For clubs where touring DJs get booked, it usually has to be CDJs and probably a DJM mixer too. No club owner would install an XDJ-XZ and expect touring DJs to use it – it’s too limited in all kinds of ways. While the XDJ-XZ looks like “pro” gear and in many ways plays like it, we already know its limitations. Presumably Pioneer DJ makes a lot of money selling 100% pro, modular, full-sized separates for clubs and other pro installations – in other words, its CDJ-3000 and DJM-900NXS2 (or now, of course, the replacement for that, the DJM-A9). Here’s why we may have to wait – and even if it does happen, it may not be an all-singing, all-dancing replacement: So can we expect an XDJ-XZ2? Why we may have to wait for an XDJ-XZ2 As I say, the company has pointed out that it doesn’t see the Opus Quad as a replacement for the XDJ-XZ. This is why many DJs were surprised when Pioneer DJ launched the Opus Quad instead of an XDJ-XZ2. The XDJ-XZ can’t hang on as a flagship “club-style” all-in-one much longer, surely. Only two of its four channels can be used in standalone mode, and it lacks almost all of the headline features of the Opus Quad, or any of the Engine DJ-powered gear from brands like Denon DJ such as the Prime 4, and even standalone gear from budget-friendly Numark. However, the tech inside the XDJ-XZ – certainly when it comes to running it with a USB drive as a standalone – is ancient. Yet it turns out that XDJ-XZ users really love those, with the moving of the hot cues to above the jogwheel appearing to be one of the big bugbears expressed by DJs for the new Opus Quad – even though that’s where they are on the CDJ-3000.) (Curiously, the only obvious design angle that deviates from CDJs is the addition of the controller-style pads under the jogs on the XDJ-XZ. All the connectivity of Pioneer DJ’s pro separates, all the inputs and outputs you’d want, a look, feel and size that means it feels almost identical to using CDJ-3000s and a DJM-900NXS2 / DJM-A9 mixer in use. Many DJs – both club and mobile – see the XDJ-XZ as an almost perfect pro DJ all-in-one system. The recently released (and powerful) Opus Quad has a very different aesthetic, and we are unlikely to see clubs installing this over CDJs and a DJM mixer any time soon. So the question is, will they replace the XDJ-XZ as well, with an XDJ-XZ2? Will they add to their range a product that brings the new tech inside the Opus Quad to a more traditional-looking and obvious update for their current flagship DJ all-in-one? It’s certainly a question a lot of DJs have been asking since the launch of the Opus Quad. This is certainly the feeling we’re getting from the company itself, who were at pains to point out to us that they don’t see the Opus Quad as a replacement for the XDJ-XZ. This would suggest that it marks the start of a new line of equipment, with a mobile/boutique venue/hobbyist DJ vibe. Read this next: Pioneer DJ Opus Quad review Moreover, it’s clear that the Opus Quad – with its Atari-meets-Batman looks, trendy orange/dark grey colour scheme, and wooden-effect side panels – is designed to appeal to a different type of DJ than pretty much all of the existing Pioneer DJ range. With the recent release of the radical Pioneer DJ Opus Quad four-channel standalone DJ system, Pioneer DJ has addressed a gaping hole in its product range, for a modern, CPU-driven four-channel standalone all-in-one unit, designed to compete directly with equipment like the Denon DJ Prime 4.
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