Any point to using these old DAT digital tape recorders these days? I keep coming across them used and think about getting them for the novelty of it but is there any interest quirks to the format that I’m missing? Seems like just a non lossy recorder with a fun but maybe annoying format… maybe the DAC on the Sony models add a little bit of something? Maybe you can degrade the tapes some how to get glitch effects?
I wouldn’t use them. 
I’d use tapes for analog only, and use memory for numerical things.
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They are either very nice clean recorders - or they are broken. SInce they use a complex tape path, derived from video recorders there’s lots that can go wrong - esp. if they haven’t been serviced for 20 years.
I used to love this format (mixdown to DAT over SPDIF from Deck or Protools) but have to admit that there’s not much point nowadays.
I wouldn’t go looking for ‘personality’ in a piece of Sony equipment myself
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Yeah I guess I have heard people praise some of the sony minidisc DACs has having some interesting warmth to them that was unexpected and made them worth while even in todays age which made me wonder a bit about the DAC in the DATs… then again it is probably a pretty subtle thing when compared to the effects that analog tape has on things. *even as far as people using MD recorders purely as Amp units to improve sound quality into headphones
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I had a buddy in the late 90s that recorded all of his stuff to MiniDisc and I remember being really jealous of how great it sounded. Definitely added some mojo. That said, if I heard it again today I’m not sure how impressed I’d be given the advances in digital audio.
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ah right - well some of the early Sony DAT machines came as 2 separate (chunky) units - the deck & the DAC/ADC - there was one connected to the Fairlight at the music school where I worked. Perhaps that box might work standalone, like the ADCs they used to make for CD mastering.
This kind of equipment (probably in glorious bronze/gunmetal coloured plastic & perforated metal) would certainly be a conversation-starter with studio visitors
ha I was real ‘snooty audio pro’ about them at first then I ended up buying one myself. I think they sound pretty good.