When it comes to HW-based DJ-gear there have only really been a few players to speak of. For turntables the one on the throne is obviously Technics 1200/1210. I guess Vestax had turntables popular amongst turntablists. I always thought the Numark TT-turntables were nice to play on. If we look at CD-players, Then Pioneer and then Denon where the big ones, it was a war that Denon eventually lost.  Pioneer simply made incredible DJ gear, both mixers and CD-players. Denon did not disappear and although they always made high quality gear, they were simply too slow. Good stuff but the feel of the gear, compared to Pioneer, were always different; and did not appeal to the large number of DJs, Pioneers gear did.

Pioneer became Pioneer DJ and Denon became Denon Dj. Pioneer still make excellent gear, but finally Denon DJ has caught up with their Prime series gear. Be sure to check out their X1800 Prime mixer as well as their SC5000/SC5000M CD-players (See Unmute Posts here and here).

In my opinon Pioneer DJ and Denon DJ are now on par when it comes to quality and the amount of features they offer, again. Pioneer DJ is better in different ways and Denon DJ in others. So I’d say pick whatever suits your style and preference.

Now moving on to the actual subject of this post…

Not too long ago Denon DJ announced their new addition to the Prime series of DJ gear, the Denon DJ Prime 4. It’s an all-in-one stand alone DJ System featuring:

• 4 decks (Denon DJ Dual player system) and a full 4 channel mixer.
• Multi-gesture 10″ touch screen.
• Zone output.
• No limit media sources (Record to any of them)
• 6″ job-wheels.
• 8 performace pads.
• Timestretch and key-matching audio.
• Engine Prime music management.
• … and much more.

It is a big heavy package of about 10 Kg that shows a lot of promise.  Watch the overview video below or head over to Denon DJ for more information on the unit.

Should be fun to play with this thing, if I can find a store that holds it.  :-/