Feature:
I love the carrying case, but honestly for "pro" gear I would have preferred to get the rack-mount kit instead. I guess I'll have to order that separately. The carrying case would have been better if it were big enough to also hold a laptop. As it is, it just holds the console, so you have to carry two bags, and probably a third if you bring an external harddrive (and possibly an externally powered USB hub. It ends up being a whole mess of wires to hook up, when I would prefer to rig everything into a solid, one-drop rack case.
Quality:
The hardware is solid, especially for the price, which is the main reason I chose it. With a few tweaks on the software and power sides, it definitely gets the job done. Cueing up tracks is a cinch, it's got its own mic input, and it is very easy to bring to a backyard party at your friend's house or whatever. The reliability that I demand, as a professional DJ for over 13 years, is still lacking. I would still bring a dual CD deck and a couple books of discs to any paid gig, just in case.
Value:
If your budget is tight, and you don't really need a lot, this will do the trick. If you play two to three nights a week, to a packed house, you probably should consider this a lower-end, temporary solution. For the money, though, you can't beat it.
Desirability:
The shiny metal is pretty, the construction is solid, the sliders are smooth... there's not much to criticize with the look of the product. Looks good, serves a great function, and fulfills a lot of needs.
Sound:
I have a lot of volume inconsistencies with this device. The left player went completely out one night at a gig and I had to run off the right player only. The left side was just giving this light, tinny sound, with no fullness in both the speakers and the headphones cue. My suspicion is that the lack of an external power supply (it runs completely off USB power) caused there to be amp problems running both sounds simultaneously. Also, sometimes when I make slight corrections with the volume, the sound will weaken significantly. Another touch to the volume sliders, and the sound will kick back in suddenly, and I'll have to lower the volume again. I believe this could have all been corrected if this sound device only had its own power supply. I am going to try running it off of an externally powered USB hub instead of the laptop's power, and I hope that will fix the problems I've been having.
Ease of Use:
There's nothing to learn at all. If you need the instruction booklet even once, there's probably something wrong with your brain and you shouldn't be doing this sort of thing. I would suggest downloading the latest drivers, instead of using the disc, though. And probably better get the full version of Virtual DJ or a competing DJ software instead of the lite version this comes with. This is only barely adequate software out of the box.
Support:
Haven't really needed support, other than what I can get downloading the latest drivers and reading the FAQ on the website. The thing works, sure, it just doesn't supply its own power. No support on weekends, though, which is interesting because most DJs work on weekends and that's when we need tech help the most.
Overall:
This will get the job done, and is a thousand times better than using DJ software on its own with no controller, but when you get serious, you'll want something more reliable, with its own power supply, and is rack-mountable without a separate kit.
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