Pioneer D-C88

preliminary

The portable and pro-sumer High-Sampling D.A.T. deck from Pioneer.

Not really professional because there are no XLR plugs or sync possibilities... and there is SCMS. But the mechanism still spins at twice the normal speed for a 96Khz sampling frequency : 16,3mm/s.

Aided by Pioneer's 1990s Legato Linear staple algorithm, the sonic result were truly professional, ranging between 4Hz and 44Khz. The 4-heads are full-size, like Sony's TCD-D10 series.

The right side holds the MIC inputs, MIC att., low-cut switch and MIC/line selector ; the back side has the unbal analogue and digital i/os, plus the 11V DC input ; the back of the left side hides the D-B101 1800mAh battery compartment.

Inside isn't too cramped but the drive itself isn't too high-end : partly belt-driven with lots of plastic gears... I think it was sourced from Alpine (?).

Nevertheless an excellent design, quite refined and very far from Pioneer's multiple 1990s design horrors, with only the semi-matte grey surround plastic which doesn't age well.

Costing 198,000¥ in 1995, measuring 30cm in width and weighing 3,2kg with its batteries, the D-C88 is nowadays no match for Sony's PCM-D50. Ever smaller.