Michiel's DAT decks page

DAT decks

This page describes my current digital hardware, but will soon cover the range of devices that are usefull in respect to the storage of digital audio information. It will cover the parts, DCC sucks and MD sucks; CDR is cool and stuff like that, plus a review to support my opinion.
I currently have 4 DAT decks, 1 analog deck and access to an MD portable. I have tried DCC, that sucked. Future expansion of my recording equipment will likely consist of the purchase of an additional home DAT decks (probably a Tascam DA20mkII). Alternatively I might take the swing to computer-based CD-R or DVD-R instead of expanding on DAT-decks.

Sony TCD-D7/TCD-D8 portable DAT decks

Sony TCD-D7 portable DAT decks

Description
The D7 (May 1994) is a rather sophisticated digital toy. It allows you to make non-compressed digital recordings. The D7 will let you down in a big way at least once a year, which is why you need an extended warranty with it. If you make recordings using the line-input you'll get great results, unless you need to put the recording level-knob below 4.2 (some claim 4.5). Below 4.2 some analog part in front of the A/D converter gets overpowered and will clip the signal (this is know as brick-walling). I would not use the microphone input in order to avoid the built in microphone pre-amplifier. The mic-preamp is extremely noisy.
The D7 is much better than its predecessor D3, as that one used to crap out on me at least 4x a year. Sound wise the D3 used to be better. If you find a second-hand D3 these days it's probably one of the few decks that was built well enough to last. It might be a good buy. If you are the unhappy owner of a D3 that only recently passed away and isn't smelly yet, I want to buy it from you.
The TCD-D8 (September 1998) entered my collection when the D7 needed to be fixed and there were shows to tape. The D8 has a few improvements over the D7, amongst others a sleep button, gold plated analog I/O and a capability to record at 44.1 kHz.
Additional comments and info
For detailed information on D3, D7, D8 and D100 you must visit Victor Yiu's Sony D7/D8/D100 Resource Guide. Victor keeps the information up-to-date and has all the related links. Of course you shouldn't skip our daring man from down-under's homepage, featuring pictures of dissected portable DAT machines.

Fostex D-5 semi-professional home DAT deck

Description
I bought my D-5 in May 1997. I love its solid transport and its digital I/O, but I hate its crappy A/D and D/A. It's a great second (or third or up) deck, but I don't recommend it for recording from analog. I compared the D-5's A/D with the A/D of my D7 and DCC900. The latter have way better A/D converters that output a constant digital level while connected to a fixed (analog) input-signal. The Fostex's A/D produces a fluctuating digital output while connected to the fixed analog input BAD, BAD, BAD D-5. The D-5's D/A converter isn't free of noise either. The headphone output is hissy and I do not recommend it for listening with a decent headphone.
Additional comments and info
The Fostex D-5 has a Pioneer made transport. The family of decks based on this transport is pretty big and includes the Tascam DA20(mkII), Otari DTR-8S, Onkyo DT-2710 and several Pioneer decks, including the D-05. Of these decks the DA20mkII seems to be the deck to have, as it has a several digits error-counter and a monitor mode (A/D and D/A) that doesn't require a tape to be loaded. The DA20's analog parts were better then the D-5's analog parts. The Onkyo deck was recently discontinued, but might still be in stock. The Onkyo and Pioneer decks feature high-sampling (96 kHz, double speed) and it seems likely that the analog parts have to be quite good to achieve that.
For additional info on these solid DAT decks visit Fostex or Tascam. Panasonic appears to be a good source for DAT decks as well, but as they are hardly available in Europe I haven't paid much attention to them.

Onkyo DT-2710 home DAT deck

Description
This deck entered my collection in September 1997. It is a very nice deck and has been performing very well. It was shipped back to Onkyo once for a safety check-up as the deck produced unpleasant noises during FF and REW, Onkyo fixed that really fast. Transport, remote and housing-layout of the Onkyo DT-2710 are identical to the Fostex D-5. The DT-2710 has coaxial and optical digital inputs and a coaxial output. The deck can record at 32 kHz LP, 48 kHz SP and 96 kHz HS from analog. 32 kHz SP and 44.1 kHz SP can be recorded via the digital input.
Additional comments and info
The DT-2710 appears to be based more on the DA-20 then on the D5. The layout of the back of the machine matches the layout of the DA-20, except for the additional optical input. The A/D and D/A of this deck are really good. SCMS tricks that work for the DA-20 do not work with the DT-2710. A bad thing I did notice is the flimsy head-phone output. The volume-knob generates noise. The D-5's headphone output isn't good either so this seems to be a flaw in the 'main' design. This particular DT-2710 produces a fair amount of head-drum-spin-whine, clearly audible during parts recorded at low levels.
To display the error-count for heads A and B put the timer switch to <play rep>. With a tape playing hold <rec mute> and press-and-hold <open/close>. The display is two digits per head. Any number other then 00 00 is bad, but up to 30 30 it ought to be more or less recoverable without audible errors. 94 94 is the worst you can get, indicating there no signal on the tape at all.

Updated: September 9, 1998