What is the best DAT desk available?

[kirk97132]

I've had the Sony R-500 play stuff that a Tascam DA20 or DAP1 would not play. 

[yltfan]

I just snagged a Sony DTC-A6 for cheeeep...anyone have experience with it? I'm hoping it does a good job with all my old D8 tapes.

[OldNeumanntapr]

I own them on 16 bit/44 khz but now I would love them on 16 bit/48 khz!

There is no good reason I can think of to do this.  Why does the sample rate matter?  They won't sound any better at 48 than they do at 44.

I agree.  There is no reason to do this. It's still going to be 16 bit and won't sound any different at 48k vs 44.1k.

[OldNeumanntapr]

Sometimes whether or not a tape can be played depends on the difference of alignment (or degree of mis-alignment) of the heads.  If the original deck is too far outta whack, that may be the only deck the tape can be played on.

I've also found this to be true. My Sonys would usually play DATs that the Tascams wouldn't play without errors. I always thought that the Sony DAT recorders were more forgiving than the Tascams. I agree that it all depends on the state of alignment of the heads. If you record a DAT with a deck with mis-aligned heads it won't play correctly on another deck with properly aligned heads.

[twatts]

I own them on 16 bit/44 khz but now I would love them on 16 bit/48 khz!

There is no good reason I can think of to do this.  Why does the sample rate matter?  They won't sound any better at 48 than they do at 44.

I agree.  There is no reason to do this. It's still going to be 16 bit and won't sound any different at 48k vs 44.1k.

The only reason I can think to go to 48k is to burn audio only DVDs???  There's no reason other reason to go 48k that I can think of...

Just do a straight digital Xfer and play with your files with some kind of audio software...

Terry

[nototim]

I have been transferring all of my DATs to hard drive over the last month and exclusively using my portable Sony D7 with no issues.  This thing has always been a workhorse for me.   Much better than my Sony PCM-M1 "pocket" DAT.   I also have a Tascam DA-20 that has also peformed flawlessly.   Both are at least 15 years old, but when I was doing a lot of recording/trading, I sent them in for periodic maintenance to Pro Digital(?). 

[andromedanwarmachine]

Hey Nototim;

was the Sony M1 the playback-only "personal stereo" version that was a bit smaller...?

JimP

[nototim]

No, the Sony M1 was the smaller replacement DAT recorder.   I'm pretty sure it had most of the same functionality as the D7/D8 but was a much smaller package.  I believe it had the same shell as the Sony D100, but I can't remember now what the actual difference between the two was.   They were much more convenient for stealth taping, but in my opinion the D7 not only looked more robust but also peformed much better.   

[H₂O]

The playback only ultra tiny Sony DAT player is the WMD-DT1

http://www.datrecorders.co.uk/wmddt1.php

These only have a headphone output.

M1 and D100 are pretty much the same unit - with the following exceptions:
- M1 is black; D100 is silver
- M1 has defeatable SCMS; D100 is SCMS compliant
- D100 came with the silver remote; M1 did not come with the remote

There may be other differences as well but the housing other than color and some of the printing is identical.

[morst]

I just snagged a Sony DTC-A6 for cheeeep...anyone have experience with it? I'm hoping it does a good job with all my old D8 tapes.

Same here, about $50 at a pawnshop. Seems to be a tank, I've run at least a hundred old DATs through it and the transport is noisy while loading & stop/start but otherwise quiet & very good. The only thing I kinda don't like is that it rewinds automatically at the end of a tape, or when it hits the end mark. How are you supposed to queue up to the end if you want to continue recording? Oh yes, FF. But I'd rather store 'em "tail out" and rewind before using than after, for a fresh pack before the transfer. But that's my only gripe, and I don't plan to transfer these again anyhow!

I own them on 16 bit/44 khz but now I would love them on 16 bit/48 khz!

There is no good reason I can think of to do this.  Why does the sample rate matter?  They won't sound any better at 48 than they do at 44.

I agree.  There is no reason to do this. It's still going to be 16 bit and won't sound any different at 48k vs 44.1k.

Actually it would sound worse, if not the same. Why muck with the original sampling rate? I must say, I prefer 48k masters, but I don't advocate re-sampling for any reason anymore! 

[H₂O]

A6 is the prosumer version of the PCM-R300