Well Denon players were the industry standard CD players for about a decade before the Pioneer CDJ-1000's came out, changing the market. G

For the current style of "tabletop" CD players, Pioneer has certainly won that segment of the market, but it does not mean that Denon products are inherently problematic.

Pioneer has had it's share of issues too. For example, the firmware on the CDJ-1000 MK3 had several bugs which caused a number of high profile DJ's to refuse playing on them when they first came out (they have since been fixed).

Likewise, Denon's DN-S3500 deck had a number of firmware issues that were later fixed.

I don't know that the CDJ-200 feels sturdier than the DN-S1000. I found the platter to be very cheap feeling on the 200. The DN-S1000 is not much better, but it's really just a CD sized piece of plastic on a solid touch sensitive base. The rest of the unit is really solid, and very compact.

If I were to purchase a new pair of inexpensive CDJ's at this point, I'd probably take the 200's myself as they have .02 pitch resolution.

As for the CDJ-1000's... the MK3 lets you adjust the resistance of the platter, but not the sensitivity. If you've ever touched an MK1, it has a VERY tight platter compared to the MK2's.

I did notice that the MK3's felt a little sturdier in the store (I have MK2's), but I wasn't sure if it was just because they were new or what not. I do think that neither model really "feels" as solid as they should for $1100! They should really feel more like a high quality mixer in terms of buttons, knobs, etc.

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Originally posted by Spirit5 As far as features go and build quality, the 200s are. Denon products are okay, but Pioneer seems to make better built players. Kind of like Technics is to Stanton, Vestax or Numark. Pioneers are known as the industry standard and more people use them because of their reliable, it's quite known they are. I don't have any statistical data to back it up, just people owning more Pioneer CDJs (look on the Bedroom Pics thread, and 9 times out of 10 you'll find either a CDJ 200, CDJ 800 or CDJ 1000. More clubs use them too. Sure they may be about the same price, but the CDJ 200s are newer, have more features, and feel sturdier. I've played around at GuitarCenter on the CDJ 1000 MK3s. It may just be a subjective thing, but i've found the overall design and build on the MK3s much better than my CDJ 1000 MK2s. The platters on the MK3s seem smoother, and it has the ability to adjust the platter sensitivity. Mine are too sensitive, and at times, not sensitive enough. One platter is looser than the other. The whole thing just seems cheaper, I dunno exactly why. It doesn't feel like something worth $1,000 that I paid for it. It's not so much about the features, as it is the way it feels. They must have constructed the MK3s better.