Hey, it's Joey for Digital DJ Tips right
now taking a look at this: It's the XDJ-700
multiplayer from Pioneer DJ.
Now, this was introduced shortly after
the original XDJ-1000 was launched,
sometime in 2015. So, it's been around for
a while now and yes, there are a lot of
reviews of this online. In fact, Mojaxx
over at DJ City has a really good in-depth video, I've linked to it in the
description box below, so you can watch
that after you view this video However, I
thought that it would be worth giving
our thoughts on the XDJ-700, simply
because some of you have been asking us
about this unit over at the Digital DJ Tips
website. So, in this video we're
going to do two things: first off, I'm
going to give you a features highlight
of the XDJ-700 and then after that I'm
going to give you my thoughts on who
this unit is aimed at. Let's get started.
The XDJ-700 is Pioneer DJ's standalone
compact multiplayer. It was introduced in
the same year as the XDJ-1000 which
made waves because did away with the CD
slot. The XDJ-700 is basically the same
device but with a smaller jog wheel and
less controls on the face of the unit.
The jog wheel is mechanical, meaning you
have to apply some pressure in order to
do scratches in vinyl mode. I prefer
full-size jogs but the jog wheel on the
XDJ-700 is decent and responsive. The
high-res display is the same as on the XDJ-1000 though and that's a good thing
because the touchscreen is crisp clear and very responsive. It's easy to see and use,
even in a dark sweaty bar. It works with
Rekordbox, meaning it reads USB drives
with music that has been prepared using
Pioneer DJ's own Rekordbox software.
Just like what you do if you were
spinning with some drives on a club
standard CDJ setup, it also works with
Rekordbox DJ running on the laptop. In
this case, it acts more like a pretty
expensive DJ controller and sound card.
In my opinion, using the XDJ-700 with a
thumb drive is the way to go if you're
prepping for a club gig. Alright, so who
is the XDJ-700 for? If you are a club DJ or
a pro who regularly spins on CDJs, the XDJ-700 is a relatively inexpensive
option for home use. If you want to have
a multiplayer in your home or bedroom
set-up, having a pair of these runs at
just a little over US$1,300. Certainly a
lot less money compared to buying just
one CDJ-2000 Nexus. Even though the jog
wheel is a little bit smaller compared
to a full-size CDJ jog, it still retains
that mechanical feel, so in my opinion,
it's a lot closer to what a real CDJ
jog wheel feels like ,compared to what
you'd expect to find even on Pioneer DJ
controllers whose platters are touch-sensitive. Now, speaking of controllers, if
you are a controller DJ and you'd want
to switch to using club standard CDJs,
let's say you want to start DJing
without a laptop, well I think the XDJ-700
is also a good option for that and I
actually prefer this over the more
expensive XDJ-1000 MK2, even though
it's a bit smaller and again the
jog wheel is significantly smaller,
compared to what you'd find on the XDJ-1000 MK2,
it retains most of the
features that you would need in order to
get started DJing with just a thumb
drive. I like to think of the XDJ-700 as
sort of training wheels for the
controller DJ. Sometimes you're so used
to looking at your laptop screen while
you're mixing that you tend to ride the
waveforms instead of just listening to
them.
DJing with the XDJ-700 without that
laptop screen and just using a thumb
drive will sort of get you used to the
idea of using your ears solely for beat
matching, without having to look at a
stream to check if the beats are lining
up. So, I think that alone is enough of a
reason to pick up the XDJ-700 if indeed
you would like to make the transition
from DJing with a laptop to just DJing
with a thumb drive. If you want to, you
know, start a career as club DJ or maybe
do more festivals. However, if you still
prefer to DJ with a laptop running
Rekordbox DJ software, then I recommend that you get yourself a nice DJ
controller, maybe something like the DDJ-RX, whose price comes in at just a
little under the price of a pair of two
XDJ-700s and that is without a mixer. If
you're going to factor in a mixer
into the XDJ-700 equation, we're talking
about something a lot of lines of maybe
a US$1800 or even US$2000, depending on what kind
of two-channel mixer you get. So that's
it for my talkthrough of the Pioneer DJ
XDJ-700. I've got a full review of this
over at the Digital DJ Tips website, the
link is in the description box below. Hit
the thumbs up icon if you liked this
video and hit that subscribe button if
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My name is Joey, thank you so much for
watching. I'll see you next time.
