DJing Discussion

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Best sounding DJ controller

Hanginon 6:52 PM - 2 June, 2016
This will certainly be a can of worms, but I'm looking for opinions of what everyone thinks is the best sounding DJ controller with built-in soundcard. Absolute audio quality, not FX.

Please limit answers to controllers driving speakers directly (or crossover and amps directly if passive) - no additional mixer, and please specify whether computer USB port powered, external USB hub powered, or self powered (some controllers allow for either, and do sound different, I know mine does).

Very unscientific - it might be as simple as you noticing you were getting lots of complements on the sound when you were using a certain controller. Truly amazing that stuff that's getting so expensive is never bench tested for audio quality by anybody.
dj_soo 9:51 PM - 2 June, 2016
SZ or MCX8000 seems to be the overall top picks.

I've heard the SZ but not the MCX8000 and it sounds good, although the room I used it in didn't exactly have the best sound system.

SZ has the same internals and DACs as CDJ 2000 NXSs and the DJM900NXS and bypasses the internal software mixing to mix using the hardware channels so it basically sounds like playing on a pioneer mixer. Not that I think pioneer mixers sound great, but they sound better than using the internal mixing engine in Serato DJ.

A lot of users who switched from an SX or SX2 to a Denon MCX8000 say the denon sounds way better than the pioneer, but I don't think I've seen anyone do an A/B with the SZ yet...
dj marvelous1 2:06 AM - 20 August, 2019
Ok so what is considered a great sound card? everyone is talking about how this controller that controller is good but what type of SOUND CARD is considered to be good?
dj_soo 5:01 AM - 20 August, 2019
Are you talking a non DJ sound card? For production, RME, Universal Audio, E-MU, Antelope, Steinberg, and Apogee make some highly regarded sound cards.

You can also get a $5k Prism Atlas card if you want to be a baller.