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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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dtc's avatar
dtc
1,047 posts
 
Alex - so a Schitt Loki is better than any PCM DAC :) I wish it were so. It would save us all a lot of money.

Even for a product like the Ayre, some people like the PCM better than the DSD. Different strokes for different folks. For example, I can hear a difference between PCM and DSD using the Korg as a DAC, but I would be hard pressed to say one is significantly better than the other.

Just to make things more interesting, as you know, most of the DSD DACs actually convert to a multi-bit format for final playback and some convert to PCM for playback.

Fun times.
aplhifi
515 posts
 
Dtc, good points! :-)

After trying many PCM D/A conversion configurations, for me, DSD is closer to analog.

The DSD stream can actually be compared to analog, because even with a simple RC low pass filter it is already converted to analog. Don't try this with PCM. :-)

If I remember correct, the Korg has CS4398 DAC. Interesting experiment is feeding this DAC with PCM and then with same PCM information but previously converted to DSD. In both cases data is processed through the multi-level DSM, but, for some reason, DSD sounds superior. :-)

In my experience, most DAC chips (with the exception of those converting DSD to 176.4/24) sound better with DSD compared to PCM. It is probably the digital filtering involved. This is the reason why many current manufacturers use the DAC chips with external digital filter programmed to DSP or FPGA. Still, DSD sounds more analog to me. :-)

Fund times indeed.

Best,
Alex
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o_holter OP
975 posts
 
First the good news. I brought the Tascam and harddisk along on holiday - as source in the Ming Da amp and Aurum Cantus speakers system at our cottage. It sounds great. Better than the Korg Mr1. Not surprising perhaps, but i am glad i can get such a large percent of the sound in the main system - in a very modest system like i have here. It is more open and layered than with the Mr1. Less sterile and cold than Sacd from my other source Oppo 981. Also, changing the driver tubes in the Ming Da to NOS Rca 12bh7 and 12ax7 has helped.
Dsd pcm debate - agree with both sides. Dac means a lot. But to my ears Dsd is better. Not heard top class pcm dacs though.
Happy listening!
lancelock
1,093 posts
 
Interesting news. There is a modded version of this Tascam available by Decware. I have 3 Decware amps and speakers. I'm very happy with their products. This Tascam might be worth checking out, as soon as I have the money.
http://www.decware.com/newsite/ZDSD.html
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o_holter OP
975 posts
 
A little update, regarding the DA-3000. All in all, in my situation, it does very well. The DAC is fairly good, not much worse than my former Stello, and in some respects better (so I sold the Stello). Mind you, I am not that much into digital anyway, since in my system, it is outperformed by the vinyl / analog source. So "fair enough" mid level DAC performance is good enough for me, and the DA-3000 used as DAC delivers that.

Also, it delivers recordings from analog - and it is this capacity that matters most for me. Especially now, when my Aesthetix Io Eclipse phono stage is in for repair. I can't play LPs but I can play the Tascam recordings of some of some of these LPs.

All in all, the recordings sound good, much better than web downloads, with the exception of some very good hi-res web downloads. Most of the problems I hear, reside in the source, not in the DA-3000. Although it is not quite the "direct" analog. There is a little extra digital "sheen", even with 2 x DSD speed recordings, especially in high dynamic parts of the music, but mainly, the recordings are much better than lower format digital recordings.

So the DA-3000 is maybe not quite a replacement for my old work horse, the Revox A-77, the analog tape recorder, but it is getting close...
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