DJ CD players

a.g.

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I was thinking last night about CD transports to feed my DacMagic and what would make a good transport as there aren't many dedicated transports under the £500 mark.

So it occurred to me that a CD player designed to be used in clubs might be a good bet, as they must be built like to a brick outhouse if they can withstand large sound waves in clubs and frantic disc-swapping by DJs.

I looked at the Numark website and they have a few models which might be suitable, ranging from something like this:

http://www.numark.com/mp102

to something like this with a nice slot loading mech:

http://www.numark.com/icdx

to this, which looks like it could make an awesome media centre setup:

http://www.numark.com/dds80

Can anyone see a downside to using a CD player aimed at DJs? The only ones I can think of, other than the fact they might sound rubbish, are the lack of remote and possible fan or transport noise. I confess I know nothing about DJ equipment.Has anyone tried it? I might go cruising the cash converter type shops sometime to see if I can pick up something cheap.

Any comments or ideas would be very much appreciated.
 

d_a_n1979

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Why do you feel that a DJ CD player would be the best option?

Why not a budget CDP or one off eBay that has the ability to feed into your DAC?
 

chebby

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I am guessing that no-one here has tried a DJ CD player as a transport through a seperate DAC.

Also a lot of people here (not all) are utilising their DAC to play lossless music from PCs/Macs and PS3's/DVD players etc or to give a new lease of life to an old 80s/90s vintage hifi CD player where the transport is still good, but the old unit's DAC has been left behind by modern technology.

You have proposed an extremely unusual set-up (DJ CDP used as transport only via a DAC for hifi.) Maybe I am wrong and maybe (hopefully) someone can help you.
 

a.g.

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d_a_n1979:Why do you feel that a DJ CD player would be the best option?

Why not a budget CDP or one off eBay that has the ability to feed into your DAC?

I feel that a DJ CDP would make a good transport as they are rugged and they buffer the bitstream to avoid skipping. I am currently using a budget DVD player as a transport (and have used a budget CD player which is no better) and I'm convinced that I could achieve a better result with a DJ CD player.
 

a.g.

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chebby:You have proposed an extremely unusual set-up (DJ CDP used as transport only via a DAC for hifi.) Maybe I am wrong and maybe (hopefully) someone can help you.

Yes I realise that it is unusual but I was hoping someone would see the logic (or expose the lack of) in my thinking.
 

chebby

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a.g.:... I'm convinced that I could achieve a better result with a DJ CD player.

The Rega Apollo CDP buffers the bitstream as well as optimising itself for every CD before play. It sounds fantastic.

OK it costs £586 (a little over your sub £500 budget) but it is well worth the money and relieves you of the need to get a seperate DAC. (The Apollo contains the same Wolfson WM8740 DACs as the CA DacMagic.)
 
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Anonymous

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a.g.:I was thinking last night about CD transports to feed my DacMagic and what would make a good transport as there aren't many dedicated transports under the £500 mark. So it occurred to me that a CD player designed to be used in clubs might be a good bet, as they must be built like to a brick outhouse if they can withstand large sound waves in clubs and frantic disc-swapping by DJs. I looked at the Numark website and they have a few models which might be suitable, ranging from something like this: http://www.numark.com/mp102 to something like this with a nice slot loading mech: http://www.numark.com/icdx to this, which looks like it could make an awesome media centre setup: http://www.numark.com/dds80 Can anyone see a downside to using a CD player aimed at DJs? The only ones I can think of, other than the fact they might sound rubbish, are the lack of remote and possible fan or transport noise. I confess I know nothing about DJ equipment.Has anyone tried it? I might go cruising the cash converter type shops sometime to see if I can pick up something cheap. Any comments or ideas would be very much appreciated.

As a long term, die-hard clubber and having used/owned quite a bit of DJ kit in the past (aswell as being a bit of a purist Hi-Fi fan), I guess if anyone here could be considered qualified to comment it would be me! lol

But seriously, I wouldn't be looking into using a DJ CD deck for the reasons you've described here.

The reason being that, unless were talking about the pro level kit such as the Pioneer CDJ 1000's which are closer to £1k each than £500, they're just aimed at "bedroom" users really and things like build quality tend to take a backseat in favour of loading them with features and gadgets (you can't have it all for that price, unfortunatley!). In fact a lot of the budget kit's just made out of the kind of plastic you'd normaly find Tic-Tacs rattling around in.

The only plus point I could think of would be if you like the idea of being able to alter the tempo of your CD's or just prefer flashing lights and buttons over understated simplicity.
 

link

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a.g.:

Yes I realise that it is unusual but I was hoping someone would see the logic (or expose the lack of) in my thinking.

mind you, a decent dj cd player would costs more than a hi-fi entry level cd player. ( the likes of nad, marantz and ca entry level. )
 
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Anonymous

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If you really are considering using CDJ's then as has been previously stated, the industry standard is the CDJ-1000 Mk 3 but they are around £900.

As a piece of DJ equipment they are unbelievably good but used for HiFi I would have no idea.

You could try the next model down which is the Pioneer CDJ-800 Mk 2 and can be bought for around £500 - £550.

This is a good quality CDJ but again, I would not know it's suitability for HiFi

A little cheaper, and offering the versatility of being able to plug in an mp3 player / ipod (not ipod touch currently), memory stick etc via usb is the Pioneer CDJ-400 which is around £400 - £450.
 
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Anonymous

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Capitan:If you really are considering using CDJ's then as has been previously stated, the industry standard is the CDJ-1000 Mk 3 but they are around £900. As a piece of DJ equipment they are unbelievably good but used for HiFi I would have no idea. You could try the next model down which is the Pioneer CDJ-800 Mk 2 and can be bought for around £500 - £550. This is a good quality CDJ but again, I would not know it's suitability for HiFi A little cheaper, and offering the versatility of being able to plug in an mp3 player / ipod (not ipod touch currently), memory stick etc via usb is the Pioneer CDJ-400 which is around £400 - £450.

I suppose it would come down to taste in music and how you like it to sound.

After all, pretty much every single commercial mixed club music compilation release these days can be taken for granted as being mixed on the Pioneers (even then the tracks themselves would have been downloaded WAV files and not hard copies) and I've never had any grumble with how they sound! lol

If you really want a DJ CD player though I'd forget Numarks etc. completely and would be looking at the Pioneers with tunnel vision (whatever the budget). However, once you've bought one of these and added a DAC you could have just bought a stonking CD player anyway!

It would also be a trajic waste of the CDJ's features just to use it as a transport anyway. I mean, unless you throw it at a wall, not many Hi-Fi CD players in the £500+ region I can think of are what you'd call "flimsy".

Something like a Cyrus feels as much like a brick as it looks like one (only much prettier, obviously).
 
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Anonymous

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ARW77:

I suppose it would come down to taste in music and how you like it to sound.

Yes, if you like the sound of fingers run down a blackboard then go for it! ;)
 

d_a_n1979

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With the range of CDP's available on todays market; i think that using a DJ CDP with a DAC is a waste of money.

As someone said above; you can get the Rega Apollo for around the £600 mark and that, IMO, is one of the best CDP's available for under £1k, maybe £1.5k on the market today!

I also think that it would produce a sound much better thana DJ CDP with a DAC.
 

chebby

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Just out of interest why does it have to be a DJ deck?

For a LOT less than the £500 budget you mentioned you could be looking at the NAD C545BEE or Marantz CD6002....

http://whathifi.com/Review/NAD-C545BEE/

Unless you are going to be using your hifi under club conditions then something like a good £350 'domestic' hifi CD player is going to be far better.

I understand that you have a DacMagic already and just want a transport but the Dacmagic can still be utilised with great results connected to your computer/DVD player/PS3 or whatever.

Or maybe if you really want to save £s then check out a NAD C515BEE....

http://whathifi.com/Review/NAD-C515BEE/

It has both co-ax and optical digital outputs on the rear so could be connected to your DacMagic to good effect. (The DAC inside the more expensive C545BEE is probably on a par with the DacMagic but the C515BEE may benefit from being used this way.)
 

ianr23gp

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As a DJ of more than 10 years this does seem a fairly odd idea (to quote the others in here!). I'm not going to add anything but to say that Pioneer CDJs are designed for audio manipulation, i.e. cueing, looping, hot cues etc whereas dedicated hi fi players are designed to output audio in it's purest form without colouring the sound.

Another consideration is that the CDJs actually run with a slight hum which is not great for late night listening at lower volumes (although I've not tried them with the Tacima as my CDJs are packed away now).

Suggest you only consider a CDJ if you want to take up DJing and not use it as your primary source.
 

a.g.

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Thankyou all for the replies. It seems like I would be better off buying a proper hi-fi CDP although if I see a cheap DJ CD player I might just buy it for the hell of it. Obviously I would get a no-frills one as I don't need all the toys like pitch control, scratching etc.

I have considered the Rega Apollo but the top-loading mechanism is impractical. I am thinking about the NAD C545BEE or the new C565BEE, when it comes out. I am reluctant to buy a CDP with a good DAC because I am getting my DacMagic upgraded - after that it will supposedly rival £1,000 DACs, but we shall wait and see. I am tempted by the budget NAD as a transport because I have owned a NAD CDP before and it was just so brilliantly musical, as all you NAD owners will know.
 

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