Older DAT decks may not have that great of preamps either, and some of them also only have analog out, so watch out.

As far as minidisc goes, I'm a big believer in the format. We use an external AD converter and a mixer, and transfer digitally using a deck. The results are as good as anything you're going to find out there. The minidiscs archive beautifully as well. HiMD allows digital transfers, and that's the route I'd go if you have a PC. You will have to use a hacker work around to do a digital transfer if you want to use an external AD converter, but it's supposed to be pretty simple.

Dennis, I was able to try out an MZ-NH900 a few weeks ago. Although it is a first generation Hi-MD unit, I was able to easily import recordings as WAV files and I could process/edit them in other applications (Audacity and Vegas). I can’t imagine the newer, 2nd generation units not being able to do that...

HTH,