PIONEER CDJ-400/ CDJ-800 is there a diference?, Re scratching

0:00 First of all, CDJ-400, the actual platter is a lot smaller than the CD

Alright folks, hopefully this video will help you make the right choice in between one of those or one of those or possibly a cat. Hello Madagascar. Right, loads of people have actually been emailing me and asking me about scratching on these guys. What do you actually think? So what I'm going to do is I've had a bit of a mess around and I've got a particular track in here and I'm going to give you a bit of a demo and you can also make up your own mind. First of all, CDJ-400, the actual platter is a lot smaller than the CDJ-800. Now there's a CD and to give you an example there, the actual top is roughly about the same size as a CD and that's a CDJ-400. And someone's playing, what's it, what is it again Ryan you're playing? Doodle doodle. Right, okay. And there you go, there's the top.

For the 800. Now, I've had a mess around and so far, I can't see much difference. Now what I'm going to do is no point me going... Because for an actual turntabler's point of view, what you need to be able to know is that if you move the platter in the minutest amount, it's got to stay in that precise position. In other words, if you put your finger here and you're moving it tiny, you know, millimetres... You want it to stay like that. You don't want to start having to dance around the platter trying to find where you originally started. So, here we go. Now first of all, what I can't hear is any digital sound. Now anyone who knows what I'm on about will know that when you start moving the platter tiny, tiny amounts, you almost hear... The actual sound seems to be breaking up. It seems to be going digital. But this is a proper... You can feel... You can hear...

2:00 Track track, exactly, finger

Or should I say you can actually imagine it being a vinyl turntable and it cutting through the actual vinyl as opposed to, you know, some loads of electronics. Now my finger at this point is exactly in the same position as it was in relation to the sound. What we'll do, we'll take it out and we'll put it now in the 800 and I'll put exactly the same track on, track 10. If you want to know where the track is look to the side of the video. So here we go again. Again I'm moving ...tiny, tiny amounts and I'm trying to make note of where my finger is in relation to the actual beginning of the sound, beginning of that scratch, and I'm trying to determine whether or not my finger has to move slightly to sort of almost catch up with the sound as though the actual CD player isn't picking up the correct position and it's sort of moved it slightly. Now, I'm no electronics expert but the only thing I can determine here...

4:10 With this, it's sort of you're in the middle area, aren't you?

There's possibly exactly the same software in here, making sure that the actual movement on the platter is identical between the 400 and the 800. Now, the main difference of course is the actual size. Now again, a vinyl turntable, the platter is that size. So there you go. There's the difference. At this point in time, the only difference I would say is the actual size. Now, if you are used to a vinyl turntable, you're going to find it difficult to go onto a small little thing because there's a lot more movement on a larger platter as opposed to a small one. With this, it's sort of you're in the middle area, aren't you? You know, you haven't got the size of the vinyl turntable, you haven't got the smallest of the 400, but you're halfway there. Personally, I think... Excuse me. I think it's all...

Hey fever and sneezy bits. I think it's all down to personal preference, but from an actual sound point of view, I cannot see any difference. There's definitely no digital sound there, which is a no-no, because the last thing you want is that horrible digitally sound. It is a good, you get a good sort of, when I say analogue sound, small movements and you can feel those small movements, you can hear those small movements. So I reckon it's just down to personal preference, but at this point in time I can't really see any difference. The only major difference is what you're actually looking at, the actual size of the platter themselves. Hope it's been a help. Practice and enjoy.

This transcript was produced automatically from the audio of the video and may contain mistakes.