WHat did Audiophiles hear during Tape deck era?

CDs are like methadone (Heroin substitute) for the music junkie. Cassettes are the heroin.
The 50 most expensive cassettes sold last week,

http://www.valueyourmusic.com/most-valuable/cassette/last-week

I’m afraid that ship 🚢 sailed a long time ago, Bubba. 😭

Got any interest finding those cassettes a new home? 😬

Whoa! Opinions are all over the map. 😳

I know what you mean. I have a Sony WM D3. I have discovered a way to make cassettes sound better by damping they case. It’s called the Mystery Tweak. But I don’t reveal what it is because then it wouldn’t be a mystery any more. It’s very hush hush 🤫 And speaking of cassettes I just spent my entire stimulus check on cassettes. Was that wrong?

See, I told ya! 🤗 Of course it’s not entirely what you have it’s how you do it too. I have the advantage of avoiding the considerable distortion and noise that comes with house AC, AC ground, power cords, fuses, transformers, all that jazz. 🎶

I hate to judge before all the facts are in but I might be the only one here who thinks that cassettes are great and often sound better than CDs or vinyl in most respects that matter. I’m not talking about the cruddy ones from the 70s but the ones from circa 85 to 95. Even ferrite tapes are good sounding. I have a lot of good cassettes now and it’s rare to hear noise between tracks and I never hear noise whilst the music is playing. I did not fall off the turnip truck yesterday. Perhaps you guys are oblivious to all the overly aggressive compression for CDs and vinyl. I can’t breathe! 😩 Maybe you guys need a good ear candling. 🕯

Once Dolby B and other exotic tech came out in the mid 80s tape hiss virtually became a thing of the past. Digalog, Dolby B, HX PRO, HiQ, etc. Look for them. 👀 Blow your mind. 🤯 not to mention the plastic cassette cases evolved AND the TAPE formulation itself. Hel-loo! Cassettes are the only Medium that escaped the Loudness Wars. There is no substitute for Dynamic Range. 🤗

There seems to be a lot of pre-conceived notions a goin’ on here. Or wishful thinking perhaps, or even mass hypnosis. Yes, I know what you’re going to say, “but my system sounds fabulous!” When cassettes were peaking circa mid 90s they were just beginning to aggressively compress the life out of CDs and LPs. So sad that was the end of the cassette era. 😢 The industry wins again! Score: industry 2, audiophiles 0

There’s a Tool promo cassette listed on eBay as we speak for $8666.

Listen through the hiss, grasshopper. Or use Dolby tapes. Problem solved!  You know, like you listen through pops and clicks on vinyl. Which reminds me, what the heck happened to the tape hiss on CDs? 

bob540
@geoffkait, That link is for real?! Hundreds of dollars for a pre-recorded cassette? That is crazy!!!

>>>>I’m not hot dogging you. 🌭

The mid 80s reissue tapes like Zeppelin, Doors, Stones, Dylan, Beatles are great and they’re just ferrite tape, by then they had figured out the engineering. No tape hiss, amazing Sonics. Pure analog. Tape is a natural medium. It breathes. Check it out!! 🤗

I’m posting this strictly for interest. These are the most expensive cassettes sold this past week, the most recently one today. Enjoy 😊

http://www.valueyourmusic.com/most-valuable/cassette/last-week

Cassettes of the 80s and 90s crush vinyl. Cassettes were never a target of the Loudness Wars conspiracy. In fact, many cassettes crush CD dynamic range too. Vinyl tends to be wimpy by comparison to cassettes, especially after vinyl got caught up in the Loudness Wars. Put that in your pipe and smoke it.

Without dynamics you got nothin’ - audiophile axiom

✊

Talk to da hand Mr. Living in the Seventies! 🖐Everybody has to be somewhere. 

Yeah, sure. That makes a lotta sense, maps. You probably don’t even know what air is. Well, except for hot air 🥵 😬

Nowadays cassettes have all the air. See the irony? They are also the tone champs. I already mentioned dynamics, they’re the best at that too. What’s left? Not much. Whatever’s left you can have it, though. If you’re happy I’m happy. 😀  And as Bob Dylan sez at the end of all his cassettes, good luck to everyone.

Whiner alert 🚨

Wake up and smell the roses 🌹 🌹 🌹

Uh, you can’t even buy cassettes from the 70s. They’re all gone Except for a few original Ampex clamshells, etc. which are nothing to write home about SQ wise. The really good well-made cassettes came much later. So please don’t bore us with tales of woe from the 70s. It was when the humble cassette had to compete head to head with the CD in the 80s and 90s that cassettes became reliable and high quality. The Golden Age for cassettes was circa 1986-1994. Much closer to the sound of the master tape than a CD ever thought of being. But I digress.

And speaking of bleating repeatedly..... Baa!  Baa!  🐑 

You’re not following. Maybe read my post again. Try to control your emotions this time. Don’t flip out on me. By the way it’s individuals who can’t read not individuals that can’t read. Also, plethora is already plural. There is no such word as plethoras. As a newcomer you should mind your manners.

Could you possibly be more picky? Tape hiss is more audible on LPs. Give me a break. This is not the princess and the pea.

Uh, tape hiss disappeared with Dolby tapes which was about a bazillion years ago. It’s easier to hear tape his on LPs. Wake up and smell the coffee ☕️

You can’t go wrong with cassettes from the 80s and 90s, HiQ, digalog, HX PRO, chrome. Guaranteed to enter the kingdom of heaven. Dig this. Labels to look for, MCA, Electra, I.R.S., Virgin, Atlantic, Warner Bro’s, Reprise. You do realize tape hiss went away with Dolby don’t you? As Bob Dylan says at the end of all his cassettes, good luck to everybody.

I WILL take those cassettes off your hands. Name your price.

mijostyn, you seem to need a lot of work on your hearing. Can I suggest a good candling? 🕯

I didn’t say cassettes were perfect. But what is? Cut me some slack, Jack. At least at the end of the day you have music. Tape is a natural medium. It breathes. You wouldn’t believe what I have to do to get CDs to sound half as good as cassettes. 

For the hardcore junkie cassettes are pure heroin, everything else is methadone. 

Cassettes really came into their own in the 80s and 90s. Dynamic range is the one thing that sticks out for me, cassettes are closer to the master tape than records or CDs. Also air and warmth. The digitally remastered cassettes are certainly more analog sounding than their CD counterparts yet more dynamic too. You CAN have your cake 🎂 and eat it too. 🤗