How good is the Sony 2000 ES DAT ?
I am sure it is a good DAT but IMO not worth $400-1000 people want to pay for it. From what I have read it is the first deck sony made with SBM.
There are many more modern Sony decks that are probably just as good sound wise, are built as well or better, and much less complex in design (easier to fix). Such as the ones I mentioned above (Sony PCM 2600/2800, PCM R500/R700, and additionally DTC-A8/A9). All these decks can be found in the $75-150 range except the R700.
A better series of Sony DATs are the PCM 70xx series although I would only suggest buying the PCM-7040 (if 32Khz is not important) or PCM-7010.