• Welcome to ASR. There are many reviews of audio hardware and expert members to help answer your questions. Click here to have your audio equipment measured for free!

Does anyone else here use a DAT recorder?

klettermann

klettermann

Active Member
Forum Donor
Joined
Mar 2, 2022
Messages
284
Likes
219
Location
Coastal Connecticut
Just curious. I 've still got a bunch of DAT tapes from way back when, now unused for years (decades?). My player, a Tascam DA-30, died and that was that. BUT, I recently found an other working player for peanuts. I have no idea how long the tapes or player will last, but hopefully I'll get some fun out of before it all goes >>POOF<<. Happy Holidays!
 
I still use mine as there a lot of tapes I never transfered to a hard drive. I probably should get around to it but both of my units are still in good working order, Panasonic SV3700 and the portable Sony D10 Pro II. I've been using a Tascam X8 for what little field recording I've been doing. I'll keep using the DATs to keep the heads moving until I decide to sell them.
 
Every once in a while I look at replacing my broken Sony portable dat player. I have lots of live tapes on dat that i would like to access again
 
I went MiniDisc for a bit, what a waste of money that was... all these formats were kind of still-born, CD-R tech had come out earlier but they didn't seem to think about turning it consumer right away (and lower the cost).
 
I have a beautiful SONY Walkman-style DAT that my Father had given to my Mom along with a stereo mic to record herself on her piano. She apparently used one cassette over and over and that's all I have of her practicing, along with brand new blank ones still in the cellophane. I listen to her from time to time--still, I wish there were some other use for this wonderful device.
 
Used minidisc to record shows. Portable, very cheap and a huge jump from cassette. Iirc DAT was more oriented to pro users and not economically viable for the average teenager.
 
Yes - on the job - and its the best one ever made. this one <3
1766437318674.png
 
pablolie said:
Pretty and very pro. :-) Can you still buy DAT tapes, though? I never owned one, but liked the fact you could forward to any song on the track (and unlike MiniDisc, it was lossless).
Click to expand...
No I dont think you can buy DAT tapes anymore - But from time to time we need to re-record content from old DAT tapes to a more sustainable media
 
I don't use it anymore.
But I still gave dozens of tapes.

And I measured it as well:
www.audiosciencereview.com

SONY PCM-R300 DAC measurements

I measured my SONY PCM-R300 DAT recorder The PCM-R300 was released around 1998. (A review from the time may be found here) This was the entry model in the SONY pro DAT recorders. Obviously, this one is based on a consumer-grade DAT platform. I purchased it second hand to replace my...
www.audiosciencereview.com www.audiosciencereview.com
 
pablolie said:
Pretty and very pro. :-) Can you still buy DAT tapes, though? I never owned one, but liked the fact you could forward to any song on the track (and unlike MiniDisc, it was lossless).
Click to expand...
I have a dealer in Florida that you can buy both DAT and Analog tape, cassette and reel to reel.
 
There's plenty of NOS DAT tapes for sale, I was looking last week. Although I was actually looking for pre-recorded tapes.

There's some of those too but they are expensive.
 
This is great, I never expected much response at all. Tomorrow I'll get my new old deck fired up . I was digging around on the topic with ChatGBT and it was interesting. It was very, very negative, like I should expect the tapes to burst into flames and for the deck to self destruct at any moment. We'll see. I just gotta figure out how many tapes I can't get on Tidal or Qobuz and preserve those. I don't think it's much, so if some tapes blow up so what? Fun for the holidays!
 
I once owned a Sony Walkan TCD-D3, thought it was awesome for the early 1990s, think I sold it to a former boss of mine.
 
LOL last used dat was for backup of an old computer system.
 
Chrispy said:
LOL last used dat was for backup of an old computer system.
Click to expand...

I remember back in the late 1990's that we used DAT tapes for recording seismic data in field units. Thankfully flash memory progressed where we could just put in a USB flash drive or two.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

NTTY
  • Poll Poll
SMSL PL150 Review (CD Player)
6 7 8
Replies
159
Views
48K
Joe Smith
J
NTTY
SMSL G1 Review (Clock Generator)
6 7 8
Replies
140
Views
29K
jareinertson
J
NTTY
Accuphase C-280 Review (Preamplifier)
4 5 6
Replies
115
Views
28K
bodysurfing child
B
Back
Top Bottom