DJ CD Players

The CDJ 700 is a table top unit from Gemini and it is average at best. The quality of it was not as good as I though it should have been coming from Gemini. I understood that it was priced pretty low but coming from some of the other units that I have used from them in this price range it was a little disappointing.
Using this player was very simple and there was no set up process. The manual may help you understand how to work with the navigation and small amount of features available but for the most part I was able to figure it out on my own so I know anyone else can. The jog wheel on it is 5 inches which is pretty big considering the whole size of this unit is not very big. They do claim that the job wheel has a “vinyl” feel too it which is not true at all. Any one that has used real vinyl will know this right away when they first get their hands on this unit.
The screen that is on it is full color and it is a little bigger than 3 inches making it a good size to see what you need to see and still keep it portable. The contrast on the screen is very good though and it is easy to see in any lighting condition.
You can use this player with a PC and a Mac and not worry about any issues. It supports MIDI and USB devices. It will play CD’s, CD-R’s, and CD’s with MP3 files on it, not CD-RW’s or DVD’s though. The CD-RW’s was a problem for me as a lot of my digital music on CD’s from around 2002 are on CD-RW disk.
The output audio quality was surprisingly good though considering the price and the overall build of this unit. It gets pretty loud and the audio is very clean and precise. I recommend this to users that do not want to spend a lot of money, but still want to get good sound quality because goo sound quality matters just as much as anything else. But if you can afford to spend a little more money I do recommend going with a better unit from Gemini!

So far I absolutely love this unit. Over the past 2 years or so, Gemini have seem to have turn a corner in the quality of there products. However, it's not a Pioneer. But it is a close facsimile. And I love that. People have been saying that Gemini has a lot of "balls" copying the Pioneer. I say good for Gemini. Besides who the hell cares who they copy from. I call that capitalism. And for $400 if you want a new media deck that plays CD's and takes a USB stick, and plays them well, then this is a great buy for the price. For this is a great upgrade from my obsolete Denon DNS-1000 which don't have USB, and has a tiny jog wheel.
Now I read reviews criticizing the quality of the all plastic form of this unit. To those, I have a tip: if you don't throw this unit against a brick wall or drop it from a 2 story building, it should last for many years to come. Put it in a good case or coffin and you'll find that it should be durable enough for transport if you need to take it anywhere. Besides the mostly plastic form factor helps to keep the cost factor down.
I hate CD's. There limited in there capacity, and they take up space, and cost more money then an mp3. You can put all your music from any year on a thumb nail device and have it instantly ditching those CD's. Its that simply. And that's one big reason why I bought this unit. You can also use an SD cards as well. Nice! And it's a midi controller as well though I haven't use it in midi mode yet. Nice! The jog wheel is huge. It measure almost 8 inch in diameter. It has a nice sturdy feel to it. Has a rubber lining with finger placement all around the outside of it. There's a torque adjustment as well. Now on the lightest setting, it might still feel heavy for those scratchers out there. So this unit might not work well for those with that talent. But if your a BPM mixer like me, then the jog wheel and this unit as a whole will feel just fine. And oh yeah; it's jog wheel looks exactly like one other jog wheel out there on the market right now. Right down to the LCD display in the middle. Nice! The touch sensitive screen is a nice feature but I don't find myself using it to actually browse for files. The screen can also display wave form. That's where the screen could be a little bit larger. But again, cost factor.
The sound from this unit is incredible. Whether it's CD, USB, or SD, the sound is crisp and clear. The Gemini has a coaxial digital out which I use with my Denon DNX-900 mixer making the sound twice as loud then using the regular RCA's. This unit also works just fine with my Mixvibes Cross Pack and the time coded CD's which I originally bought for my old Denons. And there's a usb on the back for use with any DJ software.
Now if I were opening a big club tomorrow, I'm probably stocking the DJ booth with either a pair of Pioneer CDJ's or Denon SC's and not a pair of Gemini CDJ-700's. The Pioneers and the Denons are the "Technics" of CD/Media decks without question. But if you need to equip your you small home studio, or maybe a small venue, small bar, do a small house party out in the Hamptons, put your 18 month old in DJ training, etc... or maybe you just want to make an upgrade without deleting your bank account, then this table top deck is plenty capable.
People should stop making the comparison between the Pioneer and the Gemini. Although the Gemini closely resembles the CDJ-900, Pioneer CDJ's are high end products, with super high end prices. The Gemini is more like second class. But it works. And if it doesn't break down, all the better. And by the way, the Pioneers also break down and occasionally have bugs as well. They call the CDJ-700 a professional media controller. Again I'm not sure if I'm using this unit at a large venue but I wouldn't be afraid to try. Its very well put together and feels solid enough. Control layouts are conveniently placed and easy to use. Its puts out excellent sound, and has all the media options you would want to use. And for $400. It's a no-brainer. Just remember to update that firmware first thing before using...

Everytime market leader Pioneer releases a DJ player, we’re back into the same endless debates going back and forth... Well, I won’t feed that trend and try to give you my opinion, as neutral as possible

A DJ for the last 15 years, I’ve used many CD players in the past, from a big, 19” player (Audiophony CD 1220) to flat ones (Denon DNS-3500, then a CDJ-1000 Mk3 for the last… 6 to 8 years). I generally do 50 performances a year.

Let’s get into the context: a satisfied user of my CDJ-1000Mk3/Serato combination for years now, I couldn’t help being more than tempted by the CDJ-2000. Problem is, even with a rather important number of shows a year I couldn’t afford one of these at $1800 (a little lower now). Very disappointed by the CDJ-800 years ago, I wouldn’t even consider lower-end models from the same brand (CDJ-850 / CDJ-900), first because of their manufacturing quality, and also due to their features (I don’t care about an autoloop or loop divide, but hot cues can be useful :p).

Don’t even mention controllers, makes me want to puke: a big, low-end plasticky thing with a lot of controls and lit up as a Christmas tree with professional-looking features that you actually never use in a live situation

All in all, when I saw this model Pioneer had released I wasn’t deterred by the USB-only mode (other manufacturers had done that long before), especially since my CDF weren’t fed by much else than Serato timecoded CDs. A bit circumspect about the touchscreen, I thought “let’s buy one to try it, and resell it at a good price if something’s wrong” .

After a few weeks testing it in my living room, here’s my opinion on it: a real killer! Nothing to be critical of, I can’t compare with the CDJ-2000NXS’s USB part for I never used it but the software’s ergonomics seems quite close.
Touchscreen is very responsive, sound quality is flawless. Very satisfying! After thatn you have to get used to Rekordbox, which doesn’t work the same as Serato SL / DJ but hopefully I won’t have to keep the computer in front of me while mixing as all controls can directly be accessed on the player (thanks for that, Pioneer!).
Plus, getting back my loops and cues makes things easier!

OK, there are still a few cons:
- platter is not backlit
- no “pitch reset” control
- a lot of things can be done to the loops using the touchscreen, but to leave the loop jou have to use the “exit loop” control above the jog – so you tend to look everywhere for that control at the beginning :p
- the JOG’s resistance can’t be set (but it’s still rather soft)

As for its pros, value-for-money is quite good, even if Pioneer is making a nice margin and incites to use Rekordbox.

If you have a CDJ-2000 (either a Nexus or not), skip this one. If you’re still using a CDJ-800/1000 like I did, perhaps this one’s worth the investment!