For many years I have been looking for a decent priced DAT machine for my home "project" studio. All were in the thousand(s) of $$$$. This just was not going to do. I had maybe $700.00 to play with. I didn't want a worn out dated used thing either. Exceptiions would the absolute killer Panasonic SV-3700,3800,3900,4100 machines,but come on,we are dreaming,right? These are workhorses. Just like the Tascam DA series machines too. So what to do? Well,look for a sale what else? I went to a "Guitar Center store in Hollywood and picked one of these Sony DTC-A6 machines for $640.00. At the time,it had all the latest goodies in it. Super bit mapping,coaxial,toslink digital inputs. All the index,and start ID automation you could ever ask for. 3 motor direct drive transport. Good no more stretch belts. Selectible sampling record rates,32,44.1,48khz respectively. Analog inputs/outputs are the unbalanced type,no provision for "balanced" input. Strange,but it keeps the price down I guess. No extra i/o circuits to build. Rack mounting is possible with the included rack ears. 19" eia standard of course. Detachable IEC power cord,naturally to conform with the European electrical safety standard. It also allows for a power cord upgrade,such as the Tara labs,etc. I had a Sony D-7 portable DAT,so I was already alittle familiar with the sound and recording characteristics of DAT. The A6 just makes things easier. The sound is good,while I won't give up my Tandberg or Nakamichi,the Sony does a good job. I used this deck in a recent multi-meadia project,and it performed without a hitch. Wished it had a jog wheel/shuttle function though. I like the fact there is no wow/flutter to speak of here. I have had over 30 different tape recorders,and wow and flutter are always present,well,at least alittle. The A-6 banishes this completely. It was astonishing to hear no wow/flutter for the first time on CDs'. Now I have a tape format that does that too. The size of the tape cartidge is a big plus. fits in my pocket,and I get 4 or 6 hrs,in the long mode. I use the higher speed naturally for the better fidelity. The A-6 has a clean midrange and high frequency spectra,but it sounds alittle hard and "clinical" compared with my Tandberg TCD-3014 cassette deck. Now granted my Tandberg could never have the highs that my A-6 could,but,the Tandberg is less fatiguing to listen too,do to its' smoother highs. The bass is good,but my Tandberg still sounds fuller. The Nakamichi ZX-7 I have sounds just a smig' fuller down in the bass too. So for making tapes for my Sony d-7 portable for the car or just where ever,great. For serious listening,the Tandberg and the Nak will be my first choices,along with my NAD 6300. They are more fluid sounding and not as harsh. However,if I have a project to do,the A-6 gets top billing for those chores. So in summary,terrific operation ease,decent sonics,great Sony dependability,very good versatility. The A-6 has been replaced by the the PCMR-300. On sale for $599.00 at "Guitar Center". It is essentially the same as the A-6,just different color cabinet,and includes error rate display and a/d,d/a monitoring. It is a good buy for those looking for a good cheap project deck for home studio. I would get one of the "es" DAT units for my regular "kicking back" to listen system though.

Will record at the double speed 32khz and play back normal speed 32khz recordings.
Has optical and coaxial S/PDIF in/out's
Remote works well.
Records 90m tapes zero problems
rewinds/fast forwards quickly.
Metal faceplate
Allows a monitor pass-through mode by hitting record with on tape in the transport.

SCMS not switchable

Only 2 motors: one for the head drum and another motor for everything else.

I bought this deck at the same time I bought my Marantz CDR-615 CD burner. I wanted a "cheap" DAT deck for making images of what would become CD's. Originally I had intended to buy the Tascam DA-20. For some reason, though, I got the impression they had many problems based on what I read in the DAT Heads mailing list. I bought it in Decemeber of '96 so it's well out of it's 3 year warranty.

What blew me away was the first time I recorded music on it from a CD and played it back. I could not believe that I was actually listening to a tape. I stayed up to 3am that night playing with it and my CD recorder. I worked nights then and it arrived while I was at work that night. Needless to say, I was sleepy but I also could go to sleep due to the excitement of getting my first DAT recorder.

It was later replaced by the PCM-300 which had some features that the DTC-6A did not. It looked identical but the following things were different:
1 SCMS can be turned off on the PCM-300 but not on the A6.
For me this is a moot point; my CD burner ignores SCMS.

2 Auto ID writting can be adjusted for different audio threshold levels. Something that the A6 cannot do.

I plan to buy another DAT recorder some day. If this thing ever has something serious go wrong with it, surely it will be garbage can material as most Japanese electronics are until a larger amount of money is speant on them.

Many DAT manufacturers will try to tell you not to record on 90m DDS tapes due to their thinner tape stock. For me the only easily accessable tapes are 90m DDS tapes at office Depot; no one around here sells "audio" DAT tapes.
About 30% of my DAT's are 90m DDS tapes and even the ones that were recorded back in 96 still play with no dropouts.
In fact the only DAT tape I have ever had break was a 16 minute Ampex tape.
If you want a deck like this, you'll have to buy the PCM-300. Still it's a great buy in my opinion and I'd gladly buy it again.

Similar Products Used:

Panasonic 3800 which is pretty much the industry standard for DAT recorders.