I just read that the Vestax PCV-175 only plays out of the left ear through the headphones. I read this in a review where a guy said the goods and the bads about it. Please tell me this aint true!

here it is ::

adam, 20, Cardiff, music style Old Skool Hardcore, Drum & Bass, Hardcore, DJ'ing for 2 - 3 years

As you would expect from Vestax, this is a very high quality mixer that will last forever. All the knobs and faders have a nice feel and no part of this mixer looks or feels like corners have been cut.
Plus points of this mixer are:

1. The conductive plastic faders that will last 20 times longer then other quality faders (that includes VCA faders!). Thats a Vestax claim & I assume that its a minimum of 2 million fades (imagin the outcry if they don"t last this long.)

2. Having four mic inputs. This is a little excessive (two would have been best), but I do like being able to assign the main main mic to the central channel fader (called sub on this mixer)

3. Balance control - this is a nice way of adding a bit of creativity to your sets.

4. The pannel is un-cluttered near the x-fader with all screws recessed.

Things I don"t like:
1. The cross fader has no curve control. I"d have thought this would be very simple for vestax to add. The Gemini PMX-140 has a switch for either smooth or sharp curves and that cost £115. This would be usefull for scratching. Having said this, a friend of mine who scratches a lot says that after he got used to the cross fader it performed OK, but a sharper curve would have been nice.

2. The headphone jack plugs into the top pannel. I"d have prefered it to plug into the front to keep the headphone lead out of the way. I haven"t had a problem so far, but why did Vestax let there be a possibility of this happening when the solution is so simple?

3. The headphones only play out of the left ear. Every DJ monitors with only one ear, but why not give them a choice between left and right ears? Vestax have settled for the standard, but at first I thought my headphones were broken - scary indeed.

4. There is no fade between the track you monitoring and the main output on the headphones.

5. You can"t assign channels to the cross fader. The left channel (1) is on the left, the right channel (2) is on the right & the middle channel (sub) is controlled only by its channel fader. Its a small problem but having channel assign would have made this mixer more flexible.

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I have used the PCV-175 and AFAIK, this is wrong. I'm sure the headphones work in both ears. Perhaps this guy's mixer was just faulty? or maybe his headphones were?

I have the 275. it has split cueing, the guy who wrote the review probably had that on.

it causes the cued track to be in your left ear, and the live track in your right.

or.. maybe it's the other way around? i'm not sure, but that's what it does. I don't use it, because i find it hard to hear what's going on with only one ear.

but, it would be a useful feature if for example, you couldn't hear the speakers because of so much delay.

also, on mine the headphone output is on the top panel too. BUT it also has one out the front, so you can have 2 sets of headphones hooked up if you want. very nice for teaching your friends how to mix.

1)This review by Adam is incorrect.
2)Sound comes out of both sides of the headphones obviously.
3)Also this mixer was designed for mixing things like Trance and not Scratching. Therefore you shouldn't need or expect a cross-fader curve control at all.
4)Headphone jack problem, solution is Vestex 275

This review you found by Adam sucks. I think this is the first time I have every seen someone bad-mouth this mixer, but hey coming from a guy that says the headphones play in only his left ear and it is supposed to be like that, has been sippin' on Grandpa's cough medicine a little to much if you know what I mean. I would laugh in this guys face if he told me that he had only been listening in the left ear of his headphones for the past 3 years. "Scary Indeed!"

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Trance...a state of mind.

Another thing in his review:

quote:

Originally posted by VoiDeT Every DJ monitors with only one ear

Oh yeah ? I don't!
Btw I DID read somewhere that the 175's PFL is not POST-EQ, meaning that when you listen through the headphones, you won't hear any eq adjustments you've just made. can anyone verify this?

quote:

Originally posted by ampburner Btw I DID read somewhere that the 175's PFL is not POST-EQ, meaning that when you listen through the headphones, you won't hear any eq adjustments you've just made. can anyone verify this?

Yes indeed, the PCV-175's PFL (or cueing or what have you) is NOT post-eq at all. This is one of the main reasons why I didn't choose to get a PCV-175 in the first place. Instead I settled for the Behringer VMX-300, an excellent box in my opinion.

Not post-eq seems like a bad idea.

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Trance...a state of mind.

I own the pcv-175 and there is no EQ though the headphones. This is not really that bad, you will get used to it. YES it plays though both ears in the headphones. Although I do wish it had a cue level meter so I could make the incoming track the same volume. But I don't think the extra ~$80 for the 275 is worth it really. Both mixers are VERY good quality!!

quote:

Originally posted by Devbert Not post-eq seems like a bad idea.

yeah, you can say that again.

The only advantage I can see in the 175 is that it can support 4 mics where the 275 only supports two, but when are you ever going to need 4 mics.

I think for $80 the 275 is so much worth it.

1) 2nd Headphone Jack on Front to keeps cord out of your way
2) Headphone Cue Level (Important for setting proper gains)
3) Can Hear EQ adjustments in headphones
4) Split Cue switch for headphones
5) I like the kill switches lower like they are on the 275

I think the headphone cue level lights alone make it worth it. How are you going to adjust the gain before bringing a track in without making sure it's not to loud or to soft?

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Trance...a state of mind.

cueing channel is left can and audio output is on right can. The guy probably didnt intend to mean that its JUST the left ear but probably means that you cant choose which ear gets to monitor the cue and which is listening on the output