The folks that run the local True Value Hardware Car Shows continue to hire me to DJ, and I continue to bring my PM GO DJ as a "Back UP".
I am also bringing a
Samson L1200 Professional Mixing Console. Yeah, that's overkill for a neighborhood Car Show, but in addition to being able to use more than one microphone, I can also have the PM GO DJ and the Stanton SCS.4DJ connected simultaneously. This gives me 4 player decks, as well as the other features (such as Bluetooth) of the PM GO DJ without switching or downtime.
In fact I find myself using my PM GO DJ more than the Stanton SCS.4DJ. This isn't a conscious decision just so I can use the device I designed and built. I really find myself naturally or subconsciously gravitating back to the PM GO DJ. There are a few reasons for this:
-- The larger text on the player modules that comprise the PM GO DJ. I'm not a young DJ. I can read the small text on the Stanton, but having the larger text on 2 separate screens is much easier for me.
-- I don't have to continuously switch between the "Waveform" display and the "Browse" screen like I do on the Stanton. I actually think it is about the same number of button presses to cue up the next track, but on the PM GO DJ it's all on the same screen. That makes it ergonomically easier.
-- As previously mentioned, the Chinese media players are very quick at moving through the tracks. The Stanton skips, and does not scroll smoothly.
Lastly, I'm beginning to think that my PM GO DJ actually sounds better than the Stanton SCS.4DJ. Yeah, OK -- I know the response to that. I'm not an un-biased, or objective observer here. It could be totally opposite. Also, I generally connect the the PM GO DJ to 2 channels of the Samson mixer, and the Stanton to the "CD/Tape" input. All of the EQ controls for the 2 channels are set to null, and the pans are set so that each channel is properly mixed by the Samson, but it's possible that the Samson just does not have as good a quality components on the CD/Tape input as it does on the actual mixer channels. Obviously more objective testing (and a far more objective tester) would be needed to determine if there really is a perceptible difference one way or the other.
A few more notes on this:
The PM GO DJ players will play FLAC files, which the Stanton will not. Using High quality FLAC files *will* make a
difference in the sound as compared to an MP3. Objective or otherwise that is an objective fact.
However, very few of the files loaded onto the PM GO DJ's SD cards are FLAC. 90+ percent of them are the identical MP3 files loaded onto the Stanton. Actually none of them are FLAC. I attempted to load some FLAC files, and they would not show up in the Media Players. As of right now, I don't think this actually will play FLAC files. It may still play other lossless formats such as WAV. Another Edit: Sorry to keep changing the story on this, but here is the issue: The Chinese Media Players
will play FLAC files. However, the players are limited to 24 bit samples. The FLAC files I was attempting to play were 32 bits/sample. They would probably work fine if I used ffmpeg to reduce the depth to 24 bits/sample, but of course that would probably "hurt" the file (reduce fidelity) almost as much as just re-encoding it as a high bit rate MP3.
It's also an objective fact that there is a *lot* more digital circuitry on the Stanton between the digital source files, and the output jacks. I'm not sure if the Stanton implements it's tone control in a DSP environment, or with analog components. I can tell you that I don't remember seeing groups on OP amps and analog circuitry. I also know that the Stanton is very slow at scrolling, scanning media, etc. It seems very limited on computing power for the job at hand. If the Stanton is trying to do a lot of real time signal processing on a system that seems to be somewhat limited, then it is very likely that my PM GO DJ really does sound better.