, individual control over brake/start speeds, screen size, and tightness of the jog wheel. A lot of these are “nice to haves” but not anything even close to essential.

Again, this is just my opinion, if money is no object, the 2000 nexuses are a sure bet. There is no other option that makes sense. If you’re on a budget, I’d say the 900s (or a used pair of 2000mk1s) if you can swing 'em. The big luxury you lose in the jump from the 900s to the 850s (aside from the reasonable screen on the 900s to the not-so-fantastic one on the 850s) is pro dj link, which again, is a convenience, but that’s going to give you the ability to funnel audio from rekordbox on a laptop, or share a single flash drive between decks. Personally, that’s the “big deal” floor that I wouldn’t drop below unless budget constraints are really tight.

In summary, if my ginned up comment hasn’t made any sense (since I dropped in after playing for a couple hours and had a few), the 2000s are tits, but all CDJs are functionally the same. Everything in the line will teach you how to play on a CDJ, fundamentally they all behave exactly the same (unless you rely on sync, in which case the nexus is your only option,) and it’s really a matter of what you can afford. If you had to pick ONE feature to bank on as driving your purchase, I’d say pick the best deck you can afford that can handle Rekordbox.

Just my $0.02

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Yes I would say any Pio CDJ deck with RekordBox support as that’s their long-term strategy.

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Im in the same situation, im getting the XDJ-Aero then later will upgrade if i feel the need.
Still uses Rekordbox and will get me familiar with the pio cdj workflow enough for me to decide if i want to invest further.

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Awesome Proto, exactly what I was looking for!

To follow up and to also throw a wrench in the engine, budget is indeed an issue. I’m pleased to know that the 2000 Nexus is indeed the all-in choice, but that’s definitely down the road.

I suppose some of my hesitation spawns from the fact that I’m so out-of-the-loop with how clubs work these days. (And in all honesty, I figure spinning live is pretty far down the line for me as is.) But as a reminder, I come from a “two turntables and a mixer” background, so DVS, rekordbox, laptops, controllers…all this is pretty out there for me. Is there anything wrong with simply throwing down some tracks on “two CDJs and a mixer”?

In the end, I like to do things right the first time, and I figure getting used to pure-CDJs will prepare me to be able to spin in the majority of situations. I look at anything else as extensions, add-ons, or simply different ways to approach the same goal - playing some great tunes.

I’d say what’s most important for me right now is quality, and for me that means feel. I figure things like sharing memory sticks between two decks is a luxury I don’t necessarily need. Rather, I’d consider upgrading if someone told me “this one has a more accurate jog wheel” etc. Man, I’ma miss those bumps of the 1200. Curious about the Denon 3900 for that reason, but then I go back to wanting to get used to “club standards.”

Feature wise, I think I do like the idea of USB over burning a bunch of CDs. Yet to read about the tradeoff (IE, USBs fail, clubs might not have USB, who knows…)

That said, I’m sure they’re all great for a noob. Likely it will just come down to budget. On that note, are we able to put these into a hierarchy tiers (including sub-MKs)? IE 2000 nexus, 2000 mk1, 950, 850, 1000mk3…? And if so, rough price to expect on the second-hand market?

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honestly the resale prices vary so widely by my experience i couldn’t give you an accurate range, though for the rekordbox-supporting group of CDJs I wouldn’t expect to shave more than 30% off the price on a good day, used.

honestly, nobody that counts cares what the fuck you play on, so take that out of the equation.

the good news is the jog wheels and essentials (as i said) behave pretty much the same across all pioneer kit so long as you can secure a pair of 850s/900s/2000s you’ll be good to go

i’m not going to (nor would I be able to) put these things into price tiers as the resale prices vary, but really, i’d just take the entire previous tier of pioneer gear (1000, 800, etc) off the table considering you’re looking at resale value. focus on the 850, 900, and 2000 and see if you can find a used pair on craigslist or something.

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Beautiful, I’ll keep my eye on those three options.

On another note, I read this quote and feel like it applies to me as I could see myself tiring of burning and carrying CDs:

"I was tired of constantly burning CDs each week for my radio show so I had to get Traktor or buy 900s, and I chose Traktor because it was cheaper. I haven’t had any problems with the CDJ1000mk3 w/ Traktor combo yet. But in all honesty, I prefer no laptop. Mixing is much more organic that way and the jump drive option would be amazing."

Am I correct that the alternatives to CDs are:

  • Two CDJ’s that control digital files stored on a laptop and organized in a software like Traktor / Serrato
  • Two CDJ’s that control difital files stored on a USB, and nothing else
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Again, rekordbox.

All rekordbox supporting hardware accepts a USB key. You don’t need to burn CDs, you dump shit onto a USB key or hook a laptop running rekordbox onto a network that the CDJs are on.

You can also use timecode discs with them, and 2000s (and 900s I think) can function as controllers for traktor/serato/VDJ._

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This sounds like some Star Trek stuff.

Jokes aside, getting a pretty good grasp on where things are now. What were clubs like say 2005-2009 (pre USB etc)? Were people simply bringing their CD’s everywhere like we used to with vinyl? And is it safe to say that now going forward, clubs will have USB-ready systems?

I think I’ll be tend towards the “less gear the better” approach, at least to start.

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yup, people brought CDs everywhere.

also, it’s not safe to say, call ahead or travel with usb and CDs

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I’ll be sure to call Space ahead of time :wink:

Last question in case you’re still up. I randomly saw the 400 has USB too. I imagine the the tradeoff from, say, paying more for USB on the 850 is Rekordbox?

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it has no rekordbox, and honestly, the 400 is dropping below the threshhold where you’ll even know how to work a large-format CDJ. the jog wheel has a VERY different feel from any of the larger CDJs.

the feel is very different. the muscle memory for tempo adjustments you’ll develop will be inaccurate for larger decks.

edit: just to clarify, after enough time on cdjs i’m able to play by feel - i hear drift, i adjust by instinct without thinking. when i jumped from the s4 back to CDJs, I was way overcompensating for the small jog wheel. the small wheel on the 400s is definitely not going to give you that memory.

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If you don’t want USB/computer integration all the 850/900/2000(nexus) are just one thing: way to expensive. You’d be paying for stuff you don’t even need.

If you don’t need USB connectivity or don’t want to use your CDJ as a controller for any DJ software, you don’t need any of that new stuff these pieces of gear are offering.

As long as all you want is play CDs, get familiar with the concept of CDJs, and don’t mind burning CDs and bringing them to the club, you should go for the CDJ 1000 mk3. The CDJ 1000 was initially released in 2001 and was the first CD Player that “led initial change from vinyl” as you put it. That player used to be the club standard for that time, and actually kind of still is, as many smaller clubs still haven’t made the change to the 2000.
Their prices are typically pretty stable. I’ve never seen a serious price drop in the second hand market for pioneer players, even when a new generation model was released.

There also is the CDJ 800 mk2, that was meant as a “home version” of the CDJ 1000, giving DJs all the important functionalities of the CDJ 1000 they knew from the club at a lower price point for home use. Again, the features the 1000 offers over the 900 are not really necessary of all you want to do is get used to CDJ mixing.

So my advice would be: Get the CDJ-1000 mk3 or CDJ-800 mk2 now, and if you feel you want more features sell them in a year or so and upgrade, your chances of losing a significant amount of money in this deal are really small.

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This is what I was going to say - if the rekordbox goodies are too dear price-wise, go for the 1000. It’s still going to cost way more than it’s worth because for some stupid reason Pioneer CDJs hold their value (despite there being an absolute glut of the things as well as a slew of new models). You’ll be lucky to find used mk3s for less than $600, which is what I paid for my mk1 years ago (it was a floor model from Guitar Center that had seen some abuse). Even the mk1s and 2s go for $500 routinely. I’d go for the mk3 if possible because you have more control over the platter, which would be helpful since you’re from a vinyl background, but if you aren’t really interested in scratching or manipulating the platter much, the mk2s are great. The other big difference in the mk3 is a waveform display if you’re into that sort of thing. The mk3 also plays mp3 CDs but it’s really not worth it for that since you really can’t easily manage that many songs on one CD, and it takes longer for them to load up; most people I’ve heard from who play on mk3s prefer to use regular CDs over mp3 CDs anyway.

The mk1 is fine too if you can find them, but there are a lot of annoyances - the platter is just ok; the digital outputs don’t work for shit; looping is pretty inaccurate (I heard it is much better on the mk3, I’m not sure about the mk2 on this point). I think the mk2 and 3 have larger buffers too which means less annoyance cueing things up. Short version: go for 1000mk3 if you can afford it; otherwise 1000mk2 will probably keep you happy for a while.

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I likely wouldn’t go any lower than the MK3.

Problem is that I’m easily upsold, but I suppose the price jump from the 1000 to the 900 is indeed pretty large.

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just a heads up, pioneer currently have some refurbished 850/900/2000s up on their website, which they rarely do. I have friends that have had good success with their refurbs. i just scored a set of 850s for a little over 1100 for the pair shipped, not too bad.

http://www.pioneerelectronics.com/PUSA/DJ/CD-DVD-Media-Players

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Thanks for the heads-up! I coincidentally came across this a few hours ago. ~$840 for a 900, free shipping.

I searched Google and found a surprising little amount of comments on buying refurb from Pioneer. The only things I discovered are that:

-90 day warranty
-Paired unit’s production date may differ, thus display brightness can vary
-May be spotless, may have light scratching

Nothing much beyond that, which is surprising because $840 is nearing the price I’ve seen them going for on Ebay and CL - odd since you think for $40 (and tax) more, people would buy direct.

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ya one of my friends bought a pair of refurbed 800s a year or 2 ago, one of them was DOA, but it was sent back and they promptly sent him a brand new 800. the cdjs have held up since then. another friend got a refurb djm700 (for 500! a steal!) and that thing was cherry, looked brand new and has held up like a tank.

personally i would prefer to buy factory refurbished as opposed to used via ebay/craigslist, as they usually run at about the same price, and with used you just never know what your going to get.

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Those are some great prices…