Denon Dn-s1200 Review

[Dave80s 0]

Hi all, I have just bought a Denon DN-S1200, so thought I would quickly comment on a few features.

 

I got it out of the box last night and it looks quite nice, similar in size to the DN-S1000 and the buttons are almost in the same place.

 

Anyone who has used Denon CD players before will know most of the features as they are the same e.g. the effects - echo, flanger and filters. They are fun to use, with what feels like an improved scratch wheel. It seems to know what you want to do better than the 1000s' wheel.

 

The main reason for my purchase was the ability to play tracks from ipod or pen drive/memory stick. This works well and I had it running from my ipod within 2 minutes. I tried a memory stick as well and that worked OK. Note that if you like to memo stuff like cue points you cannot do this with the ipod.

 

I also did an update of the software to the latest version, which was straightforward enough - I just downloaded the update from Denon to the memory stick and followed the instructions.

 

The only negative I can find is that when using the key adjust at a more extreme pitch, you can hear the song being "chopped" on quiet parts. This is the same on the 1000's and I thought they may have fixed it on the new model. The Pioneers I have used don't seem to have this problem. I don't think you or a crowd would notice in a live situation though.

 

More thoughts to follow....

[Dave80s 0]

More thoughts on the DNS-1200, combine the posts if you wish, mod people.

 

I did a wedding at the weekend and unfortunately the DNS-1200 was a nightmare, the unit would not play half of my CDs, I kept getting 'DISC ERROR' messages. Also it can take over 20 seconds to read a disc. I had to make an announcement on the mic at one stage as I could not get the unit to play, very embarrasing, imagine if that happened on the first dance?

 

I had a quick scan on the web today and apparently this is not just me, others have had problems. Stupidly I bought the unit without reading up on any perceived 'problems'.

 

To sum up the DNS-1200 is NOT RECOMMENDED by me - luckily I only bought one and I have got my old DNS-1000s to fall back on.

Edited September 8, 2008 by Dave80s

[DJ Marky Marc 0]

Sounds like a laser problem... send it back and get them to swap it...

 

somone else I know has a pair and they are perfect.. play everything so far...

 

 

[Dave80s 0]

Perhaps I am being a little unfair, I only used them for 1 night after all. Just felt like a bit of a lemon at one point in the night with silence that felt like hours....

 

I think a good option may be to purchase a USB stick and load all my tunes onto that, and leave it plugged in the back, then I wont even have to put a CD in the slot!

 

The other annoyance was the the "chopping" noise when playing tracks in key adjust mode. Does anyone on here own a 1200 or 1000, and would like to comment on this? Is it just budget technology? Do the higher end Denon players do this?

 

 

 

 

[superstardeejay 0]

Providing the Denon isn't actually faulty, I'd try looking at your discs..it's the age old problem of home-burned discs that are often hard to read by certain machines. It's rarely the machine that's faulty!

 

 

I know that some Pioneers can also sound choppy if they're playing MP3's at extremely slow tempos, the official explanation is that an MP3 is already a pared-down file (which is why it takes up so little space) and so the circuitry is having to try and make alot of data up out of nothing during the 'time stretching' exercise.

 

I very much doubt that even a budget manufacturer would get away with making a machine that takes 20 seconds to read every disc. The reviews wouldn't stand for it!

Edited September 8, 2008 by superstardeejay

[DJ Marky Marc 0]

as a forum member your lucky enough to have access to Gary , send him a PM he will make sure the problems are fixed very very quickly ....

[Dave80s 0]

OK, I will contact Gary.

 

I went through most of my CDs last night (including originals), putting them into the machine and noting if they read okay or not. 99% read the data in 7 seconds. In a warm club after sustained use this percentage may drop a bit, possibly.

 

I had a few disc error messages but there didn't seem to be any specific pattern. Perhaps I will will re do some of the older burnt CDs and just have a USB drive in the back which I can use if the machine locks up at an inopportune moment. I marked the CDs with a problem so can avoid using these in the 1200 if possible.

 

The chopping sound happens on all formats, even original CDs. I use Pioneer 800s at work and it doesn't happen, they are a lot more expensive though aint they!

[DJ Marky Marc 0]

any news or luck yet ?

 

Personly I dont use the key adjust mode when mixing...

 

 

[Dave80s 0]

I think I may have sorted the problem now. Once the CD has been in the machine once it seems to be okay.

 

I only had one disc error last gig, and that was a CD which I had not used before. It sounds strange but I knew it was going to happen with this CD, maybe it went in the slot a bit slower or something.

 

I am happy with that.

 

 

[cmj 0]

RE. the choppy sound, both my Denons & Pioneers do it . . . . . Try playing Sandy B's "Make The World Go Round" with your master tempo switched on then give it a few minus % on the pitch to see what I think is meant by the original post.

[Mr.Moore 0]

I went through various posts before buying my 2 Denon DN-S1200's. I've now had the for about 6 weeks. Here are my initial responses:

Here are my impressions of using these CD players (a long email I'm afraid, with a number of points):

 

I have come to the DN S-1200 player after years of using Pioneer CD players (2 x CDJ 500 MkII and a DMP-555)

 

I bought the Denons in part to upgrade, as the CDJ500's were developing faults, and also to move over to digital dj-ing (rather than only using CDs). I bought one 1200 new and the other used (sold by a mobile dj dissatisfied with the function) and both now have the latest software upgrade.

 

My first impression of the 1200’s was “Wow, so small and compact!” and then, when I began using them, “Damn I really HAVE to read the manual”. They are not intuitive as the Pioneer decks are and it took me a while to figure out how to forward onto the next track – no button to skip forward/back.

 

The next frustrating thing is the delay in starting a track. With the CDJ 500’s I could ‘throw’ in a CD, close the lid, jump to the track needed and press play and it did, almost instantaneously. I am frustrated by how much of a time lag there is with the loading of the CD and then (OK a second or two) wait before the track can play. Sometimes I have found myself wondering why nothing is playing because I have gone to the track and pressed Play … expecting it to begin immediately only to find that the first press of Play has just loaded the track into memory; I have to press Play again for the track to start.

 

And then, the number of CDs that return ‘Disk Error … I don’t get this; the Pioneer DMP-555 has no such problem reading the SAME disk. It also seems to be that the 1200 gets stuck into a disk error groove as once 'Disk Error' appears, disk after disk returns the same message. So now I shut off the 1200, reboot it and then put in the ‘offending’ CD that the 1200 can now read!!! Very annoying!!!

 

It took some time too to figure out how to get the 1200 to play in continuous mode. I think I discovered this by chance as I didn’t know where to look in the manual. It is not obviously clear.

 

A really BIG disappointment was finding the 1200 DOESN’T READ mp3 CDs. (The DMP-555 does!) The only mp3’s read are in USB or PC mode.

 

I have used a 2Gb USB stick (Verbatim) with the 1200. Again, a wait. It was not plug in and go for it took some time (minutes – time to make a cup of tea) for a database to be built. Once done though, there was no problem with using the stick.

 

I was also disappointed to find that on the CD that comes with the 1200 all the computer programmes were only for PC. I thought there was a Mac OS version available ??? I’ve not found it.

 

I also thought from the reviews I read (it was reviews that ‘sold’ the 1200’s to me) that I could switch between USB and CDs easily –- as the DMP-555 can do reading memory cards – well there are a couple of steps involved before this can happen. It is not possible though, (I assumed that would be), to play BOTH CD and USB source tracks AT THE SAME TIME – again as the DMP-555 can do.

 

Time:

I frequently toggled between track time elapsed and track time remaining on my Pioneers. How different this is on the Denons. There is not only track time elapsed and remain but also disk time remain and elapsed. So, there are 4 times to choose from. I only want two: track time elapsed and remain. I’d like to turn off the other two – can that be done? I don’t want to be pressing the button so many times with the inevitable thing of pressing too many times and then going through the cycle again!

 

Reading some of the other comments on another Denon post about the music suddenly stopping, I realise that I too have had a CD unexpectedly stop playing the first time I used them out. I thought it was something that I did… now I think this might be another flaw.

 

I now want to try the Pioneer CDJ-400 to see if that would be more satisfying to use.

 

Not all bad:

HOWEVER I do love, really!!!, the echo loop function on the 1200’s. That function is FANTASTIC and would make it difficult to give up. I like too, the brake.

 

If you are reading this to get user advice, mine is: expect it to take some time (it took me about 1 week) to begin to get the hang of this CD player used only as a CD player. It is complex.

I’ve not said anything about using it as a controller as I’ve only tried it once so far and am not really up with using the old version of Traktor (v2.4) I acquired, so can’t really say how that is – the link up did work though.

 

 

[superstardeejay 0]

I have come to the DN S-1200 player after years of using Pioneer CD players

 

Sounds like you're just expecting the Denons to be exactly like the Pioneers! They arent! But I'm sure you'll get used to them.

 

Most Pioneers 'feel' similar between models, and most Denons 'feel' like other Denons likewise. Obviously going from one camp to the other will be a bit of a culture shock especially as you've obviously had your now-ancient CDJ500's for so long.

 

I dont think the 4-button push thing on the time display can be eliminated as all Denons I've ever used have had this, I'm sure you'll cope!