WHat did Audiophiles hear during Tape deck era?

I was living La Vida Loca in Dade county in the mid 70s- mid 80s; sex, drugs and rock n roll. I woke up from a sex stoned night too many times with expensive needles (Fidelity Research, I think) scratching against the inner grooves. I had little choice but to record on cassette to save my records, cartridges, and styluses

Also, dade county was, and still is, one of the very worst areas for musical radio programming choices