Tascam DA-3000

JWM

See the details under my post above on 11/8.

Yes, I recorded a cut from an LP at 24/96K in WAV on the Tascam. Converted to FLAC on my PC, but also listened to the raw WAV file as well. Compared directly to my system playing the identical vinyl LP and three other versions ripped from CD to 16/44.1K FLAC.

My playback system is Bryston BDP-1 to BDA-1 to Parasound JC2 for digital files; Phono is AT OC9/ii cart/SME IV arm/Technics 150 SLMKII turntable (modded with outboard PS)/Luxman MC transformer/Spectral DMC-10 phono preamp to Parasound JC2.

Significant detail in the phono was missing in the recorded digital file. It was obvious on an A/B comparison.

FWIW, my suspicion is that the conflicting assessments of the Tascam recorder by Jeff (JWM) and Dhl93449 are both correct. And one look at the system description thread for Jeff's extraordinarily high quality system will make it abundantly clear that his much better assessment of the Tascam is not attributable to any lack of musical resolution in his system.

So what could account for the differences in the two assessments? A possibility that occurs to me is that the ultra-wide bandwidth of Dhl's Spectral DMC-10 preamp resulted in spurious RF energy being introduced into the Tascam, which its anti-aliasing filter could not adequately reject. Perhaps because that energy simply bypassed the filter, coupling "around it" and into the A/D circuitry via stray capacitances, less than ideal circuit grounds, or other extraneous paths.

Conceivably that spurious RF energy might have been picked up out of the air, from electrical or electronic devices within Dhl's home or even from radio stations. Keep in mind that there have been more than a few threads here in which people have reported actually hearing radio stations through their systems while listening to vinyl sources, while using components having vastly narrower bandwidths than the Spectral.

The bottom line: If my theory is correct, while the poor results Dhl obtained with the Tascam reflect less than optimal design, the Tascam would provide significantly better results in most systems than it did in his application.

Regards,
-- Al

Al - your theory would be easy to test. All he has to do is turn off the Spectral pre and record from the Tascam, using the headphone jack as the monitor. Then, turn on the pre and listen to what was recorded. My guess, is he will get the same result. There is other evidence that the input section of the Tascam is not as good as that on other higher priced ADCs. But it would be an interesting and quick little experiment to do.

Dtc, if I'm not mistaken the phono stage Dhl used is built into his Spectral DMC-10 preamp. And he had indicated earlier in the thread that he was using the DMC-10's main outputs, not its tape outputs, to supply the signals to the Tascam. So the experiments that would seem to suggest themselves would be to either record from a different source altogether, with the Spectral disconnected and turned off, or perhaps to record from the Spectral's tape outputs.

Regards,
-- Al

Yes, my mistake. I was thinking the phono preamp was separate, but it is part of the preamp. The tape outputs sound like the best test.