Panasonic's latest pro studio DAT is priced to compete with Tascam's established DA30 MkII. Paul White gives his professional opinion on how it measures up.
Panasonic are one of the leading lights in DAT manufacture, with a track record of building high‑quality machines with professional features, and the SV3800 looks set to continue that tradition. Strangely, the machine comes as a free‑standing, rather than a rackmounting, unit, though the rest of the feature set is obviously geared for professional use. The analogue inputs are on balanced XLRs only, and while this is correct for professional interconnections, I rather like the idea of having phonos as well, so that an unbalanced‑to‑unbalanced connection can be made for taking cassette copies. On the digital side, however, you can take your pick from AES/EBU format on XLRs, or IEC Type II (S/PDIF compatible) on both phono and optical connectors. As you'd expect, recordings can be made at 44.1kHz or 48kHz, and you can also play back the less common 32kHz recordings if you need to.
The tiresome problem of SCMS (Serial Copy Management System), sometimes simply called 'copy code', doesn't apply to the AES/EBU connections, but can be set in three different ways for the IEC connectors. It's possible to set the value of the appropriate data flag (ID6) to 00, which means that unlimited digital copies can be made from the source tape and from its copies; to 11, which means that copies may still be made of the original tape, but these copies will not copy again in the digital domain; or to 01, which produces copy‑prohibited tapes that can't be cloned onto consumer DAT machines. Given that anyone with a professional DAT machine can tell SCMS to go swivel on its forefinger, I really don't see why the powers that be bother to implement it at all!
Remotely Possible
Remote control of the SV3800 is possible either via a 'wired' control port on the rear, or from the supplied infra‑red remote. All the usual play modes are provided, including the facility to write skip codes so that unwanted recordings are bypassed, and there's also the familiar music scan mode, repeat play, and programmable playback order. Additionally, there's a fade‑in/fade‑out option that could be useful if you have difficulty creating clean, even fades.
Providing you're careful not to leave any unrecorded tape between recordings, the real‑time sub‑code provides an accurate readout of elapsed run time, and there's a facility for recording subcode only, with no audio, if you need to generate a clean stretch of silence. Program numbers may be automatically recorded, and providing there's no break in the subcode, these will be contiguous. Irritatingly, the SV3800 generates an ID whenever you enter record — if machines must do this, there should be an option to disable the function, otherwise you can end up with two IDs before every new section you record — one when you start recording, and a second when the audio begins. The Auto ID and ID erase/renumber facilities are quite conventional.
Up Front
Moving onto the front‑panel controls, I must confess to finding the transport control layout rather unfamiliar — I prefer all my transport controls in a single line — but the buttons are sensibly sized and positive, nevertheless. Dominating the control panel is a large Shuttle/Search wheel — the further you turn it, the faster the tape plays back (forward or reverse), and when you release the dial, the tape transport goes into pause. Having a similar feature on my Tascam DA30 MkII, I can confirm that it's very useful for locating and cueing sections.
Given that anyone with a professional DAT machine can tell SCMS to go swivel on its forefinger, I really don't see why the powers that be bother to implement it at all!
DAT cassettes are loaded in via a motorised drawer, also controllable from the remote, and separate level controls are available for the left and right analogue inputs, with a further level control for the headphone output. Tape handling is very fast, but well controlled, and the transport slows down when the end or beginning of a tape is approached, to avoid 'snatching'. The display features large bar‑graph meters, with a delayed peak hold. The time position read‑out mode can be switched to display absolute time, elapsed time since playback was started, time remaining, or tape position based on reel rotations. This latter mode is a useful fall‑back when working on tapes that have no absolute time recorded. Holding a fast‑wind key during playback provides 3x normal speed audio cueing.
The analogue‑to‑digital (A/D) conversion uses the same sigma‑delta, 1‑bit system as used in the Panasonic SV3700, and the D/A conversion boasts high resolution and low distortion. While there are those who are sceptical that there is any difference between the 'sound' of different pieces of digital equipment, direct comparisons do reveal a significant subjective difference between certain models. This particular machine has a smooth, non‑fatiguing sound, whereas some of the less accurate converters on the market tend to give an impression of glassy or strident brightness.
Summary
It seems that Panasonic have once again come up with a really nice DAT machine. Though it has one or two slightly irritating aspects, such as the control layout, and its annoying habit of writing a start ID on going into record, the overall impression given by the SV3800 is very good. The sound quality is excellent, the transport is well behaved, and all the professional interfacing options are there. Granted, I would have liked the analogue connections to be duplicated on unbalanced phonos, but this is no huge disappointment. Finally, the program numbering system seems to be limited to 99, and while this is fine for song use, it could be restrictive for those wanting to archive samples.
This is an attractive machine which, on price, competes almost head‑on with Tascam's rackmount DA30 MkII. Given Panasonic's solid reputation in the field of DAT machines, the SV3800 promises to be a popular model for professionals and for those who aspire to greater things than a budget machine.
Domestic Science: The Merits Of Buying A Pro DAT
Leaving aside for the moment those who still master to open‑reel analogue for artistic reasons, DAT is without doubt the most popular audio mastering medium in both professional and semi‑professional circles. Whatever the pros and cons of 16‑bit recording, as long as 16‑bit, 44.1kHz CDs remain the norm, an affordable mastering system with the same format makes a lot of sense. Even the '48kHz only' budget DAT machines provide exceptional performance given their cost, which is about half that of a reasonable open‑reel analogue recorder.
But not everything is rosy in the DAT garden: although DAT is used in many professional applications, we should never lose sight of the fact that it was developed as a consumer hi‑fi format, and that even using ostensibly well set‑up, 'professional' grade machines, you'll still occasionally get a tape that plays fine on one machine but glitches annoyingly on another. What's more, a great many users buy the cheapest machine they can get their hands on, yet still expect it to meet professional standards of reliability. As an aside, I often wonder how DAT would have stood up as a consumer format. Most budget DAT recorders are sold on the basis that the guarantee excludes studio use, but if these machines can't handle two or three hours of mastering a month in a typical home studio, how could they possibly be expected to provide domestic background music for possibly several hours a day, as an analogue cassette deck frequently has to? What's more, when was the last time you heard of a domestic user cleaning a cassette deck?
The upshot of all this is that anyone with pretensions to professional work should buy a DAT machine engineered for the job. The format may be 'non‑professional', but that doesn't mean the machine has to be. If the machine itself is well designed and put together, you're much less likely to experience problems. A professional machine will also have balanced inputs and outputs, which makes for more satisfactory interfacing with a typical mixing console — if a balanced console is connected to an unbalanced DAT input, you'll probably find your signal level is halved, and though you can crank up the input gain to compensate, the signal‑to‑noise ratio will be compromised slightly.
Pros
- Shuttle search wheel.
- Range of digital I/O options.
- High sound quality.
- Supplied infra‑red remote control.
Cons
- No unbalanced ins and outs — balanced XLRs only.
- Insists on writing a start ID whenever you go into record.
Summary
A well specified and sensibly priced pro‑quality DAT machine.