DAT question/ or cdr

[smphq]

I'm going to break down and get a new DAT machine.

The Tascam DA-20 MKII has unbalanced RCA Analog & SPDIF coaxial

Digital for about $700

The Tascam DA-40 has the above PLUS XLR balanced Analog & AES/EBU

Digital for about $1100

 

Is it worth the extra $400 to get the DA-40?

What IS the difference between balanced & unbalanced?

And isn't digital, well, digital? What's the diff between SPDIF &

AES/EBU?

 

Any opinions would be appreciated!

 

Or should I just go with a cdr & a nice analog/digital card for my PC?

 

Jason/SMP

 

cyber-punk

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[Hippie]

Since purchasing a Tascam CDRW-5000 a year ago, I have not used my DA-20. The converters in the CDRW sound a hair better than the DAT's, but the main reason I'm no longer using DAT is; you get a much longer "shelf-life" with CDR's. Also, you can play a finalized CDR anywhere, DAT's are harder to come by. I would look into a CDRW.

 

-Hippie

[Notape_dup1]

DATs suck, save your money and get a good card for your pc and a CDR drive.

 

Good luck,

-notape

[masternfool]

I used to get approx. 12 dats a week for duplication, now I get maybe 2 a month...you decide..HB

[ABECK]

I know a couple of guys with DA-20MKIIs. They are always crapping out. Their tech guy who fixes them says they are cheaply made and break quite often.

I have a CDR/RW and a DAT machine. I still use the DAT for a ton of stuff though. If you need one, look at the Panasonics.

[Dylan]

There are probably better options out there than these Tascam DAT decks. The older DA-20 (not the MKII) was equipped with a Pioneer transport that simply put rocks. Everyone I know whose used the DA-20 up against the DA-2- MKII prefers the original. The Fostex D5 also uses the same Pioneer transport as the DA-20 and is very reliable. This is the deck that I use and it's never given me any problems. Plus, it's about the same price as the DA-20 and it has balanced analog I/O and AES/EBU. But IMHO, you can't beat the Sony R-500 DAT in overall features and peformance. It's built like a tank and features a very solid transport as well as great sounding converters. But unless you really need DAT, your probably better off with a MasterLink or an inexpensive standalone CDR. The only reason that I still have my DAT deck is that I occasionally have clients who need DAT's mastered. I also use it for recording shows on occasion, but this will probably get replaced by Minidisc shortly.

 

-Dylan

 

This message has been edited by Dylan Walters on 06-05-2001 at 10:23 AM

[KenElevenShadows]

I've had a D5 since (I think) 1995 and have never had a problem. It's rock solid and reliable. I think that CD-R may be the way to go, though, although I'm not 100% sure that CD-Rs are more reliable than DATs for archival purposes -- one scratch, and kabloooey, plus still a fair amount of errors in reading and writing. Just the same, I'd go with the CD-R for the same reasons as mentioned by others, and make several CD-Rs of anything that's of any importance to you.

 

Are some of you mixing down *directly* to CD-R from analog, or are you using a computer-based DAW and simply dumping down to CD-R? If you are doing analog, do you feel that this changes some of the considerations?

 

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Ken/Eleven Shadows/d i t h er/Nectar

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