When looking for the best mobile DJ Mixers your faced with a lot of choices. Two things to consider are price range, and the features you need to do your job well. For this mobile DJ mixer comparison chart we wanted to find the best mobile DJ mixers that had the features and quality that most professional DJs want, with prices that are reasonable.
While you could easily spend 4 or 5 grand (or more!) on a DJ mixer, most DJs are not looking for mixers in that price range. Also, the features that working DJs require can’t usually be found in the under $500 category.
Spending over 2 thousand dollars on a mobile DJ mixer will often get you a mixer with tons of features that you will never use, and not a noticeable difference in quality of construction or sound.
Once we whittled the mobile DJ mixers down to between $500 and $1500, we then worked at coming up with the top 5. We eliminated all of the ones that weren’t really aimed at the mobile DJ mixer market; such as DJ mixers aimed at the recording or live band markets, but were trying to cross-over into the DJ world and pick up a few extra sales.
We also didn’t include Mobile DJ mixers that included other “non-mixer” components, such as CD players. We still believe that the best approach to buying DJ equipment is to purchase components. It’s easier to isolate problems that way, and if something needs replacing, your whole rig isn’t shot.
Eventually we came up with the top 5. Even though that was an extremely difficult and arduous task, it was even harder to rank the 5 finalists. In fact, the top three are nearly interchangeable in terms of quality, features and price. Any one of the top three are highly recommended.
| Professional Mobile DJ Mixer Shootout |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mobile DJ Mixer | Pioneer DJM-5000 | Denon DN-X1600 | Allen & Heath Xone:S2 | Denon DN-X1100 | Rane MP44 |
| Overall Rank | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
| Build Quality | Very Good | Very Good | Very Good | Very Good | Very Good |
| Sound Quality | Very Good | Very Good | Very Good | Very Good | Very Good |
| USB/Computer Input | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| Mic Ducking | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| CD/Fader Trigger | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Value | Good | Good | Good | Pretty Good | Fair |
| Price | $999 | $999 | $999 | $649 | $1499 |
| Product Reviews | |||||
 Pioneer DJM-5000 |
Like we stated earlier, this could be #3 just as easily as #1. It ended up being number one just based on the overall feel and layout. It also looks cool and sounds great. The “advanced talk-over” was a bit on the weak side, mainly because it doesn’t have a time control. It’s a little slow to bring the music back up after talking into the mic. A release control would have been nice. A minor concern, however, as this thing is flat out awesome. | ||||
 Denon DN-X1600
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A few points off for not being rack-mountable without purchasing a “kit.” Rack-mount results haven’t been very good, so don’t plan on it working. Most true “mobile” DJs like to have things mounted in a rack for ease of transport and neater appearance. Outside of that, it’s difficult to find fault with this DJ mixer. The quality is as good as Denon’s X1700 with a few less features and a lot less money. | ||||
 Allen & Heath Xone:S2 |
Another great high-quality, high bang-for-the-buck, DJ mixer. We couldn’t even find anything to nit-pick about this mixer. Highly recommended. | ||||
 Denon DN-X1100 |
You can see what happens when the price goes down: You give up some features that you probably would want as a mobile DJ. When you’re ready to step up to a decent mixer, it would most likely be a mistake to get one without a USB/direct computer input, as almost everyone is using a computer for at least part of the night. Again, no rack-mount option from Denon, except for a kit that may be dubious at best. Plan on it NOT being rack-mountable. However, if you can get by without those two features, you’re looking at a mixer that performs and sounds great. As usual, high-quality build from Denon. | ||||
 Rane MP44 |
While the quality is certainly here, we are a bit miffed at the price. While it’s as good as the Denon, Allen & Heath and Pioneer DJ mixer’s that we reviewed, it was no better. The lack of a USB input, was really mystifying for a DJ mixer at this price. | ||||
| Because the top three mobile DJ mixers are SO equal in quality and price, you may want to base your selection on what you are using for other equipment. If you use Pioneer CD players, for example, you would probably be smart going with a Pioneer mixer since they are guaranteed to match when it comes to remote firing. If that’s not one of your concerns, any of the top three will do, but again, everything about the Pioneer just felt a little better… it had a rugged, quality feel to it. | |||||
| The lesson seems to be: “Beware of anything really cheap, or anything really expensive.” You really cut quality and features going cheap, but you don’t necessarily get higher quality when going expensive… usually just more features… often ones that you don’t need. | |||||
