u/slamgranderson

Hey y'all, I've been mixing for like 10 years but have never owned my own Pioneer setup, finally ready to buy one. I mostly play outdoor renegades in the California desert, campouts, house parties and occasional warehouse parties in LA. Mainly DIY scene. This would be an investment for myself but also my friends to use, bc we don't have enough XDJs to go around for the parties we're throwing. Basically, this setup is gonna get USED and probably abused and needs to stand up to many different environments.

I've played XDJ RX2s, RX3s, and older CDJ setups, but I'm not sure if I've actually ever played the XZ. MY personal setup right now is a 2010s era DDJ Traktor controller, which is just so limited. I know how to mix on XDJs, but never had the luxury of owning my own so there are many features I've still never learned, like the hot cue pads or many of the beat fx. I play house and tech house but recently moving into Baile funk, Jersey club, some perreo... kind of a wild card type of dj. I'm more of a on-the-fly read the room kind of mixer, as opposed to a super methodical beat matcher. I often don't plan out sets in advance but have many playlists. (not sure if this is relevant to hardware choice, but thinking the RX3's bigger screen might give an advantage to this more spontaneous style?...).

I have 2 goals: 1. take my own DJ skills to the next level and 2. own a setup that I can use to throw many many parties in some harsh environments and allow younger djs to gain experience. This rig will be highly mobile and will get a lot of use.

Given this specific set of needs, does the community recommend XZs or RX3s?

I'm leaning XZ because it just seems much more versatile and like you can grow into them longer. I've never fucked with more than 2 channels at a time but it would be cool to experiment or someday accommodate vinyl sets. But the RX3 has a serious weight/size advantage and my setup needs to be pretty mobile. Like, speakers strapped to the roof of a truck mixing off the tailgate. Budget is also an issue, I'm not made of money. But I was surprised to see that they are basically the same price new, even though the XZ seems much more advanced. I don't care that much about the larger screen. Most of my experience is mixing on RX2s and that screen never felt too small to me. But the bigger jog wheels does seem like a huge difference.

One question, does the XZ allow you to preview tracks by touching the screen like the RX3? That seems like a cool feature I would use a lot.

thanks in advance guys.

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XDJ XZ vs. RX3 for renegades - help me choose!