The Pioneer CDJ-850

THE PIONEER CDJ-850

The Pioneer CDJ-850 ... Evolution continues



Pioneer's new species continue to evolve from the DJ gene pool at an alarming rate. While we've seen the CDJ-2000, 900 and 350 drag themselves from the primordial Pioneer ooze, there was a gap - the missing link if you like. The cdj-850 sits neatly in the gap between the bedroom DJ 350 and all purpose DJ 900, and simply updates the 800 to sit in the rekordbox workflow. Or does it?

Here's the word from Pioneer UK after which I'll break down after:





(Pioneer’s New CDJ-850: The Perfect Springboard from Bedroom to Club)

The CDJ-2000s are quickly replacing the CDJ-1000Mk3 as the industry standard player in the world’s biggest clubs, while the CDJ-900 takes root in regular clubs. The new CDJ-350 has now launched, offering the most affordable rekordboxTM compatible deck for the beginner DJ, but left a gap for semi-pro bedroom DJs and bars. Pioneer today announce the complete rekordboxTM enabled CDJ line-up with the new CDJ-850.

Intentionally designed to feel and function like other CDJ models further up the range, the CDJ-850 will give that all important reassurance when turning up to a gig with other CDJ models in the booth. And just as budding DJs practiced on the CDJ-800 at home in preparation for their club gigs on the CDJ-1000, the CDJ-850 is set to become the new training ground for DJs hoping to break it on the club circuit.

Mark Grotefeld, Head Of Marketing, Pioneer DJ Europe: “The CDJ-850 is a great option for DJs wanting to familiarise themselves in home set-ups along with the infinite possibilities digital DJing developments are bringing to the artform.”

Apart from the ProDJ Link connection, the CDJ-850 inherits so many of the most exciting features from the CDJ-2000 and 900, offering major enhancements over the outgoing CDJ-800MK2.

The full-size 206mm jog wheel will be familiar to all existing professional CDJ users, giving the same performance and feel as the top range products. And no matter which CDJ you play on, the browsing logic is always the same and all the work put into customizing rekordbox collections will be available on every player in the range. So wherever DJs play, it will always feel like home.

Jason Pook, Product Development Manager, Pioneer DJ Europe, said: “We wanted the CDJ-850 to resemble the CDJ-2000 in as many ways as possible, so that the transition between using both is as smooth as possible. This we’ve achieved, while still bringing the system in at an affordable price.”

The CDJ-850 features the same large rotary select dial as the CDJ-2000 and is the most affordable product in the range to feature the Wave display to see peaks and drops of the music. An intuitive Tag List feature allows DJs to think ahead 10, 20 or many more tracks by arranging temporary set lists on the fly. They can save this as a playlist and recall it later in rekordbox or use it again at the next gig. And what’s more, it’s the only player to feature Tag List editing, so you can add, remove and change the order of tracks in the list.

Adapting to all ways of working, the CDJ-850 plays music from CD, USB and PC. Despite the price point, it’s capable of playing professional 24-bit Wav and Aiff, along with MP3 and AAC music files. It can be used as a Midi controller and 24-bit soundcard for music software, and with HID capability, software companies will be quick to announce Plug&Play support.

Main features :

• Retains most of the principal functions from the industry club-standard CDJ-2000, such as the 206mm jog dial and large screen for visual information.
• Able to play all types of digital files, such as WAV, AIFF, MP3 etc.
• Incorporates rekordboxTM, allowing the creation and editing of playlists pre-gig, and recalling cue and loop settings for more inventive DJing.
• On-screen display allows for quick and easy music selection, and the wave display allows greater grasp of the dynamics of a track.
• By connecting via the CDJ-850’s special interface (USB HID), more complex DJ software can be used without using a control disk.
• Tag list allows registering and itemising of tracks at the touch of a button.
• Auto beat loop function, tempo variation, CD ‘resume’ function and vibration-resistance are just some of the other additional features.

Main Specifications

Compatible Media: Music CDs, CD-R/RW, USB storage devices (such as flash memory, HDD, etc.)
Compatible Files: MP3/AAC/WAV/AIFF
USB storage compatible File Systems: FAT16, FAT32, HFS+
Frequency Performance: 4 Hz – 20 kHz
S/N Ratio: 115 dB or higher
Total Harmonic Distortion: 0.003% or less
USB Ports: USB A Port × 1, USB B Port × 1
Audio Output Terminals: AUDIO OUT (RCA)
Other Terminals: CONTROL (3.5 mm dia. mini-plug)
Audio Output Voltage: 2.0 V
Power Supply: 220-240V 50/60 HZ
Power Consumption: 21 W
Max External Dimensions: 305 mm (W) × 364.4 mm (D) × 105.5 mm (H)
Unit Weight: 3.3 kg
Included Music Management Software rekordboxTM
Compatible OS: Mac OS X (10.4.6 and later) - Windows® 7 Home Premium/Professional/Ultimate - Windows Vista® Home Basic/Home Premium/Ultimate/Business - Windows® XP Home Edition/Professional (SP2&later)
(Note: Is not compatible with Windows® XP Professional x64 edition)
Playable Files: MP3/AAC/WAV/AIFF

The CDJ-850 is available from August 2010. The suggested retail price is £799.


Soooo… at first glance, the 850 is an 800 with a new screen. But digging deeper, you'll soon see a few useful updates that makes the 850 a worthy product rather than just a spit and polish affair. It is largely the same at first glance - yes there is a new screen, but strangely not tilted like the 900 and 2000. I guess that's just for pros.

This update is all about adding the new Pioneer rekordbox workflow. So you can now organise your library just like with the 350, 900 and 2000s and use the same music on any of these units. One key feature missing here are hot cues. The 800 before it lacked them and so does the 850. Like slanty screens, it seems they're for pros only.

This rekordbox implementation does however lack the rather wonderful link feature. And it also seems that you can't share a pair of 850s over USB either. Shame - that's really handy. Looks like you'll need to step up to the 900s to experience the better part of rekordbox functionality.

But what the 850 does get is MIDI and more importantly HID. So the wonderful world of control disk free DVS rocking is now open to you. Well once the various DVS makers release updates to make it happen of course.



So initially judging the book very much by its cover, I wondered what the point of this upgrade was. But aside from giving the DJM-700 something to look good with, the CDJ-850 adds the best part of the cool new Pioneer rekordbox workflow, as well as HID and a 24 bit audio interface too. There is a £200 premium though, so if you couldn't give a toss about a digital workflow, I suggest you buy 800s while you can.

by Gizmo (Skratchworx)