Beechwoods' Den

[Beechwoods]

I showed my wife this thread and she thinks your theory is rubbish.

I'm still trying to work out what she meant

[Primalsea]

Yeah,

My wife isn't convince either, I haven't asked her friends yet.

[Filterlab]

Strangely the Nakamichi DAT machine was very poor, probably deserves another look , though.

Strange given their ability to extract decent sound from compact cassette. Aiwa really sat high in the DAT game, about the only game they sat high in though.

[Marco]

I never got into DAT (same as minidisc or SACD and a few other technologies). Was it any good?

As far as tape goes, I was a diehard Nak CR-7 and Sony Walkman Pro user, which with good quality chrome tape (like it was in those days) such as TDK SA90 (not the cheapo shite SA90s that are still produced now) used to record vinyl from my (then) LP12/Naim set-up, would piss all over any digital bollocks made today.

The CR-7 in particular was stunning, but I suspect that a top-notch reel-to-reel machine would've pissed all over that, if set-up properly.

Incidentally, regarding NOS tape, I've just bought a load on here for my Nakamichi (now DR-10):

http://stores.ebay.com/RealDeals-Steals

Got some cracking sealed 1987 TDA SA90s, Maxells, Scotch and BASF.

I listen to tapes in the car on a decent Blaupunkt tape deck recorded from my system both on vinyl and CD, not cheap plastic CD players or some such bollocks

Marco.

[Filterlab]

I never got into DAT. Was it any good?

DAT was, and still is, mind blowingly good. In fact it was the studio standard for recording in its day and is still the preferred choice for location recording. It's a clinically accurate and faithful recording medium and so is ideal for 'original recording' purposes. However the machines were complex and prone to breakdown and tape of course degrades over time, but that aside DAT is very very good indeed.

Have a read: DAT on Wikipedia

[Marco]

Will do, mate

I'm all for new technology, but *ONLY* when it's unquestionably superior, sonically, to what went before. This has of course got nothing to do with DAT.

Some people (not you) I feel are just technology freaks and simply must have the latest 'gizmos' regardless if they're actually any good or not at their job. I will never inhabit that planet as far as hi-fi is concerned.

Marco.

[Beechwoods]

DAT was never really a consumer technology. It seemed to take off amongst live tapers and Deadheads in the states, and they are what keeps the format going. There is still the occasional post to the DAT-Heads list, though these days its more people offering their collections up. There were very few pre-rec DAT tapes. The industry were sh-t scared that people could copy material without gen-loss, even with copy protection that denied even legit copyright owners the rights to copy their own material digitally more than once.

The form factor was great. Lovely little well manufactured cartridges.

I love the concept of having a VCR transport in my pocket (when I'm out with my D7 ).

The CR-7 Nak deck was brilliant. Manual playback azimuth controls on the front. Absolute genius. My ZX-7 has record azimuth controls so you can tune the azimuth to the tape, but the p/b azimuth control is the proverbial keys to the kingdom.

My bro had a Pro-Walkman. He used it for years to record his own band rehearsals and performances. They were fantastic quality machines, lovely recordings esp. with Dolby C and Type IV tape.

I still have some sealed and unused Maxell XLII-S 90's tucked away. I don't have cause to do any tape copies these days though. Nice tip for source of NOS tape though.

[Filterlab]

...The industry were sh-t scared that people could copy material without gen-loss, even with copy protection that denied even legit copyright owners the rights to copy their own material digitally more than once...

Oh yes, I'd forgotten all about SCMS, it was a piece of piss to bypass if I remember correctly. You'd have to do one analogue to digital recording and it was gone, DAT was so good there was (virtually) no degradation through the AD converter - the rest from then on was digital to digital.

SCMS is serial copy management system.

[Marco]

Here's another good source, Beechy. Just picked up these rather nice BASF:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...EOIBSA:US:1123

My bro had a Pro-Walkman. He used it for years to record his own band rehearsals and performances. They were fantastic quality machines, lovely recordings esp. with Dolby C and Type IV tape.

Indeed. And sonically miles better than any iPod abomination!

Marco.

[Filterlab]

Pioneer did a semi-pro DAT machine with a 24bit/96khz ADC/DAC if I remember correctly, I believe it was one of their "Elite" range of rather tasty digital product. I'll dig something out on it when I can.

**EDIT**

Found it, it's the D9601, very yummy. Not so great in black but fantastic in that brushed champagne that the Japanese companies are so good at.

Pioneer D9601 on The Vintage Knob