Opinions Wanted: Tascam DA 78

[Lee M.]

Hi Everyone, I tried a Tascam DA 88 years ago when they first came out and wasn't thrilled with the sound (too thin and brittle to my ears). I'm now thinking about trying a DA 78HR. Has anyone used both of these machines? I'd be very interested in your comments regarding any difference in the sound of them. Thanks for your input. Lee M.

[Bunny Knutson]

I've never used a DA 78, but I have had bad experiences with DA 88s. Now that Jeff doesn't work for Tascam any more, I feel comfortable talking about it here. About 10 years ago, I recorded my first album on DA 88s, linking four of them together to achieve 32 tracks. Whenever we would get on a roll, recording for several hours on end, the machines would overheat, and stop functioning properly. At that point, tracks would start dropping out, and we were getting all kinds of glitches. The machines had been recently serviced, and apparently nothing was wrong with them, according to the tech. Needless to say, these problems caused much aggravation and many lost hours of recording, as we wouyld wait for the machines to cool down. They would always work perfectly once we had let them cool down. Maybe this problem was corrected with the DA 78. I dunno.