Tascam DA-30MKII
Tascam's own advertising called this deck "The Studio DAT Master" - and the manual backs up the swagger.
Overview
The DA-30MKII is a two-channel rotary-head DAT recorder, and the spec sheet reads like a machine built for mastering work. Signal-to-noise is rated better than 92 dB and dynamic range better than 93 dB. Total harmonic distortion is under 0.004 percent in standard mode at 1 kHz. Those numbers mattered in a working studio, where a DAT deck was often the last stop before a master went out the door.
The transport runs tape at 8.15 mm/sec in standard mode, with 4.075 mm/sec available in long mode. That trade-off is the heart of the machine: standard mode gives you the full 20 Hz–20,000 Hz frequency response at ±0.5 dB, 16-bit linear quantization, and a 48 kHz sampling rate. Long mode doubles record time — 240 minutes from a 120-minute cassette — but the numbers slip accordingly: frequency response narrows to 20 Hz–14,500 Hz, quantization drops to 12-bit non-linear, and THD rises to under 0.07 percent. Owners who used the deck for critical work stayed in standard mode; long mode was for reference and logging, not for masters.
The head drum spins at 2,000 rpm in standard mode and 1,000 rpm in long, and the deck supports 48 kHz, 44.1 kHz, and 32 kHz sampling rates. Error correction is octet, meaning eightfold, which kept dropouts off the finished product. Fast winding through an R-120 cassette takes roughly 70 seconds.
The MKII shows its difference at the back panel. This version adds balanced XLR connections on both the analog and digital sides. The analog balanced inputs are +4 dBm nominal, and the AES/EBU digital port is on XLR, wired to IEC 958 Type I. Unbalanced analog runs through RCA jacks at -10 dBV nominal, and the coaxial digital port is an RCA jack on IEC 958 Type II - S/PDIF. The balanced analog outputs are rated at +4 dBm nominal with a maximum output level of 20 dBm, while the unbalanced outputs put out 2.0 volts. There is a single 1/4-inch headphone jack rated at 100 mW + 100 mW into an 8-ohm load, a mini-jack remote connection, and a 15-pin D-sub external control port.
Tascam's own advertising in the mid-1990s billed the DA-30MKII as "The Studio DAT Master" at $1,399. It sat beneath the 4-head time-code DA-60MKII at $6,999 and the then-new 24-bit DA-45HR at $2,149. EQ Magazine (November 1996, p.5) carried Tascam's claim that the DA-30MKII had "earned its reputation as the hardest working and best sounding DAT in the business" - advertising copy, so read it as positioning rather than a measured verdict. The same campaign ran in Mix Magazine (January 1999, p.29), still listing the DA-30MKII at $1,399 alongside the 24-bit flagship, which suggests the deck held its place in the line for years after introduction.
The manual is unusually forthcoming about the mechanics. The TACH adjustment range on the cylinder head assembly is about 1.3 ms - roughly 4.3 percent of the 30 ms drum rotation, or a ±7.5-degree tolerance on the alignment marks. Tascam's own service documentation warns that 7.5 degrees is "a subtle quantity" and that great care is needed when installing a replacement head assembly. The note was written for technicians. The deck is serviceable, but it is not forgiving.
Error codes are documented in the manual. An "Error Da" message means condensation on the drum - leave the unit powered for an hour or two - or a drum function fault that may clear with a power cycle. "Errar Di" points to the tape loading mechanism, and "Error 03" to the reel or capstan motors. None of these are exotic. They are the standard failure modes of a rotary-head transport that has been run hard.
Power options cover 100 V (Japan), 120 V (US/Canada), 230 V (Europe), 240 V (UK/Australia), plus a general export model that switches across all four. Consumption is 28 watts. The chassis measures 482 × 150.5 × 353 mm, a full 19-inch rack width, and weighs about 8.5 kg.
The balanced I/O and AES/EBU port make the DA-30MKII a useful front end for transferring DAT archives into a modern rig, and the standard-mode specs are strong enough that the transfers will not be the weak link. The caveats are the usual DAT caveats. The transport is mechanical, the head drum is a wear item, and the TACH alignment is fussy enough that a bad head swap can leave the deck misbehaving in ways that are hard to diagnose. Original price was $1,399, and the deck sat below the DA-60MKII and DA-45HR in Tascam's own lineup.
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