I've been looking to get a DAT walkman for a long time, to no avail. Now I'm pretty much unexpectedly being offered the possibility of getting the one I had an eye on: Model: Sony WMD-DT1 Price: 250€ Includes: Remote, manual, bag. State: Supposedly functional, (surprisingly) no battery lock issue yet, well kept. Stretches my budget a bit but the best offer I've been getting in a long time. I haven't seen it tested though. Had scammier offers (including 800€ and up...). To my knowledge it's (unfortunately) the only Sony DAT which got a window through which you can see the tape spin, something I want. While not having recording features from models such as the Sony TCDs, issues with the rubber-like coating, battery lock and potential wear on the opening mechanism, it does have a sleek design and it's small. I've watched this video to get a better idea of the inner workings and potential flaws (with my limited knowledge I'd probably even recommend it): No belt that needs exchange, all done through an engine, correct? Anything else I forgot about it? I never used DAT before, it seems like a very appealing blend of the things minidisc have to offer (good audio quality, title skip/fast rewinds to track markers) and the appeal of cassettes. The WMD-DT1 is purely playback and so far my "dream DAT", so I still need a recorder separately. I was thinking of either the TCD-D3 or TCD-D8 (also as a portable backup in case of a defect). Are there maybe other affordable alternatives out there I should look into? Is there anything else I should keep an eye out for when getting DAT equipment? Long story short for those with little time: Offer I got: WMD-DT1 for 250€, very good state, no battery lock issue yet. Seem to be more expensive. Remote, manual, bag included. Still need: Recorder and tapes separately, go with TCD-D3 or TCD-D8? Which tapes are fair price with quality? Any other affordable (portable) recorder models to look into? Thanks in advance!
I presume you have seen this In theory DAT should be very similar in sound to CD. In fact there is a good chance that many 1990s CDs were mastered from DAT.
Yep, I'm familiar with the video, however it has been a while since I've last watched it. It was a great introduction, I guess devices like the TCD-D100 would be closer to what I'm looking for in a recorder and backup plan, totally forgot it exists, I was more focused on the TCD-D3 and D8, preferrably D8 and totally forgot that little silver fella. Having some basic gear would already be a good start just so I could record some first tapes should I decide to buy the one for 250. If I'm not mistaken the WMD-DT1 is the only pure playback-only DAT walkman, is that correct? I'm still unsure whether that price is even remotely a "fair" deal, it's hard to get a good idea with so little offers around. If someone has any pointers, I'd be really thankful.
I have little knowledge of DAT. Sound wise you could get exactly the same results with a solid state player. When I bought the Silverimage Troubled Hearts download (one of Techmoan's favourites) I loaded the wav file (which was actually bigger than a CD ) directly into one of my Sony NWZ series Lipstick style Walkmans. Unlike Laserdisc, on which you might get discs that were never released on DVD, I don't think music was released on DAT and certainly not exclusively. Therefore I think nostalgia would have to be the main justification for buying DAT.
Yeah, nostalgia and a "want a bit of them all" mentality is more or less my primary reason. I do really love the look of the loading mechanism of DATs though. I find the tapes to look pretty "cute" as well, so overall I fell in love with the idea behind DAT and was hoping to find a recorder and that playback-only walkman I mentioned along with a couple tapes. It became pretty exotic these days, so that makes the most of its charme to me. Ah yes, laserdisc, another interesting format.
This is the most sensible answer you can get at this place . The purchase of a DAT these days is not a good idea especially if the main purpose is to use it on a daily basis ,sooner or later you'll have to service it and as these are rare , much rarer than minidisc players ,spare parts are equally rare. If the question was "is it a nice idea ?" then the answer would be yes if you are a collector who admires the technology and love the craftsmanship behind these devices and you want to listen from time to time great sound. Having said that, I love DAT and have a small collection, a Sony TCD-100 , a Sony TCD-7 and a Sony TCD-8 ,all great , I won't get into comparison details but TCD-100 is my absolute preference with its handy size and somewhat better quality construction (titanium shell I think) and of course the looks. Below I scanned a German Sony catalog "Programm '91/'92" when DAT was a new technology and Sony devoted two pages to explain what is all about. From the same catalog My DATs , (Sony WM-DD9 is there for size comparison).
@Machaneus The TCD-D100 really seems like a nice device especially in size, though it's probably out of my league considering the prices I've seen. Some (in good to mint condition) seem to be sold for around 600€, that would be more than the max. budget I could bring up for DAT equipment right now. Did you notice any differences between the D7 and 8 that are worth a mention? For instance rate of defects and recording quality. Those models seem extremely similar. As I compared prices on the net, I also stumbled across this offer for a TCD-D8: https://www.ebay.de/itm/Sony-TCD-D8-DAT-recorder-Freight-prices-please-see-description/302597833476 Would you say that one could be worth a shot or is that price suspiciously low? In total it would cost me 143€ if I include shipping. By the way, those scans were interesting reads! Thanks for the upload. Those DATs would be more of a "for special events" thing (most likely at least), for daily use I'd still go with my tape and minidisc walkmans, they're cheaper in case something goes wrong or if I dropped them in an accident.
Externally TCD-8 has a darker color than TCD-7 and SP position has a choice between 48Khz and 44.1Khz ,since I bought mine both used I can't be certain but TCD-8 seems to be more stable , no interrupts during play ,TCD-7 some times interrupts but that varies depending on the recording.In general TCD-8 seems to be an evolution. Soundwise can't detect any difference. The one on ebay seems like a good deal as the sellers says it works but that is not a definite guarantee eg. maybe there are interrupts during play after some time but you have the sellers claim "it works". Also the seller accepts offers has 100% profile and the price seems reasonable ,good luck if you go for it .
Fantastic and thanks a bunch for the insights/help! I'll see if it'll be still available tomorrow so I can let that sink in and reconsider just in case. Let fate decide. There's a conflicting information about shipping so I'm not sure if the shipping costs are the 78€ as stated by ebay or the 23€ (shipping to Germany) as stated by the seller. Do you (by any chance) have any insight on the how the WMD-DT1 offer for 250€ (total) could be judged? Not an actual image of it, but I'm talking about this kind of walkman. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures, but it's a rare model as far as I know, the only pure playback DAT walkman and as I stated, the battery lock is all fine, it's suppsoedly all tested and functional with remote, manual and bag. It has barely any visible scratches.
Well WMD-DT1 is rare and the one you describe is complete ,with walkman asking prices trends lately everything looks normally expensive. There was a discussion in S2G about the ebay prices and the conclusion was that is better to see what was sold anything than what was the asking price to see what something really worth. To add about the differences between TCD-7 and TCD-8 ,there should be a difference in sound quality as TCD-8 has 48khz sampling rate option aside the 44.1khz (cd quality) I just have not tested that option.
Ah yes, most likely that'll boost sound quality (if the recording supports it). So I take it in theory it's also capable of recording files up until 48khz sampling rate on tapes then? Or does it have any limitation? I couldn't find anything on that on the net, but maybe I wasn't searching the correct places.
It seems that DAT was a much loved format among semi pro sound studios and music bands for live recordings (I have found and bought numerous tapes at flea market as a solid proof and absolutely none of them was a recording of a "music album" cd ,vinyl or any other). I believe that the 48khz function was added so there could be live recordings with "better sound quality than CD" master tapes. As I said have not tested the 48khz function so I can only guess what can be done with various sources and what the outcome would be.
I was pondering about it and surprise surprise, I stumbled upon an offer of a TCD-D100 for 290€. Barely traces of usage (couldn't find any), working, includes: Bag, 4 tapes and a cleaning tape. If I'm not mistaken, that's a deal that I should consider too. However, it does not have a power adapter, neither remote. Any second opinions on that one? The missing power adapter could make recordings difficult (or impossible?).
Indeed looks like a fair deal ,original power adapter maybe is not too difficult to find ,it will be harder though to find the remote control. I always record with a power adapter , can't test right now my TCD-100 but I think it records ok with the batteries but as TCD-100 uses only two AA batteries it's better to use fresh batteries for recording. A very explanatory owner's manual and a service manual for TCD-100 can be found here you'll need to register but is free.
Thanks again! Getting a remote and power adapter is difficult, so I'll probably pass on the D100, even if it's a tempting offer. So far I was able to get a basic and rough idea of what to expect. It seems those devices go at about 200+ (€) on average. I haven't jumped at the 120 offer for the TCD-D8 yet, there are questions that I'd need answered first by the seller: Shipping is shown to be 78€ by ebay (too expensive for me), seller claims 23€ to my place though, and there's nothing being said about the power adapter being delivered with it, so it could be just the device and the photo could be misleading (explaining the price perhaps). The runtime of the TCD-D8 is around 3.5 to 4 hours according to the manual. Longer in LP then (with lower khz obviously), is that about correct? Moreover, recording through the mic in is possible or alternatively though optical according to manual. The cable doesn't come with it though. Do you by any chance know if Auto-ID works with analogue input (through regular audio cable) too? I'm referring to the function that sets start-IDs of tracks. The manual implies it would set them automatically provided there are 8 second to 18 second breaks with silence. Sorry I'm asking this much, never had a chance to talk to anyone who owns more than one and all of this info is incredibly useful to get a better idea of them.
It's ok to ask it is an opportunity to revisit DAT . Of course having more than one DAT player makes me no more capable to answer than someone who has only one ...or none . If finding the adapter prevents you from buying this TCD-100 , you'll need the one below that you can buy for about 10 euros here. LP (Long Play) mode, mainly for speech recording , doubles the recording time you read on the tape label. Sampling rate is 32khz in LP mode. That's a tricky one , Auto ID works with analog input but if Auto-ID is off then the recorder will record the Start ID's "on the basis of the existing ID information of the source" to translate that :eg. from another DAT player through (most likely) digital connection. Auto ID is based on the output level of the source (silence between songs) ,don't know how much time needs the player's software to trigger an ID signal , the times you saw in the manual (TCD-100) is the time that flashes the "AUTO-ID" on the players lcd display , 9 seconds for SP and 18 seconds for LP, before that the word "WRITE" flashes for a moment. Hope this helps.
So far any reply was helpful. And true that, anyone could answer those, though it does makes more sense to trust someone's word who at least has those devices (and could use them for playback) than someone who's only held one before (at best). The power adapter seems to be US exclusive, doesn't seem to be listed on German ebay, but thanks. Now I know what to look for, though any other results that would be accessible to me seem to be copies, some from China, so unless I spot a Sony adapter, I'd rather go with the TCD-D8 than the D100. Besides it's a pity it got no remote. I don't see it being sold anywhere (at least at the moment) and even defect 100-type models that include one seem to be fairly expensive, so it's probably not worth the risk after all... Yeah, so are my experience with Auto-ID and my MZ-R500 (minidisc walkman). According to different manuals of various DAT devices, around 9+ seconds seems to be the bare minimum I could find too, double the length for LP recordings. Auto-ID on my MZ-R500 works, sort of, but can be a bit faulty. However, edting MD track markers is much more fool-proof of course.
An update: Thanks again for all the feedback and advice. I've purchased a TCD-D8 now, hopefully it'll really come with the power adapter and won't miss the battery box. I'm already curious, it costed me 143. Have yet to buy a tape, considering to go with an offer of a used/open sony dat with 120 minutes, just 5€ on ebay. Getting a hold of a tape seems to be fairly easy there and it's much cheaper than on Amazon and I'd also feel a bit bad tearing the packaging and using a (as Sony likes to call it) "virgin tape". I know I need to be careful when looking for tapes as there are data storage tapes and pure playback tapes, the latter ones being those that will definitely be usable. Some players/recorders fail to read/record on data tapes I heard. I'll likely wait with the 250€ WMD-DT1 offer until I have a recorded tape to use it with, in the meantime I'll put some money aside for it and hope it'll still be around when it's time. Once I got my most recent purchase I'll probably post a photo of it in "I found this!".
curious what your thoughts are now that some time has passed with your decision to get the D8? i might be in the market for a portable dat (ive 2 sony 7040's for studio use). ive been invested in DAT since they arrived on the scene in the 90s , but never had a portable one. as an aside, i still use my MD MZ-1s, both of which are bought new when they were sold. they still work and i had a chap re cell the batts a while back...
I know the topic is old, but wanted to share my thoughts regarding the TCD-D7/D8 and some aspects regarding the DAT format in general. DAT is a format that I really like from the perspective of what a tape format could achieve at that point in time. Of course, nowadays solid state recorders can achieve the same or better audio performace, no doubts about that. However, I like the technology for collection purposes: I like to record on this format and listen to it to go back in time and live that experience. That is the reason for being interested in compact cassettes, CDs and vintage DAPs as well. The TCD-D7 and D8 are one of my favourite walkmans: very small, solid construction, metal lid, metal back cover and the sound quality is just excellent. However, these units must be serviced if one really want a long life out of them. Getting to the point, I have both the TCD-D7 and TCD-D8 in my collection and have also repaired others. For starters, they're not the most reliable walkmans to say the least. There are many things that can go wrong with them and not all can be repaired (mainly due to the lack of replacement parts). Most TCD-D7s and D8s will need a complete relubrication of the mechanism, because of hardened grease. Of course, it all depends on how often the unit was used: ones that were used often are likely to work without any service; however service is recommended for a long life. The TCD-D3 has an almost identical mechanism, so what is stated above also applies to the D3. That can cause all sorts of problems like: - the loading cycle cannot be completed - the unit will display "blank" when fast forwarding - the unit will reset itself after some time of play, ff or rew; Electronic problems like burnt DC-DC converters, RF amplifiers, parts in the audio path are also things that do happen on these walkmans. Most ICs used in this walkman are either custom made by SONY or obsolete parts that can no longer be found. The transformer in the backlight inverter circuit is also a very common part to fail, so don't excessively use the backlight. As many other parts, this transformer cannot be found separately. The microcontroller in the lid circuit (that controls the LCD and buttons) also fails sometimes. To answer the question of the thread, my thoughs are the following: it is a good idea if the walkman has been recently serviced or you are confident you can service it yourself. A service must include: re-lubrication of mechanism, tape path cleaning and alignment, backtension adjustment. Of course, this is assuming there is absolutely nothing wrong with the electronics whatsoever. The fact that a TCD-D7/D8 is working at the point of selling does not necessarily mean it will work 3 months from now. Even if it will work 3 months from now, it's going to wear much faster if it's not serviced, that's a guarantee. If one looks carefully at ebay listings with TCD-D7 and D8 will see that more than half of the items listed are in non-working condition or refurbished. Note that it is also possible, due to lack of extensive testing that a seller lists a unit as working which resets after 4 minutes of play. Or it displays blank when fast forward. If the seller is not aware of these common problems (and most aren't), they might un-intentionally sell a unit as working (the unit was tested 10 seconds, it worked), although it is not. It happened to me with a TCD-D8 I had to return. Regarding the data tapes (DDS1, DDS2, DDS3 and DDS4), I tried all of those in many DAT recorders, not just in these 2 walkmans and the conclusions are these: - DDS1 and DDS2 work the best; DDS1 is completely identical in regard of magnetic properties as normal DAT tape. DDS2 is very close. - DDS3 and DDS4 do work; however due to the different coercivity the error rate will be higher and sometimes uncorrectable, meaning they might have occasional dropouts (1-2 second distorsion), especially if recorded multiple times. The tape used in DDS3 and DDS4 is also much thinner, so prone to snapping. However, I did not encounter any problems apart from the occasional dropouts on some tapes that I recorded more than one time. @Sly. I'm also curious about your experience with DAT, so if you have any news please share.
