Sonic Walker

At the moment I have Mimo’s set of two Pioneer CDJ-1000MK2 with the Pioneer DJM-500 mixer at home to prepare for the gig in 2 weeks. The last time I have been behind the decks has been more than 6 years ago and back then first DJ CD-Players didn’t convince me at all. But those CDJ-1000MK2 are quiet nice, not perfect though. So I had a look at the market and the prices.

Numark CDX
This is a CD/Mp3-Player in the size of a classic turntable with a motorized 12” platter, allowing scratching, with build-in looping and effects.

Price:
EUR 889 (N-Joy Music, NL) - EUR 950 (New-Line, NL)

Denon DN-S3000
Motor Driven Active Platter, real time scratch (CD/MP3) - small brother of the DN-S5000

Price: EUR 589 (Thomann, GER) - EUR 789 (Nederland Muziek, Almere/NL)

Denon DN-S5000
Tabletop single-disc CD/mp3 player with an active analog turntable platter with real-time user interaction. Other features include sampler, loops, alpha track, hot disc and much more.

Price: EUR 849 (Music Store, Cologne/GER) - EUR 1099 (New-Line, NL)

Stanton Finalscratch 2
Since I am already using Traktor as DJ software, maybe all I need is a turntable to computer interface like Finalscratch. This way I could still use my vinly collection and at the same time the growing mp3 library on my PowerBook.

Price: EUR 749 (Star-DJ Tools, NL) - EUR 849 (Thomann, GER)

Numark 5000FX
5-channel DJ mixer with sampling, scratching, and effects

Price: EUR 555 (DJservice.com, GER) - EUR 629 (Feedback, NL)

Denon DN-X1500
4 channel matrix dj-mixer with effects, sampler, BPM counter and digital output.

Price: EUR 775 (Thomann, GER) - EUR 949 (New-Line, NL)

Ecler Nuo 5
5-Channel Club DJ Mixer with computer-programmable FX section.

Price: EUR 989 (Thomann, GER) - EUR 1049 (New-Line, NL)

Allen & Heath Xone 92 DJ Mixer
6 stereo channels, 2 auxiliary sends, MIDI output, 2 VCF filters, 4 band EQ

Price: EUR 1485 (DJservice.com, GER) - EUR 1599 (New-Line, NL)

Total result:
Germany: 6
The Netherlands: 2

Conclusion and additional notes:
As so often it is worth comparing prices. I would prefer to buy from a local dealer but his (there is only one) prices are just too high. So then there is the choice between a Dutch or a German online mail-order store. Still the Germans are cheaper and at least Thomann and Music Store are large dealers with a fairly good reputation.

I have’t made a decision yet. First I preferred the Numark CDX but since I have seen and tried it life, I have changed my mind. It is too large and I didn’t like the quality at all (neither of the Numark 5000FX mixer). So my favorite CD-player is now the Denon DN-S5000. Compact in size, solid construction, rich in features and still a lot cheaper than the Pioneer CDJ-1000MK2, which has less to offer.
I have my doubts about Finalscratch2. The idea sounds good but I would really want to try it out first before I spend that much money. Native Instruments Traktor 2.6 has been crashing too often and sometimes there are drop-outs in the audio, so I am not convinced about laptop DJing yet. I guess I will have to wait for the Intel powered Apple PowerBooks next year.
Among the mixers the DN-X1500, Ecler Nuo5 and Xone92 all look interesting. Because I would like to sync Ableton Live the Nuo5 or Xone92, both with Midi-Out might be a good choice. But I still have my old Behringer DX1000 and later this year Allen & Heath will introduce the Xone:3D, which might be exactly what I want.