Tascam DA3000 review

Ultra-high quality recorder

  • £999
  • €1198
  • $1249
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When you're not recording you can use the DA3000 as your main stereo converter/monitor from your DAW, summing mixer or console

MusicRadar Verdict

As a standalone recorder, player and D/A converter the DA3000 is a high-quality, very portable workhorse.

Pros

  • +

    Exceptional audio quality. AD/DA conversion available as direct function.

Cons

  • -

    SATA slot would have been useful.

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A long time ago this writer purchased a Tascam DA30 DAT recorder as a 2-Track mastering unit. At the time, to your correspondent, this represented the ultimate in audio quality. Now the DA3000 is here to record and play back your audio in pristine quality, all the way up from 44.1kHz (CD) to a mind-boggling 5.6MHz (DSD).

"The machine sounds good enough to satisfy the most demanding ears"

The DA3000 accepts analogue on XLRs and phono, and digital AES on XLRs, BNCs and SPDIF on phono. The AD/DA conversion is high spec'd, and the internal clocking scores well on jitter etc.

The machine sounds good enough to satisfy the most demanding ears and Tascam has made the quality onboard AD/ DA conversion available as a direct function, so while you're not recording you can use it as your main stereo converter/ monitor from your DAW, summing mixer or console, ready to print a mix or a mad-sounding loop at a moment's notice, or even keep recording to see what might happen like the old 'running DAT'...

The DA3000 could be used for printing your 96kHz mix from your DAW via analogue summing, and then playing back through analogue into your DAW at 16-bit 44.1. Instant mastering studio!

Media is recorded onto SD or Compact Flash cards which load at the front. It might have been an idea to go the extra mile and have a 2.5-inch SATA slot for an SSD with a meaningful amount of space on it - especially for multi-channel, high sample-rate recordings (up to four units can be cascaded and locked for 7.1 mixes).

Steve Evans