Cassettes still rock!

Agreed that the mass produced run of the mill tapes were elcheapo and could and did have their good and bad efforts.

Later as tapes popularity was waning they released some very good quality stuff, sort of like MoFi for vinyl.
I have a bunch of them and they are outstanding.
HX Pro , XDR and factory CRo2 are good ones to look for.

Back when, i rarely used the Nakamichi deck to listen to cassettes--just to record for use in the car.  If sound quality degraded over time i just re-recorded the vinyl.  Now though, having lost so many vinyl albums in the flood, i have some cassettes that still rock--audiophile quality, no, but better than buying CD's of the same. Gotta agree with GK only i think the % of well recorded CD's is less than 15%.  Never jumped on the SACD train so those might be pretty good.  Pre-recorded cassettes were usually lousy because they used inferior tape but perfectly adequate in the car until auto makers got serious about road noise reduction.  Another issue with my cassettes:  the writing on the cases and tapes has faded so badly i don't know what's on them until i pop them in !

BTW, anybody here can tell me what a new, unused TDK SA90 BLACK Limited Edition cassettes can fetch? I've got a few, maybe someone will be interested in buying them, but I don't know how much to ask for them.

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=m570.l1313&_nkw=TDK+SA90+BLACK+Limited+Edition+cassettes+&_sacat=14962

I like the sound of cassettes as well. I have 30 of them, recorded on a Nak 500 deck (which was stolen by our movers! they knew what to steal :-). Right now, I am using a two-head Marantz deck with electronic control (touch buttons), headphone output, Dolby B/C, and a very quiet, smooth transport. My "affair" with cassettes began in my youth; at the age of 17, our family flew to Switzerland, and my father bought me (an expensive!) Sony Walkman. Mind you, this was 30 years ago, yet Sony used SMD's (Surface Mounted Devices - read Chips) and the build quality was exemplary. I remember listening to it (with equally superb headphones) for nights on end. BTW, I do not agree with some of the posters here about the quality of Denon's cassettes; mine had deteriorated badly over time. In my experience, TDK SA and That's cassettes are the best. BTW, anybody here can tell me what a new, unused TDK SA90 BLACK Limited Edition cassettes can fetch? I've got a few, maybe someone will be interested in buying them, but I don't know how much to ask for them.

fleschler
As to CDs having a litany of faults by geofkait, I don’t know what the heck he is hearing except that my mastering engineer friends and audiophile friends (pardoning my analog LP only friends) get magnificent sound out of correctly mastered CDs.

>>>>Everything is relative. If only you could hear what I’ve heard with your ears. And that goes double for your mastering engineer friends and audiophile friends!! 👯

One assumes by “correctly mastered CDs” you’re referring to the ones that aren’t in reverse polarity and aren’t overly compressed, which leaves what, about 15% of them? 😬

Next up, how to color cassettes. Please, no angry emails. 😡

The Harmon Kardon late cassette decks shared a warm and dynamic sound like Tandberg.  I found the Nakamichi more reliable (serviced twice in 20 years) versus the constant problems with the Tandberg (and RR as well).  I used only top quality Maxell and TDK tapes, at the end metal in ceramic housing.  This is the way I created great sounding cassettes.  As to pre-recorded, I now remember that I have about 400 more pop cassettes in boxes that had either way too much hiss, or with Dolby B, lacking in highs/compressed highs.  Unacceptable. 

As to CDs having a litany of faults by geofkaitt, I don't know what the heck he is hearing except that my mastering engineer friends and audiophile friends (pardoning my analog LP only friends) get magnificent sound out of correctly mastered CDs.  Jazz and classical are particularly well remastered whereas rock has had a worse record.  A 1985 Kyocera 310 or 410 CD player is superior cassette players based on my experience in a high end system.  My 2 track 7.5 ips RR pre-recorded tapes from the 50's slaughter the cassette.  If a jazz or classical music CD fails to breathe/recreate natural ambiance either the mastering, player or both are inadequate.

Okay, I currently use a Nakamichi ZX7 for playback only. My 150 classical London, Angel, DGG, Philips cassettes sit in a box along with many soundtracks and pop cassettes. They sound bad, either compressed, hissy, tonally wrong, etc. However, I made superb recordings on my former Tandberg 310 (it died) without dolby and they were quiet recordings. Better yet, I substituted my Tandberg 9000 RR deck and made superior recordings to the cassettes. I have about half a dozen great sounding private cassettes, some of organ music recorded outdoors in San Diego. I transfer cassettes of ethnic music to CDs. My high end system prefers RR, LPs and CDs to pre-recorded cassettes despite some of the latter being okay. I have 78s with really wonderful sound that mimic mastertape in that alive quality with real dynamics.  I had excellent results recording to SuperBeta tape as well.  Now I use a Tascam digital recorder.  Different from my Pioneer 1500 RR but I've made some professional quality recordings of chamber music by prominent musicians on the Tascam.

I would NOT go back to listening to pre-recorded cassettes in my life.  

Yes, the Advent was (and is) a true high fidelity deck, as reflected in both its price and its weight. I wouldn't call it ugly, however.

I'm a proud owner of an Advent 201.
Not a rare deck. Ugly too....but built like a Sherman!
First deck to take advantage of CR02 tape and I think the first to go Dolby B.
And fastest deck ever - with the Woll...wotsit transport.

Here is a most interesting read:
http://www.positive-feedback.com/Issue16/advent.htm


I have over 200 Grateful Dead concerts on tape. Which I almost never play, since I don't much care for this group. (Also , Phish tape collectro goes with Dead, so got lots of them live on tape also.)

Got a couple blank Fuji will try recording on them later.

I've had excellent luck with Fuji tapes.  I have lots of them.  One of my favorites.

The best tapes, (getting specific) that I have ever tried:

Sony Metal Master (Ceramic Shell)
TDK MA-R  (Metal Shell)
TDK MA-XG (Metal Shell)
That's Suono

Sorry Mapman but I would have to vigorously disagree on everything bar the VHS HiFi machines, they did make a great recording.

And no I'm not looking at this through rose tinted spectacles.
My zx7 is set up in same main rig as my 401 and Aurender so i can easily switch quick between all formats.

I hate to quote GK but you should hear what I hear.

Thanks MoFi.
Looks like I need broaden my horizons on tape type.


Just dug through my blank tape stash.
After putting all the SA tapes to one side left with a few odd ones.

Fuji dr1 x 3
Maxell xl2 x 4
Sony ux x 2.

Don't really know if any of them are decent?

BTW, anybody here can tell me what a new, blank TDK SA90 BLACK Limited Edition cassette can fetch?  

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=m570.l1313&_nkw=TDK+SA90+BLACK+Limited+Edition+cassette&_sacat=14962

I agree that cassettes can sound wonderful. I have a collection of 35  cassettes, recorded on a Nak 600 deck (which was stolen by our movers! They knew what to steal!). Currently, I have a (two heads) Marantz Deck, with an all-electronic control (touch switches), headphone output, Dolby B/C, and a very quiet, smooth transport. I got very excited about  cassettes in my youth, when my father bought me a Sony Walkman during a trip to Switzerland. I am talking some 30 years ago, yet Sony already employed SMD (Surface Mounted Devices - read Chips) and the overall build quality was superb. I remember listening to the (equally superb) headphones during entire nights! BTW, anybody here can tell me what a new, blank TDK SA90 BLACK Limited Edition cassette can fetch?  

Never really gave Maxell tapes a fair shot.
Once I tried TDK SA I stuck with them.

I always preferred Maxell to TDK, although I have a bunch of TDK.

Being a dealer, I think I sold almost every brand of tape, at one time or another.

My Favorites:

3M BlackWatch
Denon 
Fuji
Maxell 
Nakamichi
TDK
That's

Least Favorites:

BASF (awful)
DAK (double awful)
Memorex
Radio Shack/Realistic
Recoton
Scotch


The Nakamichi tape was just hand picked TDK, (from the middle of the pancake reel.  Supposed to be more uniform).  It was fine, but IMHO, no better than the TDK equivalent. 

Really. Anyone who was there in the 70s and 80s knows cassettes were always second fiddle to vinyl. There were many good quality cassette decks capable of making respectable but relatively noisy copies of good source material (as long as not too much dynamic range in the source) however most commercial cassette recordings were relatively poor quality. Not to mention delicate and not meant to stand the test of time. 
The best larger format hifi VCRs in the 80s were much better. I still have some very nice recordings from an Akai hifi VCR I made back then and the sound quality holds up. I also still have cassettes I recorded in the 70s which sound no better than then if they will still even play without jamming.

@geoffkait 

I can get technical, but can you do so? Do you know the definition of dynamic range? I don’t think so. It is obvious from your post that you cannot differentiate between the dynamic range of the song and the dynamic range of the medium.

And don’t get me started about tape being a “natural medium”—that is nonsensical audio jargon.

Never really gave Maxell tapes a fair shot.
Once I tried TDK SA I stuck with them.
My zx7 is calibrated to that tape exactly.

I imagine probably as good though.

A Nakamichi deck and Maxell MX, hard to beat really. 

Eggs ackley! CD quality can be generally defined as thin, honky, bass-shy, compressed, generic, irritating, two dimensional, boomy, congealed, and like papier-mâché.

Thank the lord they were not CD quality, I likely would not be bothering to listen to them.
Its got to be a special CD to hold my attention right now. Most are so overly compressed it aint funny!

Now a good remastered SACD or DVD-A is another story entirely!

Ack chew ally cassettes generally have a better dynamic range than many CDs if you want to get technical, you know, what with the overly aggressive dynamic range compression that began for CDs right around the end of the cassette era. Besides, tape is a natural medium, it breathes.

Well, they never rocked, at least in the sense of high audio quality. The typical dynamic range is about 8 bit (seriously), wow and flutter can be bad, they melt in hot sunshine and degrade with use. You may like them for sentimental reasons, but most cassettes sucked big time. They best metallic tapes with Dolby were respectable, but still not CD quality.

Didn't even read most of this thread past the first few posts--in the day i always recorded my vinyl one play--onto 7.5 R to R Akai deck and Nakamichi CR4 cassette deck, metal tape.  The cassettes are just so so now==the pre=recorded ones unlistenable--but the R to R tapes are still fantastic and have made up for my loss of most of my vinyl in a Houston warehouse flood many years ago--however, some of the cassettes have held up well and i still enjoy listening to them--no, they are not the best but the nostalgia is.  And i'm back to the vinyl which is the best--with most of my remaining albums having only been played once...

Anyone have (or used to have) a Harmon Kardon CD-491 deck?

I have a CD-391 deck.  Bought it from the original owner along with a HK590i receiver for like $75 for both.  Units were in mint condition and I use them in one of my record rooms.

Excellent cassette deck.

Anyone have (or used to have) a Harmon Kardon CD-491 deck?   It was top of their line at the same time as Nak was selling the Dragon...it was <an obviously> less popular alternative, but had really great performance profile once dialed in.   I was recently going to sell mine, I think I even listed it for a day or two...I just couldn’t bring myself to pull the trigger, for some crazy reason.   More than a few folks showed interest, I was a little surprised.     Best, stay safe...Jim

Wonderful haul mofi!

Sometimes you can still score big on eBay.
Good job I did not see that auction... Lol
You would have had a bit more of a fight on your hands to win.😎
Enjoy!

I've spent all day with my cassettes!  I won a huge auction on E-Bay for around 125 recorded on once, (well according to the seller, but all of them are in excellent condition, tapes & cases).  Included were Maxell XLII90, XLII100, XLIIS90, XLIIS100, TDK SA90, SA-X90, SA-X100.  I paid next to nothing for all of these.  The tape gods were certainly smiling on me that day.

I have a commercial/professional tape degausser that came out of a recording studio, that does a fantastic job at cleaning these up.

I'm now on my third recording of the day.  So far these have been perfect.  Hopefully most will be the same.

Boy, I sure love this.  Hands on and very rewarding.  What a BLAST!!!

yea nothing like the hiss of a cassette  tape…give me a break...

Too funny
Thanks for that though...

yea nothing like the hiss of a cassette  tape…give me a break...

Thanks for looking 👀 

Sorry GK
Hardly anything good, no wonder $1 a piece.
In fact I had a hard time finding 10 I wanted but I did.
Not one Beastie Boys cassette to be seen though. 

I totally agree! I have my old Nakamichi dragon - playing with McIntosh MAC6700 with Wilson Watt 8's- friends can't believe how good cassettes (35 yrs old) still sound!  

Any and all. 

Think I have two of them in my cassette drawers right now GK.
Which ones are you needing?

Do me a solid and pick up all Beastie Boys cassettes you might find.

Anyway to return to the topic in hand.
Off to my LRS who is overloaded with cassettes, they were regular $3 each or 5 for $10 now he is offering 10 for $10 cash only.
Works for me.
Hopefully some good stuff amongst the dross.

Fiddler crab 🦀 

😂😂
Fiddler on the Roof.

I applaud your fiddle prowess. 👏

Its only fiddly if you are a total klutz.
Takes 2 minutes max.

Its therapeutic...… lmao!

It makes a lot of sense that someone from U.K. would actually enjoy the fiddly exercise of putting the original felt squat back on. 🤗 

GK
I have had a number of the felt backing pads fall off due to adhesive aging.
Pretty simple to use a pair of tweezers and a dab of superglue and voila, the original is back in place never to come off again.
You just gently pull a loop of tape out to work on the area.

That is of course if you have not lost the original felt pad entirely, I have found that they are usually in the case when they fall off.

Good luck to all and long live the humble cassette!

There is some enterprising person on eBay who sells a pack of those little felt square spacers that sometimes fall off after 30 years or so and must replaced. The little felt squares are adhesive backed which is a relief. 🤗

I have about 1100 cassettes home recorded mostly from the mid-70s thru the early 90s.  I play them on a Nakamichi CR7-A and BX 300, both rebuilt and serviced by Willy Hermann. Over the last 2 years, I have re-recorded on TDK MA, SA-X and HX-S tapes the beautiful Blue Note vinyl jazz reissues and they sound fantastic.  These particular cassettes were originally purchased from the early 80s thru the early 90s.  They have been stored well but it is stunning how great they sound after all these years.  While I love showing off my vinyl on a nice system, I blow the audience away with the beautiful NAKs.  Cassettes are far from dead.  

Your experience makes me want to hear the old system in my Opel GT.  TeeHee  It did record from FM.

The walkman was able to provide music freedom for the first time, so good. The good home tape decks like Teac, Nak, Revox, were superb for making music for me to play on my car Nakamichi cassette player. They made a few models in the mid eighties that were high priced but very good sounding when paired with ads speakers! Oh the days! I just loved recording my music from albums I owned onto tape. My turntable NOW is way better than the  model I recorded from back then, but I used a very good cartridge.   

"Coincidence? I found Pink Floyd The Wall, Green Day Dookie and French version of Catch Bull ..."

Coincidence? I take care of Dookie from time to time. She is a neighbor’s little dog. Sweet! No bull.

Coincidence? I found Pink Floyd The Wall, Green Day Dookie and French version of Catch Bull at Four on cassette ten minutes ago. Sweet!