Topic: Recommend portable recorder w/ sp/dif & XLR's

[dave570]

BTW, that "nobody uses DAT anymore" remark isn't really true.  I still use it.  I taped the Allman Bros and Ratdog on Sat night in Camden NJ and there were 5 DAT decks patched together. Plus a H2 Zoom at the end. I send my deck in for pro-cleaning every year and so far (knock on wood), the heads are still OK.  I realize this can't go on much longer but I'm going on my 8th year now with this deck and it only broke once in those 8 years.

I will be going card recorder soon.  Just can't decide which one. I'm leaning towards the Edirol. It clearly is the better format. I may just keep my Sony D8 for backup purposes and my Fostex D5 at home for transferring some DATs to cdr. So DAT is still alive but not for long. Its like an old car that has too many good memories to be sold for parts.  I have no idea what I will do with all those tapes....space is limited.

[JasonSobel]

The Sony D1 or D50 with xlr adapter is the only solution that works for all the features you describe.  spdif and analog inputs/outputs and steathable...

I think that the Sony models only have optical inputs and outputs, not S/PDIF.

well, S/PDIF is a data format, and can be transmitted via 75-ohm coaxial cable (typcially with RCA connectors), or via optical cable.  So the Sony optical in/ouputs are indeed S/PDIF, just a different transmission format.