NUMARK iCDX
May 1, 2007 12:00 PM, BY ROBIN SMITH
Numark's iCDX digital audio player/software controller builds on its already impressive line of in-house engineered DJ products. The iCDX is a tidy little package that does triple duty as a stand-alone tabletop CD/MP3 player, a playback interface for external USB mass-storage devices such as iPods and a PC software interface controller.
At first glance, the iCDX looks like your standard tabletop CD player, incorporating a slot-loading optical drive, a touch-sensitive jog wheel, an array of buttons and an LCD into an efficient 11.5-by-9.5-by-4-inch box. With its attractive piano black on silver finish, blue lighting scheme and clear display, it struts alongside the best looking tabletop players out there.
What sets the iCDX apart from the current crop, however, is its built-in USB connectivity. The iCDX can be configured as a master controller for a variety of mass-storage devices, including USB flash drives, external USB hard drives and MP3 players, such as Apple iPods. Furthermore, the iCDX can also be hooked up as a slave HID (Human Interface Device) controller for use with software packages such as Numark Cue and Serato Scratch Live.
SETTING UP
The back panel of the iCDX features a clean layout with all available inputs/output clearly labeled and easily accessible. Also on the back is the slightly recessed power switch.
Connections include a pair of standard RCA line-level outputs, a single RCA-based S/PDIF digital out and two USB connectors: a female A-type connector labeled Master (for connecting external USB devices) and a female B-type connector labeled Slave (for connecting the iCDX to your PC). The iCDX also includes an ⅛-inch remote Fader Start connector that can also accept a footswitch (for external start/stop control), as well as an ⅛-inch Relay connector that works with compatible CD players to alternate playback from one device to the other. Power is provided by an external power brick that connects to the unit with a smart screw-on power connector that eliminates the risk of accidentally unplugging the player.
To use the iCDX as a tabletop player, simply hook up the RCA outs to your mixer of choice, plug in the power connector and turn it on. Load an audio CD or data CD/DVD, and you are ready to play. The large LCD, located centrally across the top, displays the track name, number, bpm and time, as well as other information such as pitch, effect, hot cue and loop status. The LCD is highly visible, with an attractive bright blue design and good off-angle viewing.
Besides audio discs, Numark included support for only MP3-encoded audio files (except on iPods, where it will play any song in a playlist). While MP3 is the most common digital audio-file format, it's a curious limitation given that other Numark products, the HDX for example, support MP3, WMA, WAV, Ogg Vorbis and FLAC. When you first load a CD/DVD, the iCDX takes a while to read the table of contents and begin calculating bpm values. The delay is longer than I would prefer, but not unreasonably so. Once loaded, the first track on the disk will be cued up and ready to play. Also, the iCDX exhibits a slight vibration when playing from CD/DVD.
THE GOODS
To accommodate its features, the iCDX has many buttons, dials and switches. For such a small device, they are laid out impressively well in logical groupings around the jog wheel. The attention to detail that went into each button's design and location is apparent. I don't use tabletop CD players all the time, yet I found everything to be in intuitive locations with controls of the right size for their frequency and type of use.
Less frequently used buttons, such as those for changing system-level settings, are fairly small and located on either side of the LCD at the back of the top surface, along with the decent-size Parameter and Track knobs used for adjusting settings and navigating playlists. Some settings require you to press the knob like a button; some require turning the knob.
The more frequently used controls are larger and grouped logically around the jog wheel: effects section on the top left; looping and multimode buttons on the top right; pitch and key lock controls to the right (where they would be on a vinyl turntable); and Scratch mode, reverse, brake/start adjust and eject controls to the left.
Cue, pause and play are located centrally underneath the jog wheel, where they are easily accessible and of a decent size with good tactile response. In fact, all of the buttons, knobs and switches are high quality, with the right level of resistance. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said of the pitch fader and wet/dry fader, both of which were sadly notable for their lightweight feel.
The 6-inch static jog wheel is touch-sensitive. If you manipulate the wheel using the outer part, it acts as a temporary pitch bend. If you use the inner part of the wheel, you can scratch (by enabling Scratch mode) or search through a track (by enabling Search mode). With respect to scratching, the unit sounds remarkably good — even for slow drag-style scratches — however, you have to press down on the platter slightly when scratching, and there is too much friction to make it usable for any real turntablist wizardry. Given that the iCDX is not aimed at the scratch DJ market, that is not a major concern.
Using the Parameter knob, you can change the scratch setting from vinyl emulation to the following custom modes: Forward (only forward motion is heard), Bleep (once you are finished scratching, the music will continue playing where it would have been if you hadn't scratched), Bleep Forward (combination of Bleep and Forward mode), Cue (where scratches always begin from the current cue point) and Cue Forward (combination of Cue and Forward mode). Cue mode is particularly interesting because you can create some cool beat-juggle effects if you set the right cue point.
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