Hello,

I am using a Tascam DA-P1 DAT for field recording. When dumping the audio to my 24 track hard disk recorder for mixing, I always use the left and right RCA outputs. But there is also a Digital in/out on my DAT that I am not sure about. It is orange as opposed to the red and white of RCA sockets. It looks like a standard RCA socket, but there is only one socket for the input, and one for the output. My 24 track hard disk recorder also has this same type of digital in/out. So my questions are:

Can you get a stereo signal from this digital output?

What type of cable do I need?

And what would be better quality sound, using the left and right RCA outputs, or using this digital in/out?

thanks,

Jeremy

1. Output is stereo, it is called s/pdif (sony/phillips digital interface)

2. Any RCA connector will work. A gold plated single cable is best.

3. The digital output is better than the analog in most cases.

One word of caution: Your must force sample rate of target to match source or it will distort. 44.1 khz to 44.1 khz or 48 khz to 48 khz.

You should use a 75-ohm RCA cable like those intended for video connections to transfer s/pdif signals. And as Glenn mentioned, the device that's receiving the signal should be set to sync to that input connector. That way it's not only set for the correct sample rate, but it is syncing to the output of your DAT deck.

Glenn and Jay

Thanks for the info. I have been curious about that orange in/out ever since I bought the DAT recorder.

Jeremy