A Rack Mount System is Superior to a Laptop

Most DJ systems consist of a rack and rack mount hardware, which increases the reliability, protects your investment, and simplifies and decreases the time to setup and tear down. DJ RAK PCs are built to the same high quality standards as other rack mount gear to provide years of trouble free operation. You wouldn't show up with consumer stereo equipment or a portable CD player and for the same reason, you should use a rack mount computer not a laptop. A rack mount system has many advantageous over using laptops for DJing.

If you are using a laptop, your DJ system will eventually consist of the laptop, and numerous external add-ons such as an external sound box, an external hard drive, an external MP3 controller, and an external hub to connect everything together. Add-ons exacerbate the problem because none of these boxes fit in your rack and you will have
cables running everywhere.

Lower Cost of ownership - A DJ RAK system can be upgraded and enhanced easily and inexpensively because it is built with desktop PC components. If need be, it can be repaired or upgraded at any computer or electronic store because it is built with industry standard parts. Both laptops and lunchbox computers are built using proprietary parts and can only be serviced by the manufacturer. Regular PC components have always had a cost advantage (because of the large numbers sold) over proprietary systems and will provide more expansion and upgrade options and a lower cost of ownership.

Multiple Sound Channels - The system has three high fidelity stereo outputs from the high end soundcard and a single average fidelity stereo output from the onboard soundcard for a total of four stereo outputs. The usual configuration is for the PCDJ or other MP3 player to use the two high fidelity sound channels for the two virtual MP3 players (one for Player A and another for Player B). The third sound channel can be used by another application or as the cueing channel simultaneously for searching and listening to MP3 and other sound files. The fourth is used by Windows.

Sound Quality - This is one of the most important points. The high fidelity soundcard provides superior sound over a laptop sound card or add-on. Most laptops use the Wavetable AC97 chipset for sound generation. This chip set is not high fidelity and produces low quality sound. You will lose dynamic range, stereo imaging, depth, and have high harmonic and inter-modulation distortion, all of which causes listening fatigue. DJ RAK systems are free of this and have a sound quality similar to CDs.

Data Storage - A large laptop hard drive is 40 Gigabytes. A digital DJ will fill that hard drive in a short time and then have to add on an external hard drive. Adding an external drive and an external sound card to the USB bus can create latency and skipping problems because USB does not use DMA and therefore the CPU has to do all of the work. Hard drives should not be used on the USB bus especially if you are outputting your sound on that bus. A DJ RAK system incorporates both larger hard drives and multiple hard drives and provide orders of magnitude more data storage than a laptop.

Multiple CD drives - To mix from CDs, you need two CD drives. Laptops do not have two CD drives.

Multiple Video Outputs - To run Karaoke or Video software you will appreciate having two video outputs. Most laptops do not have the two video outputs or the ability to install a second video card. All DJ RAK systems have two video outs.

System Upgrades - Laptops are limited in upgrades that you can install when your needs change. Software updates and technology improvements are inevitable and will requiring upgrades. You need a system that you can upgrade easily and at a low cost.

Repair Options - The manufacturer can only repair Laptops and lunch box computers. DJ RAK systems are built using only industry standard components so you can upgrade and repair them anywhere and quickly. This is important for long-term use of a digital system.

Performance - Laptops are slower than desktop PCs. They run slow processors to save power, have 4,200 RPM drives, have lower amounts or RAM, and have slower internal buses. Even if your laptop may be adequate today, new software updates always require faster systems and more hard drive space. A DJ RAK system provides high performance and low latency for maximum control over the mix.

USB Peripherals - Having too many peripherals especially the external hard drive and external sound card will cause skipping and interruptions in the music. With USB, the processor has to move all of the data so it must move it in from the hard drive and then output it to the USB sound card. All of this data movement on the single USB bus will cause audible skipping.

Next On Page 3: The Advantages of A DJRak System