I usually try to avoid absolutes but I think the 8-track may be hands-down the worst consumer audio format ever - perhaps even worse than 78 rpm shellacs. I never messed with it. A properly made cassette could walk all over any 8-track.
And yet, the 8-track has a relatively high fidelity cousin in the NAB tape cart, which looked very similar. Broadcast carts ran at 7.5 ips and the rubber roller wasn’t in the tape shell but in the tape deck itself. While there were plenty of bad sounding carts and decks, the best of them were very good, such as those from BE and ITC.
And yet, the 8-track has a relatively high fidelity cousin in the NAB tape cart, which looked very similar. Broadcast carts ran at 7.5 ips and the rubber roller wasn’t in the tape shell but in the tape deck itself. While there were plenty of bad sounding carts and decks, the best of them were very good, such as those from BE and ITC.