|
Definately both mixers are really really nice. I bought the Xone 92 rotary before the DJM-800 came out (and yes, a rotary kit is available for the DJM-800).
As I see it:
Xone 92 Benefits
- It's really built like a tank. While the DJM-800 is MUCH better than the DJM-500/600, it still doesn't feel quite as solid as the Xone (in terms of knobs and controls and such). I took the cover off of my Xone recently (to disable the RIAA phono pre-amps on a couple channels), and I was really amazed at the quality under the hood. Top notch and very "low-tech" old school. I would think the Xone's are less prone to failure (simply because of the simplicity of the design).
- The filters. Everyone knows about the filters, and I'd take them over any other effects units any day. I rarely even use them as "effects" per-se, but use them all the time when mixing. Using a high pass filter really gives you a nice clean way to EQ. I haven't played with the 800 enough to really know if they are as usable as the Xone's. And yes, being completely analog they do sound really unique.
- It's a fantastic sounding mixer. I wouldn't buy into the theory that the DJM-800 sounds "better" because of the digital link to the CDJ's. The sound has to be converted to analog somewhere, in the Xone you do it "before" the mixer, and the 800 you can do "after" the mixer. They both sound great, but sound "different". Which you like better is preference. If you play vinyl, they Xone has fantastic pre-amps.
- Has a lot of routing options with the auxilary channels and such (essentially makes it a 6 channel mixer).
- 4 band EQ's. Some people love this, some people find it overkill. It can be useful to really pinpoint and separate sounds when mixing.
DJM-800 Benefits
- Bells and whistles galore, with the built in effects and such.
- Has a "standard" effects loop, which is more intuitive (but perhaps less flexible) than the Xone routing scheme.
- Full MIDI support. The Xone has MIDI, but only a few controls actually output MIDI (crossfader, filter frequency knobs, and maybe 2-3 other ones, as well as a midi clock). I've recently been playing with ableton, and really don't miss full MIDI control on the mixer. It might seem like the DJM-800 is a perfect MIDI controller/mixer, but when you actually try to set it all up there are a number of obstacles which still require an external MIDI controller. Still nice to have the MIDI support, though.
- Digital thoughout, so the sound is definately nice and crisp. Also, it's 24/96 digital, which is WORLDS better than previous digital mixers which were only 16 bit.
If I had to choose today, it would be a hard decision to make! Though I think my Xone is pretty much "future-proof", since there's nothing to really go obsolete in it! 
|