DAT – What is it?

Digital Audio Tape (DAT) was an audio recording and playback medium developed by Sony – introduced in 1987 – and was intended to be the successor to the audio cassette. It is somewhat similar in appearance but at 73 mm × 54 mm × 10.5 mm it is roughly half the size; its height being comparable to an triple-A battery stood on end. DAT was a digital technology with superior maximum quality as compared to a commercial CD and was capable of making perfect digital clones from a digital source unlike other standards of the day (Digital Compact Cassette and MiniDisc) that used lossy compression.

DAT – The Technology

Very similar to video recording technology of the day, DAT used a rotating head with a helical scan to record data. The method of data storage actually worked as a security measure of sorts and prevented splicing tapes to edit them which was possible on analog tapes, digital compact cassettes, and open reel digital tapes.

The DAT standard specified four sampling modes: 32 kHz at 12 bits, and 32 kHz, 44.1 kHz or 48 kHz at 16 bits. It was possible to find non-standard recorders that allowed recording at 96 kHz and 24 bits (HHS). DAT was unable to record long durations at the highest sample rates. The same tape at one rate could record for 6 hours and at another rate a mere 90 minutes. Only so much tape can be packed into a DAT shell.

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Jeff Noctis -
About the Author:

Audible Forensics provides cassette tape repair services for your old micro, mini, and standard cassette tapes.