dgital mixdown from the FD-8

[mancalledaerodynamics]

I've been mixing down to my dat through the anolog in, because the digital in on my dat player is spidf, and the digital out on the Fostex is optical. There is a converter I could buy, but is it worth it? Something tells me it is, because even though my dat says it supports a 44.1 sampling rate(AiwaVD-2000), it's probably ony through the digital in, not the anolog that I have been mixing down into. And if I mix down through the stereo out on the Fostex like I have been doing, I'm no longer in a digital domain,am I? Also there are a few different companies that make these converters, ranging in price from $90-$180. If anyone has any opinions on this, I'd really appreciate it.
thanks,
K.

[bbbmusic]

mancalledaerodynamics,

Spidf is only a two channel protocal, if I am not mistaken. Is that what you are doing now, mixing down to 2 channels to your DAT? I would suspect it is. Actually, the way to go is to get a DAT or a CD-R that has optical and it will be able to carry 8 channels and you have much more control over your mix-down.
I have the Fostex converter myself but I use it to go from my VF-16 (optical out) to spidf, then from spidf to USB to feed my computer. So that conversion works perfectly. I burn my CD's on a Phillips 770 using optical in. If all you want to do is to mix-down to digital stereo, then I would go with the Fostex converter. I got mine at Mars for $89.
Later
Bruce

[mancalledaerodynamics]

Yeah I'm doing a standard two track mixdown to DAT, not really familiar with mixing down more than that. So I guess you think it's worth it to mix down with the digital signal and stop going analog? The converter you have, is it made by Fostex or Hosa? Could you give me the model number? Just want to make sure I get the right one. Thanks Bruce.
K.