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Audiophile recording and playback - Tascam DA-3000


Hi, some months ago I bought the Tascam DA-3000 recorder, having used a small Korg MR-1 for some years. I mainly record from my vinyl rig (Lyra Atlas – SME V – Hanss T30 – Aesthetix Io Eclipse – Einstein The Tube mk2).

I have found that even with the hassle of very big files (one LP = almost 3 GB), the dual speed DSD sound is superior to anything digital I have heard so far.

In my rig, analog blows digital out of the water, but this is the best candidate.

In a former thread, someone asked, is the Da-3000 ‘audiophile’ level. The answer is a clear yes.

This is the first digital recorder I have owned (after some DATs and others) that does not make me ashamed that my old analog and much-modded Revox A77 stands in my loft. Also, for some, the Tascam may be a good investment since its DAC may outperform the DAC you already have. I had a Stello DAC that went out the door.

However, some aspects of the Tascam are problematic, and others can probably be improved.

A first issue is connectivity and ease of use. It would be great if the Tascam could record to a hard disk, or at least play back from it. The manual says a hard disk can be connected through the USB port. I bought a Seagate Wireless Plus 1 TB hard disk to try. However, the Tascam won’t recognize it, even when I reformatted to Exfat (instead of NFTS). Perhaps it would be recognized if I reformatted to FAT32, but then I would not have any use of a big hard disk, the limit is 32 GB I think. So I am back to recording to my 32 GB Sandisk SD card, eight LPs or so, with hand written notes, what track is what title, and then carrying the card and paper to my main PC, naming folders and transferring the files. BTW this was very slow, 19 mbps, since my card reader was not USB 3 compliant, I changed, and now it is much better, 84 or so mbps.

The ideal would be to have the Tascam drive as a unit on my home network, this is why I bought the Seagate wireless, but as stated - no success so far.

Experiences with the Tascam (or similar), in this and other respects, are welcome.

Note that, the problems so far are minor, for me, compared to the benefits. The sound is usually much better than what I get from CDs or the web (excepting some SACDs). I can bring my analog rig around, so to speak, playing back on the Korg Mr-1 (or the Tascam itself, which is light weight and semi-movable). I think that DSD playback will become more easily available in the future. If Pono had included DSD, I would have bought one.
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rushton's avatar
rushton
2,445 posts
 
Jwm, thank you for sharing how you're doing this! Since you're recording to PCM, I understand your preference for the Benchmark. I'm strongly considering going with double DSD for my recordings, so the DA-3000 makes sense for that based on what I'm reading.

I'm hoping to record while I'm listening and to have a recorder always connected for that purpose. So, I'm not surprised, but a bit disappointed, that you're hearing an improvement in sound quality by disconnecting the parallel cable to you amp when you're attaching the Benchmark. I see that Benchmark's analog input impedance (through it's XLR inputs) is 200k ohms. The DA-3000 is only 22k for the RCA inputs and 10k for the XLR inputs. This suggests that the Benchmark would be better isolated from the second parallel output on the Io, but it still is an audible degradation to have both connected. Too bad. :-(

Another question about the Benchmark... The specs show it as having only XLR analog inputs but you say you are connecting with RCA interconnects. Are you using an RCA-XLR adapter going into the Benchmark from the Io?
jwm
918 posts
 
Yes cardas adaptors. I'm not impressed with dsd even 2x. 24/176 I feel is much better. 
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o_holter OP
975 posts
 
There has been no comments from me, due to no recording on the Tascam. My main source, the Aesthetix Io has been repair for a long time. Now, it is back.
Rushton: using the Tascam to its best capability double DSD is the best way, I believe. And, I prefer recording to the Tascam through a good preamp (I use Einstein The Tube) rather than direct from the Io. An ideal might be the Io through the Callisto or an Atma-Sphere MP1 but the Einstein does a good enough job for me, now. I tried some recording from the line out SE taps on the Einstein, but the balanced out (with volume) sounds better, Volker at Einstein writes - "by far".
This makes the recording more of hassle - I have to change the balanced out cables, unplug from my amps, plug into the Tascam, to record. Such is life.
Better digital streaming (Tidal Master, etc) has narrowed the gap to my vinyl drops, but vinyl still has an edge.
Jwm - why 24/176 - not 24/192? Not impressed with DSD - maybe you have the wrong DAC, it is not optimal with the Tascam? Judging from the Tascam alone, I have experienced that double DSD is what it does best..

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o_holter OP
975 posts
 
I was a bit surprised that a preamp maker told me to use balanced out (volume controlled) rather than line out, for recording. In the old days it was always "use line out". I recorded many vinyl drops on my trusty old Revox A77, and the line out was the way to go. Are there others, recording from vinyl, who have experiences in this regard?

The purist philosophy has been formulated as 'straight wire with gain'. My experiences point to the fact that the right combination of gain stages is a key for this 'with gain' part to work.. For example, having a Riaa with volume controls, I can tune it optimally as a source for my preamp. My preamp volume takes over, from there. Much like getting the right juices flowing, or mixing a sauce right. One might think, introducing one more gain stage is bad, but sometimes, it is not. However, it is very dependent on the quality of the gain stage. A lower quality gain stage will compromise the whole amplification chain. A nice thing about the "mixed" approach where amp stages can be volume controlled, is that you can tune them to the level where they sound best. - Just my five cents, from testing various Riaa stages and preamps, in my system.


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o_holter OP
975 posts
 
I am using the Tascam as my main DAC. I either record from vinyl, play vinyl recordings, or play digital music. My source for digital is the Squeezebox Touch. This can play 192/24 bit files, now, with the EDO plugin (Enhanced digital output and Kernel updates). The Tascam performs all tasks, but switching between recording mode and digital input DAC mode is a bit of work. Recording mode - DSD 5.6. Digital playback mode 192/24 PCM. Recording levels need adjustment too. I sometimes get a warning message "Digital input is illegal" in playback mode, yet it plays and records ok.
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