In this blog, our team member, DJ Luk Khrueng will help us walkthrough the difference between the club-standard CDJ 2000NXS2 and the XDJ 1000MK2.
First of all, both of this unit was realised in the same year, in 2016. To be exact, the CDJ 2000NXS2 came out in February 2016 and the smaller, compact unit came out in August 2016. This explains why both this 2 unit shares identical DNA layout and firmware system. In term of screen hardware, both shares exactly the same screen. Meaning if a user want to replace a broken screen from the CDJ 2000NXS2 they can source it from the XDJ 1000MK2. This is the reason why the stand-alone unit of Pioneer DJ is so powerful and reliable. The only small differences is the firmware and the minimal layout of the XDJ 1000MK2 that differenciate this 2 units.
Both unit shares identical outputs, such as analog RCA output, digital COAX output and Pro-Link connectivity through ethernet cable.
Let’s take a look at the audio specification of each unit:
As we can see through the comparison, the CDJ 2000NXS2 is slightly better in term of audio quality as the XDJ 1000MK2.
As the differences are very small, let’s take a closer look at the digital coax output:
As we can see the CDJ 2000NXS2 is still leading in term of audio quality, there is no denial that it is choosen to be the club-standard for over a decade and still is even today.
The CDJ 2000NXS2 downloadsampling behavior, is pretty much none existent. But the XDJ 1000MK2 downsample to 44.1kHz.
Another noticeable difference between the 2 units is that the XDJ 1000MK2 is missing the jog wheel tension adjustment of the bigger unit. Meaning that the job wheel of the XDJ 1000MK2 cannot be adjusted from light to heavy. But can it actually be adjusted at all? You might ask.
Let’s take a closer look at the internal of the unit and explore a little bit. Let’s see if the XDJ 1000MK2 can actually adjust the tension of the jog wheel at all.
Based on the official manual of Pioneer DJ of the XDJ 1000 (The internal of the XDJ 1000 and XDJ 1000 MK2 are identical) we can observe the part number 20, called DNK5300, then relate to a video of a Youtuber who has opened the unit.
It seems like it is indeed possible to adjust the jog wheel tension using this internal gear that presses against a spring that lead to lighter or heavier jog wheel tension.
source of the diagram:
Other than jog wheel tension, we can observe that the CDJ 2000NXS2 has a CD slot but it is missing on the XDJ 1000MK2. The reason being is that the CDJ stands for its name, “CD”, as originally CDJ are for CD players. Therefore, the XDJ is purely a standalone USB media player.
As for our modern era, CDs are being less used as it requires the DJ to carry a bulky bag of their CD collections. USB has become a go to for most DJ in which the XDJ 1000MK2 is indeed ahead of its time when it was realised. Even a decades later, the XDJ 1000MK2 is still seen in many local bars, cafes and many other venues that has limited budget and space. The XDJ 1000MK2 with its cheaper price tag, many venue and even home studio users choose to purchase the XDJ 1000MK2 even until this day.
Let’s go back to the CDJ 2000NXS2. This unit is indeed bulkier and heavier than the XDJ 1000MK2. Although it is bigger, it is packed with tones of professional features that the XDJ 1000MK2 cannot be compared. The unit has multiple buttons, 4 hot cue buttons with 2 banks, giving a total of 8 hot cue tucked on the left hand side of the unit. The XDJ 1000MK2 also has 8 hot cues but requires clicking “performance” button in the touch screen to access it, making technical performance much more trickier for some DJ. The CDJ 2000NXS2 is also much more robust with its internal plastic chassis holding the play/pause & cue button, making it hard to fail per clicks compare to the cheaper alternative, XDJ 1000MK2. The overall chassis of the CDJ 2000NXS2 is also a lot more robust with a big metallic chassis at the bottom of the unit, making it very resistent to damages and heat control.
XDJ 1000MK2 feels noticably more “cheap” with mostly plastic chassis. But as our team says, the XDJ is also noticably cheaper than the CDJ 2000NXS2 (based on 2nd hand market in Thailand).
Final verdict: If a venue, event organizer or a DJ looking for a professional club-standard DJ player, our team will definetely recommend the CDJ 2000NXS2, giving the best sound quality and build quality, great for taking a beating for any professional events or parties. But if the users are buidget conscious, space conscious, we highly recommend the XDJ 1000MK2, which is amazing for what it can do, it has all the features needed to DJ professionally, as it shares the exact same features as the CDJ 2000NXS2 but with a slight difference as some buttons are moved in to the touch screen.