Sonic Sense got back with me. They recommended for DAT>Optical - Hosa’s ODL-276 or ODL-312 (276 is spdif<>optical; the 312 is AES<>optical). This is not considered a cheap coax>optical converter, which I wanted to avoid in the first place. Apparently, both of these converters have proven themselves "bit perfect" in tests that Sonic Sense ran right here on taperssection.com. Price is about $57.
Now, I also found out that the Nomad JB3 not only plays and records MP3s, but can also be used for WAV file recording - 44.1 or 48. Sorry, if some of you knew this, but there were a few that weren't sure. However, I don't know how much storage a JB3 has, so it may not be as practical as a DAT with an endless supply of tapes.
-magicsalsa