Best CDR for DAT CDR ?

I have heard good things about both the Alesis Masterlink and the Marantz CDR631 and CDR500. I believe Stereophile reviewed the Alesis model a few years ago. You can check their archives or go the Alesis homepage and read the reviews. IMO the CDRs are only good for archiving, convenience, and for listening to dubbed LPs in the car but in no way can they complete with vinyl.

I have just bought a CDR500 (used) butI have not had the chance to test it out yet. I will make another post when I have tested the unit and let you know. It seemed attractive because it has two cd drives and you can set the SCMS code. I suppose, one can make a master DAT, then make a redbook copy and finally burn SCMS coded copies.

I would be interested in knowing which blank CDRs do people recommend. I heard the Mitsui Silver, and some of black CDR are considered quite good. Any opinions ?

I have done copying from a Panasonic SV3700 to an HHB CDR800. Because the Panasonic has a reputation for having high jitter, I ran the output through a jitter filter (a GW Labs DSP), and used AES/EBU connections throughout. I master CD's using Mitsui gold disks.

All I can tell you is that the results are great. What I particularly like is the ability, when copying to the CDR, to insert track numbers and use the fader function to add spacing between the tracks.

If you then want to make volume copies, you can use your PC. I use an external high-speed CD burner (32X max), with the DVD-ROM as the source disk and Easy CD Creator 5 as the software. The burner cost $130 and the software was about $75. Copies are indistinguishable from the original, and I can burn a full CDR in about 3 minutes. Your actual burn speed will depend on your computer, because there is always the risk of what is called "buffer underruns" (i.e. the buffer runs out of signal because the computer is doing something else). Easy CD Creator has built-in buffer underrun protection. It also has built-in software for making CD labels and jewel box inserts, which is very easy to use.

I have recorded from my Sony and Fostex DAT to Fostex CD Recorder with excellent results. I haven't found a great difference in blank cdrs but I have noticed that Fuji blanks seem to have the least amount of defective discs.( I usually buy in lots of 50-100)

I've used the Marantz CDR631, and will swear by it's performance. Solid build quality, excellent performance. I had people actually claim that the copies sounded better than the originals. I sold it to raise some cash, but now wish I had it back!

Just made a tentative deal to acquire a TASCAM CDR5000 pro model for 300 plus shipping. I think that will do the trick.

Now, I need to learn about high quality analogue to digital converters......anybody know anything about A/D products?

Carl