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From: Steve_Graham@ub.cc.umich.edu
Newsgroups: rec.audio.high-end
Subject: digital recording: DAT vs. 601 (Boo to the RIAA)
Message-ID: <7584@uwm.edu>
Date: 12 Nov 90 14:22:43 GMT
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Approved: tjk@csd4.csd.uwm.edu
Originator: tjk@csd4.csd.uwm.edu

Last night, recording the U. of Mich. Men's Glee Club, I found myself using a
Panasonic SV 3700 (I think) DAT machine.  I've seen DAT machines before, but
this is the first one I've had any hands-on experience with.  It has a number
of useful features and I found it a pleasure to use, though the book could be
better--I never did find out the difference between a "skip ID" and a "start
ID" (can anyone clarify this?)
 
At WUOM we currently use Sony PCM-601 ESD digiboxes to record digital audio
on videocassettes.  Since we haven't got our first DAT machines yet, I had to
make a copy from the DAT original.  Thanks to the RIAA and other silly greedy
people I wasn't able to make a direct digital clone:
 
There's this thing called the Serial Copy Management System or some such
thing, which is designed to placate the RIAA people who think that DAT's
ability to clone CD's will kill their sales.  The way it works is this: you
will be allowed to make a DAT copy of your CDs in the digital domain, but the
DAT copy cannot be copied digitally.  (Of course you can still copy it
through the analog line out jacks.)
 
The Panasonic DAT machine lets you decide how your original recording will be
flagged: you can set it so that anyone can make unlimited clones, so that no
clones at all are allowed, or so that a single clone can be made as discussed
above.  The latter is the default setting, which I used without thinking.
Theoretically, therefore, I should have been able to make a direct digital
clone of this master DAT tape.  However the Sony 601 was made before the SCMS
came into being, and apparently it recognized that there was *some* sort of
copy-protect flag, and refused to make the clone.  I was able to clone a test
recording I made later with the copy protection turned off, but as soon as I
came to the "real" recording, the "copy prohibit" light came on on the 601,
and it stopped recording (the digital signal just went away).  So, if any of
you might be thinking of doing similar things, be aware that you need to set
the SCMS flag to "unlimited copies".
 
(As an interesting aside, I was surprised to find that the "digital in" RCA
jack on the Sony 601 could accept data from both the EIA RCA digital output
jack, and from the AES ("professional standard") XLR digital output jack with
equal ease, as far as I could tell.)
 
My first impressions of the sound of the DAT machine were favorable.
Although the comparison is unfair, during dubbing I listened to both the DAT
and 601 via their respective headphones jacks and found the DAT much more
enjoyable.  In comparison the Sony seemed spiky and hard, cold, "digital".
It is unfair because the Sony had an extra d/a and a/d conversion in the
chain, and because the headphone amps may not represent the true sound of the
devices.  But it confirmed the general impression I had while doing the
original recording with the DAT deck.  At the risk of sounding rather
"California", the DAT seemed more "organic".  However, I emphasize that this
is a first impression.