Digital Turntables From Technics – The Wave For The Future?

For the past thirty years, Technics has been regarded as the unchallenged king of turntables thanks to the stella SL-1200 model. Since its release, it has become the most popular and greatest selling turntable of all time with few genuine updates to the original design.

All that has now changed. Technics has unveiled its SL-DZ1200 digital direct drive turntable. This, the first model of its kind to playback CD’s and to be MP3 compatible, has drawn mixed reactions from professionals and amateurs alike. Vinyl is vinyl, and MP3 files can’t properly imitate the sound of vinyl due to the fact that each file is encoded, which leads to natural losses in sound quality.

But is the sound quality horrible, or can a DJ ignore it and still expect to be able to play professionally with the SL-DZ1200? Isn’t carrying a memory card in your pocket easier than dragging boxes and boxes of LP’s to each show?

Additional Possibilities For Modern DJ’s

The best part about the SL-DZ1200 is that it has many features that, when used properly, can help deliver a dynamite stage performance. CD playback and MP3 file compatibility makes sense — if not now, then it’ll be incorporated later; there’s no way to avoid the change that’s coming. Technics has built the SL-DZ1200 to look, feel, and sound like the original SL-1200.

You can also save loops into sample banks and recall them on the fly, even play them simultaneously. Save them long term by loading them onto an SD card so you can use them at your next gig. There’s also a series of cues you can save and recall when you want, freewheeling capabilities and a reverse switch. Put all this stuff together and you’ve got a machine perfect for a night on the town.

Too Many Disappointing Aspects

Technics has inadvertently created a turntable with just as many unfortunate sides as good. There is an eight to thirty second lag time when you load CD’s, which can cause headaches if you’re not ready for this, particularly in front of live crowds. If you’re any good at being a DJ, you can work the crowd for thirty seconds, but one is still tempted to say, “But vinyl never lagged.” You’re right, by the way.

Another problem is that the vinyl simulation on this turntable simply isn’t good enough to pass for an authentic SL-1200. Any purist could tell the difference, because vinyl is the only thing that sounds like vinyl, and digital can’t pull off the warmth of a good LP. There’s still no true alternative to the beauty of vinyl.

The most troublesome issue with Technics’ SL-DZ1200 turntable is the loss in sound quality courtesy of MP3 files. Even if you’re careful to rip all your MP3s as high bit rate recordings, the loss is still noticeable at high volumes; it’s never going to match the vibrance of vinyl.

As difficult as it may be to weigh the pros and cons at this point, there is one massive factor determining whether you buy this turntable or not, and that’s its mammoth price. Technics prices this monster at $1,199.95, which is an awful lot of money to spend on a model that doesn’t even sound as good as turntables thirty years older.

A Final Conclusion: SL-DZ1200 Too Little For Too Much

Though Technics’ latest has a lot of features that work well and good sound overall, there are too many problems to warrant spending the kind of cash needed to buy this sucker. You can play with the crowd for thirty seconds to allow your CD to spin up to speed, you can break out the scratching and dump as many files as you want on your SD card, but ultimately vinyl sounds like vinyl, and the SL-DZ1200 is digital, not vinyl.

The functionality is here, though; no other turntable on the market will provide as many great features as the SL-DZ1200.

The Technics SL-1200 and Technics SL-1210 are the most acclaimed and best selling turntables in history — the SL-1200 is even still available today, a casual three decades after its birth! Why not shell out the cash and purchase a piece of hip hop history right now? Only buy from an authorized Technics supplier so you’ll know you’re getting the right stuff for the best prices.