Pioneer CDJ Nexus 3/XDJ 2000

In my opinion this could happen because the microprocessor should be able to manage double the work: one for layer A and another for layer B at the same time. In fact, no one forbids having a track in the final phase on layer A and wanting to enter the track on layer B.

Where did you hear they didn’t do the dual layers thing because of sound quality considerations?

Prior old Denon DJ units with dual layers didn’t have lousy sound quality even when you turned key lock off. Prime’s current sound seems mostly a matter of poor quality sample rate conversion (and many anti-aliasing filter steps) both in the compatibility with a huge range of sample rates while using a single common processing rate that doesn’t just match the played track on that layer, and I would assume combined with the same questionable method of SRC for just changing the track speed with the pitch fader even when Elastique is deactivated.

It’s possible Pioneer could have dropped its long-used and proven reference-quality transport method of sample rate matching and instead rely on good quality SRC on the CDJ-3000 that resembles something like the DN-X1700’s SRC method, which might be processor-intensive such that they can’t manage dual layers and everything else they’re trying to do on a single player. Using a common 32/96 on every player all the time might make the cue lookahead link thing and stuff like sample triggering easier to implement on the CDJ-3000.

PioneerDJ replied directly to a comment on their YouTube channel stating this

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Looks like they are doing a common 32/96 processing for every deck regardless of the track. Not ‘better’ but can be quite good, even if different-sounding, compared to their tried & true adaptive-rate audiophile method they’ve used wonderfully for over a decade… assuming they use a sophisticated-enough SRC and implement it well.

This also means, though, that InMusic should probably not bother too much with trying to improve Prime playback’s SRC quality (maybe a little for the speed change algorithm :stuck_out_tongue:) but instead move to the adaptive-rate method on each layer and forget about trying to do sample triggering or any of the other wiz-bang features that might require a common DAW-like processing format everything shares. They wouldn’t just improve their own relative sound quality, but surpass Pioneer’s new flagship as technically ‘reference-grade’, no matter how pretty the new Pioneer SRC is… and it could be darn pretty-sounding going by what the DN-X1700 achieved. InMusic can leave sample triggering and other stuff that needs a common rate to something like Prime-branded Akai external hardware or communicating with a PC. Combining adaptive-rates on each layer of Prime playback with Denon DJ mixers’ ability to set the sample rate to match most of your tracks would be a heck of a selling point. After all, one of the stated Prime selling points is indeed “legacy” old Denon DJ sound quality, and the ability to change the mixer sample rates has really been unique to them.

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Good note. I have always requested the option to remove the album artwork on the 5000’s screen so I have room for larger text, but your point raises the bar even more. Hopefully this becomes an option in the future!

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Local retailer says it’s in stock already. Crazy right.

No, not crazy at all. Denon not being able to do similar is crazy.

Guessing that’s where a huge chunk of the amount they charge goes into.

The world famous pio tax

Exactly! Denon need to stop teasing stuff that is not available right now with the retailer

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Well, either you pay for QA in parts quality and reducing manufacturing variance and getting all your development & testing done before release embedded in the actual price tag, or the users (or at least some of the users) pay for it in their time & sweat after-the-fact both in dealing with the associated gear headaches and working to improve the products later. We will see, but if they’ve developed and refined this design totally in secret like this without any pre-release hype and suddenly release it that quickly after announcement without any associated serious bugs, reliability problems, or need for a successor soon after due to design oversights they didn’t resolve in-house, well, props on that.

From the look of it, though, they have only dealt with one of the three things I wanted them to, and they look to have no interest in updating their older models’ firmwares.

Sc6000 wins when it comes to features and future proofing, the cdj 3000 hardware is limiting from the off and no matter what software features are added the fact is Pioneer wants to keep you to RB and Serato, Denon open to all so its the classic Android vs Iphone situation.

Both marketing methods have their issues. Somewhere in between would be nice, I don’t like to wait long also…

  • Announce > it will come, hold on. Wait a bit more, but hold the cash.
  • Announce > instant available, sorry if you bought your CDJ-2000 in Covid time after waiting 4 years.

(However, in the last case you can relax, because your 2000 is not much different from the 3000 :wink: )

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That is definitely throwing shade at Denon DJ with their comment. Even if it is true, they are preemptively putting it out there in preparation for the barrage of comments they’ll get.

Has anyone seen their press release and how many times they write about stability? It is like they have to keep writing over again how stable they are in professional scenarios.

of course because they don’t have much to offer otherwise.

Yeah, what’s durability, stability, and better-than-compressed-to-ish-bluetooth-like sound quality really worth in pro sound circles, anyway… :roll_eyes:

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TRANSLATION: Denon figured it out but we couldn’t, so out of the 1000 people we asked if they needed it, we filtered the list down to 200 who said they didn’t, and stuck with this as the answer. Thank you for watching and hopefully you’ll find it in your heart to overpay for a media player with far less bells-n-whistles than the competition.

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officespace

Oh, and I hate to keep giving Pioneer a beat down, BUT

the Prime players will play my Mp4 (video) files also. The CDJ-3000 can’t.

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thats how you display a playlist though

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Not a lot of interesting hardware changes imo BUT they have done some great updates to the interface. Credit there for sure. The ability to listen ahead in cue to a currently playing track is pretty great, more and better info in the table view, etc.

One of the angles that I think Denon has really considered — and Pioneer ignores — is the consistency of the experience between devices in the range. Most of the stuff works the same and has the same features, and new features can be rolled out across the line with Engine OS. CDJs have a consistent core paradigm, but as you go up the price ladder the features available keeps changing.

So it’s great that Pioneer has got a smarter interface here, but they can’t bring that to any of their existing players. It’s really yet another paradigm to have to know when you’re going out to play, and one that wouldn’t trickle out to booths very quickly even in normal times.

They did a good job under the hood though. From my point of view Pioneer and Denon did a good job with their gear. The split will be from a difference in philosophy.

I can’t wait to see the attrition warfare between the two now. The brinksmanship and one upping… :joy:

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