Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!wuarchive!uwm.edu!csd4.csd.uwm.edu!info-high-audio-request
From: mofo@bucsf.bu.edu (jason greene)
Newsgroups: rec.audio.high-end
Subject: DAT for $800 ?
Message-ID: <5813@uwm.edu>
Date: 20 Aug 90 12:52:34 GMT
Sender: news@uwm.edu
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Approved: tjk@csd4.csd.uwm.edu


I've been doing a lot of looking and listening to the new Sony DAT which is
selling for $800 (at high-end stores, higher price at "superstores") and
have been somewhat impressed by the quality of sound and construction.

I have two questions however, regarding both this Sony model and DAT in
general:

1)	DAT moves the tape along at ~4 mm/s. The head rotates at ~2000 rpm.
	The combination of these two lend me to believe that the head will
	wear down fairly quickly. This might apply to wear of the tape as 
	well. In the manual for their new DAT, Sony recommends using a
	DAT cleaning cassette (which I haven't seen in this country yet)
	once a month. 
	The rest of the DAT technology seems wonderful and complete with
	strong construction.
	Will the head wear down quickly? If so, would you need to replace
	the whole DAT unit to fix it, or could the head be replaced (and at
	what cost) ????

2)	This new Sony DAT sits comfortably within my spending budget, being
	sold at most high-end stores for $799.95. Does this lower-priced
	DAT suggest that even lower priced DAT's will be soon in coming
	(DAT's for ~600) ????

Any opinions or suggestions, PLEASE!