Tascam DA-3000 High Resolution Stereo Master Recorder and AD/DA Converter

This is an ADDA converter that I find great to rip vinyl and 4-track analog audio to digital. I also use it as a DAC when checking digital files or even just listening. It has excellent DurrBrown DAC chips. I highly recommend this unit for audiophiles and for audio digitizing/editing work. I purchased this from Ocean Reef Electronics through Amazon. It was listed as used, very good condition but they unknowingly or neglected to mention a dead MS614SE real-time clock battery that's surface soldered underneath the back edge of the front center mounted main circuit board (maintenance hint in case you want to fix yours - see photo). This unit works without the clock functioning but the real-time clock supports time file naming to help log your files. It arrived well packed in excellent appearance except for minor screw thread marks inside the oblong rack mount holes which indicated it was once rack mounted. There were no other signs of use and, except for the clock, all functions appear to work as should. Overall, for the price, it was another great purchase from an Amazon seller.

This thing sounds 10 times better than my $$ computer sound card with $$ upgraded Australian op amps. The ability to both record/playback and be used as a ADDA converter is wonderful. If you can spend this kind of $$ do it, you'll be glad you did. The up-convert function works great on most audio CD's. Sometimes the result is stunning. All the harsh 44Khz 16 bit edginess is replaced with sweet sounding audio goodness. You'll hear stuff you never herd before. I'm recording from a Pioneer Elite DVD player SPDIF output into the DA3000 using the default input settings. For recording vinyl I have to boost the input to +6 db using the 'tape out' of a VSX49TXI Pioneer Elite receiver to decode the RIAA curve from the phono cartridge. At 192Khz 32 bit it's almost impossible to tell the difference between live vinyl and recorded vinyl. I've yet to try the DSD single bit functions.

Purchased to make digital archives of analog formats. Machine is very easy to use. One caveat is the FAT32 file system will split your recordings at 2GB. At the best quality setting DSD128 files will be broken up every 25 mins. When recording to wav files, that's not a problem because you can combine the tracks on a computer. I don't know of any computer program to combine dsd tracks.

There is an issue with preamp of this device. I'm using it for vinyl archival, it is connected to my NAD C356BEE pre/amp. Phone preamp is a clearaudio basic v2. - If I connect the tascam to the NAD using RCA cable: signal looks to loud for tascam and there is distortion no matter how I tweak the tascam - if I connect the tascam to the NAD using a balanced <-> RCA adaptor: If I set the tascam input to more than 0 dB there is distortion. So the only way is to use the balanced <-> RCA adapter , record @0dB and then increase the volume with sound editor. Obviously I tried connecting the phono preamp directly to tascam: same issue My nak cassette deck to tascam: works but I need to lower the output at the nak a lot else there is distortion in tascam. I'm quiet disappointed really

Very pleased with this unit for transferring vinyl to DSD format. Operating system interface is a bit quirky and primitive. Many system layout is tedious. However, the DA-3000's basic function to record audio works beautifully. One issue I encountered from the beginning was the remote control doesn't work. I purchased a new battery and it still doesn't work. I contacted Tascam but they failed to respond to email. Because the unit works so beautifully, I hesitate to return it for the remote control device.

Poor customer service and it has a design flaw. This recorder does not have the ability to adjust the left and right input signal. It has a single input volume control which controls both channels. I Emailed Tascam to ask them about this and never received a reply, even though I know they received my Email since they sent me an Email confirmation stating they did. I have since sent them another Email and so far I have not received a reply. I sent Sweetwater an Email which is the seller I purchased it from. They replied to my Email regarding the Tascam CD-RW900MkII and even gave me a link to the owners manual for the CD recorder. I don't know how Sweetwater got confused regarding what product I was asking about since I explicitly stated "Tascam DA-3000" in my Email. I have since sent them another Email and I am waiting for a response. Someone here on Amazon asked a question about adjusting the left and right input signal, and no one replied to that question. How do you design a product that is supposed to be a mastering deck, that doesn't even allow you to do something that comes with a $99.00 cassette deck. I have had many products that record(DAT, CD recorders, Cassette Decks, Reel-to-Reels, Mini-Disc recorders, etc...), all of them had independent left/right signal inputs. This, of course is needed when you are recording from a source that has one channel that is hotter than the other. It really is a nice recorder. It is very easy to use. Just press the "menu" button, and use the Multi-Jog knob to scroll through the menu. When you come to what it is you are looking for, just press the Multi-Jog like you would a button. THAT will open up the menu. Easy! I can hear a slight difference between the original and the recorded signal. The recorded signal on this unit sounds a little brighter than the original signal. I used an LP record to record from. I am using a SanDisk Ultra SDHC 16GB card. This unit reminds me of a cassette deck: on some Cassette Decks that I have used, the recorded signal sometimes sounded better than the original. The same thing can be said about the Tascam DA-3000. That brightness I spoke of earlier can make recordings sound airy, which makes them sound better than the original. Everyone has a different system so this will vary. The SD cards are impossible to write on, so if you want to write what it is you recorded on the card, you will have to get an SD card case, and some stickers to put on the case so you can write on them. Still not much space to write on. I have not used CF cards since they are generally twice the price of SD cards. I use 16GB SD cards since they will give you hours of recording no matter what setting you choose to record at. They range in price $8.99-12.99 or so. I removed two stars for the poor customer service and removed one star for the design flaw. For a total of two stars. Thank you for reading.

I bought this to copy high quality open reel tapes, but it works great playing back dsd files on SD, CF, and flash drives. There is a lot to like for a cool grand. I hope this unit is discovered by audiophiles.

Purchased the DA3K a few months ago and decided to wait until some experience gained on the unit. The DA3K Fulfilled all my expectation as to the reason i bought this unit which was primarily to transfer a large collection of Vinyl, cassettes, CD, RtoR, DATs, and low and behold numerous VHS HiFi cassettes which i used to store music (I still have 3, S-VHS players/recorders hanging around). Even tho, the DA3K recorder is execellent studio unit, it is still very useful for consumer applications and for that i would have like to see the followings on this unit: 1. A quicker access to input level control. With amateurs recordings music from variety of sources, the input levels varied periodically between sources, and the only way to control the recordings level is by entering the 3rd layer in the manu to select input level is order to prevent overloading at 0dB. It is possible off course to keep the unit at this setting but you can not at the same time observe other recording status such as time etc.. it would have been nice to have a couple of input level knobs beside each channel of the VU meters. 2. Every time one wishes to go from recording mode to play mode, you have to go again to the manu 3rd layer and select monitor off, i cant tell you how many time i got the error message over this, a switch on the front panel would have been nice. 3. It would have been nice to have MP3 codec and USB port fully functioning on the unit, and if i may get carried away I really would have like to be able to plug a large size HD to the USB port. Well in a nut shell i liked so much to play around with this unit that i bought a sister ship the Tascam SD-20M for less critical recording and now I have two lovely digital recorders to play with,

I was debating on getting the Tascam SSR250N over the DA-3000 but am glad I chose this. The DACS used in this are superior. The only unfortunate thing is that the DA-3000 is now listed as discontinued on the Tascam web site. Bad decision by Tascam. Get one while you can!

I purchased this unit to archive old LP vinyl records and cassette tapes to DSD files. Although DA-3000 does not change original sound character, I hear sounds much clearer. Also I think the recordings have wider dynamic and frequency range than the original LP vinyl records. While I do not understand why DSD files recorded on this recorder sounds so much better than the original LP vinyl records, I am very happy with the purchase.