Denon DJ’s X1850 Mixer: An Aesthetic Refresh And That’s About It

[Cupe]

 

• Gear: X1850 Prime mixer
• Manufacturer: Denon DJ
• Price: $1,099
• Release Date: early Q2, 2020

So, what makes this new X1850 mixer different from the X1800 that came before it? There’s only three apparent differences:

1. There’s a new quantize FX option on the beat-synced FX unit (the unit that’s analogous to Beat FX on NXS gear). This keeps those FX in sync with the beatgrids on your SC5000/6000 players, if you want them to be.
2. There’s a new locking IEC power connector on the mixer – meaning that it’s less likely to get randomly pulled out during a set. They also added these to the SC6000s… do that many DJs really have this problem?
3. The new look! This is the biggest change. As with the players, there’s an entirely new darker black design to the mixer, and it looks great compared to the older design. It’s intentionally supposed next to the new players:

Hey Denon DJ, how about some real product names?

One of the biggest complaints we always had with “old” Denon (before the brand was bought by InMusic) was that the naming convention started to become nearly impossible to follow. Mixers and players all sounded like droid names, making it hard to keep track of what gear had which features.

With the SC5000, SC5000M, SC6000, SC6000M, MCX8000, X1800, X1850, it’s clear that Denon DJ isn’t abandoning their roots.

[LabRat]

I haven't seen Denon gear in so long. Almost a bit of a shame though because their stuff back in the day was bulletproof