The XDJ-AN is AlphaTheta's first all-in-one standalone system under $1,200. Announced in July 2026 and priced at $1,199 (£999 in the UK), it is the successor to the discontinued XDJ-RR: same footprint, USB-C instead of USB-A, and a 7-inch touchscreen in place of physical buttons. At this price, it opens standalone DJing to a lot of buyers who were priced out of the XDJ-AZ. The first question most of them will ask is: how do I record my sets from this?

The answer requires understanding the outputs, a non-obvious USB-C port situation, and one workaround that gets the job done regardless.

The output configuration

Look at the back panel and you will find two master outputs — XLR and RCA — plus a 3.5mm headphone socket. That is the complete signal path out of the unit. A booth output does not exist.

If you are coming from a setup with a separate DJM mixer, you are used to having a dedicated booth out running parallel to the master at an independently adjustable level. The XDJ-AN does not have one. Mark Summerson at DJWORX noted it in his hands-on review: "I'd still like a proper booth output and another USB storage port."

For recording, the absence of a booth out narrows the options. You can use the USB-C audio port if it turns out to be compatible with Ohm (still unconfirmed), or run the master output into a USB audio interface.

The USB-C port situation

Three USB-C sockets sit on the back panel, and they are not interchangeable. The first takes drives — USB sticks and portable hard drives. A second is power-only. The third, marked PC/Mac/Mobile Device, is the audio interface connection. AlphaTheta lists the audio quality specs on their product page — the numbers put it in professional territory: 0.003% distortion, a noise floor 112 dB below signal, and full 20 Hz to 20 kHz frequency coverage. AlphaTheta's product page lists USB cable DJing as a supported feature for iOS.

The unresolved question is whether the audio interface is class-compliant.

The master-output workaround works regardless of how that question resolves.

Recording from the master output with Ohm

Connect the XDJ-AN's Master RCA or Master XLR output to a USB audio interface. Plug the interface into your iPhone and open Ohm. This is the standard recording path for any DJ setup without a dedicated recording output, and it works.

Step by step:

  1. Run RCA cables from the XDJ-AN Master RCA output to the line inputs on your USB audio interface. If your interface takes XLR only, use the Master XLR output with a balanced XLR cable.
  2. Connect the interface to your iPhone. On older Lightning models — iPhone 14 and earlier — you will need Apple's Lightning to USB Camera Adapter between the interface and the phone. iPhone 15 and later connect directly over USB-C.
  3. Open Ohm and select your interface as the input source.
  4. With a track running at your normal mixing level, watch the input meter in Ohm. Adjust the interface input gain until you have headroom without clipping.

The Roland Go:Mixer Pro-X and Focusrite Scarlett interfaces are both confirmed to work with Ohm — and both take standard line-level analog inputs, which is what the XDJ-AN master outputs deliver. For a full breakdown of interface options at different price points, the best USB audio interfaces for recording DJ sets guide has the detail.

What you give up recording from master

The limitation here is coupling: whatever you do to the master fader happens to your recording too. Drop the volume for a quieter room at soundcheck, and the recorded signal drops with it.

A dedicated booth output solves this by splitting the signal before the master fader, so you can set the recording level once and forget it. Without one, you manage both from the same control. Once the room level is where you need it, use the input gain in Ohm to dial in your recording level separately. It is one extra step, but it works. For home sessions and practice sets, the master fader rarely moves anyway.

The trade-off bites in a live environment where you are riding the master to suit the room.

The XDJ-AN is recordable. The master-out path works today and costs nothing extra if you already own a USB audio interface. The USB-C audio port is the more interesting question: if it turns out to be class-compliant, a single cable from the unit to your iPhone becomes the entire workflow, no interface needed. That is worth testing when you get the unit in hand.

For more on recording from AlphaTheta hardware via a mixer signal path, the AlphaTheta CDJ-1500X recording article covers a similar setup in detail. The Deckshark Mako guide covers the same recording-from-standalone format at a lower price point.