cassette tapes vs. Cd

[ssmith3046]

I bought a 2 head Nakamichi deck on BT a couple of years ago to play the few pre-recorded tapes that I had leftover from my last deck that **** the bed. I was amazed at the sound quality. I only have about 20 tapes, most of which I picked up on BT and local used record stores for next to nothing, but they all sound incredible on the Nak. I bought some NOS blank tapes a while back, but I have no intention of using them.

Used cassettes are a great source of cheap analog music and played on well maintained good ( such as a Nak ) sound great. I started off with a two head RX-202 Nak and moved up to a Dragon last year. Willy Herman had rebuilt it two years ago so it's in great shape. I listen to a lot of cassettes now days.

 

[kmulkey]

Yeah a well functioning Nak will surprise those who've never heard one, even with pre-recorded tapes...in good condition. After being totally out of tape for a couple decades I picked up an RX-505 and had Perry do his magic. The sound quality is surprisingly good.

 

[stoutblock]

I agree that CDs recorded on high end tape recorders sound great. I especially like SACD recordings! However, I don't really see the point?

All of my tape recordings (Dragon and AKAI GX-635D) are needle drops with high end tables, carts and phono stages. This makes more sense to me for tape format :scratch2:

 

[guest102]

Without going into the relative sound aspects of formats, there is a convenience factor with any taped material to consider. Any desired piece of potential playback is trapped at it's place on the tape. It takes time to hunt for it, and when you get close, more time to find a beginning. Counters may not be 100% compatible between playback units. With any digital music scheme it is worlds easier to find desired material, and even vinyl is quicker albeit with a slight chance of damaging a record should a sneeze or overexcited pet distract.

More on the positive side, I am invested in cassettes. I have four working cassette decks at home. Cassettes were a way to bring vinyl sourced material into the car for play during the daily commute to work and back, and the little red Civic EX Coupe (with tweeters) I still drive has a great sounding dependable factory cassette unit which puts out sound virtually indistinguishable from CDs in the driving environment. In the car I listen to material which I like for 60 to 90 commercial free minutes without repeats which gives the longer home brew cassettes an advantage over most CDs, FM, and reception challenged satellite radio.

 

[Lapis]

Forget it. Cassette were poor media even i its hay day. If you want tape - get a DAT machine. It is easier to find DDS-1 cartridges than blank Me or even Cr audio cassettes.

You are one of those people who only used tape recorders using a permanent magnet erase head and DC bias. Try buying a R2R recorder that uses these.

 

[juanjavier]

I love cassettes and they sound fantastic. I use JVC TD-V661 3 head unit HX PRO Dual capstan. Very close to the source original, sometimes I cant even the tell the difference. As for Hi-Fi VCRs Beta Hifi is the way to go for sound, my old 1984 Sanyo VTC-M40 amazed me when I did a recording of Yes RoundAbout from the Original LP.

----Love that album. This aftenoon I have been playing it in a Maxell UD-XL II on my Sansui D-100...

 

[oldvinyldude]

These 'Which is better" debates are not helpful, as much of the posts simply attempt to defend their author's choice, or point to the limitations of the other guy's format choice.

Perhaps a more useful discussion is 'why cassette?' or 'can a cassette sound as good as a CD?'.

Why cassette? With high quality playback hardware (which itself is moderately priced if one stays from the TOTL), cassettes are a viable music format for most, and their cost is very low. Unless one has a very well trained ear, a good commercial cassette, played on a properly functioning deck of good quality, will be very satisfying, in my experience.

Can cassette sound as good as CD?-I would state yes-not necessarily better, and not the same, but can sound as satisfying, to my ears.

 

[robgmn]

The Dragon was $2500 new and has similar specs to VHS Hi-Fi except in channel separation, where the Dragon gets skunked (37dB versus 70dB).
How many other consumer decks (the ones that you'll find at thrifts, garage sales, etc.) matched the Dragon's performance?

I can get a VHS Hi-Fi in like-new condition for cents on the original dollar, not to mention the tapes.

What does a like-new Dragon go for these days?

 

[Daunia 70]

In the UK a like new Dragon in fully working order (but not necessarily serviced),usually goes for around £800/£900.A fully serviced one could easily do £1000+.
I've been listening to mine over the last few nights (in reverse direction only), and it sounds utterly amazing through the Sansui AU-919 amp using decent quality pre-recorded cassettes (YAZZ:Wanted is a fave),better than I can ever remember a Dragon sounding (I owned another back in the 90's for a couple of years),but after hearing this one I have to wonder if it was at it's best.

What does a like-new Dragon go for these days?

 

[ssmith3046]

I was in the right place at the right time last summer a bought a mint Dragon for $985.00. It had received the complete Willy Herman rebuild two years ago and it sounds great. I'll never part with it.

 

[Turnergande]

I listen a lot to my one hundred or so cassette tapes of the NPR 'Oasis' and 'Hearts of Space' music programs. I recorded these back in the early to late 1990s. They were mainly recorded on a nice Sony mid 1980s K-555ES-II 3 head dual capstan deck (still have it, belts never replaced). Some tapes were recorded on a somewhat lesser Aiwa 2 head auto reverse ADR-707 (1990-93) deck but they sound fine too. These CR2 (Type II) mostly 90 minute tapes still sound great to my ears (assorted brands; TDK, Fuji, Sony, Maxell, etc.). Maybe the highest frequencies don't extend to the typical CD level but the lows, mids and highs sound exceptionally good. I probably can't hear above 15,000 Hz in any case. Lately I have been listening with various decks to include a nice Denon 3 head dual capstan DR-M30HX deck (1986-88) and what I hear is likely as good as it was when it was recorded. Also have an Aiwa AD-F800 3 head dual capstan, Sony TA-K555 3 head dual capstan....and finally, Nakamichi BX-100 and Luxman K-111 & K210 two head single capstans. All competent nice sounding decks.

I also listen a lot to CDs using good equipment (Cambridge Azur 640C, etc.), 2 & 3 way vintage speaker systems (JBL, Electro-Voice, Altec, etc.) so it's easy for me to compare tape (and vinyl too) sound qualities with CD.

Bottom Line: Nothing wrong at all with high quality cassettes when they have been well recorded, cared for, and played back properly on high quality well maintained equipment. I've been into this hobby for over 40 years and I know from experience what sounds good to my ears. That said, I'm not going to run out and look for a brand new deck - those days are long gone. Many good older used decks are out there real cheap. That technology more or less peaked in the late 1980s or early 1990s and the newer decks are likely not built as well. My 2 cents worth.

 

[deeezy]

Cassettes, no question. Not even close.

 

[billw]

just one more lame ass opinion... in their times; cassettes were great for their convenience and portability(before that was the 4 track cartridge replaced by the more famous 8 track cartridge). R2R was the top of the line for recording. Vinyl was king for fidelity. Those times are gone - CDs have all this now. I still use all the others at times simply because all my content is not available in CD format.
An A/B comparison with a prerecorded original 1970 R2R of Abbey Road and the latest release remixed CD really made me feel bad for my much beloved R2R. FOUL i cried!! the remix emphasizes Paul's bass to the point of distraction!! but that wasn't the only thing lacking in the tape. it just sounded weak compared to the CD. Nostalgia keeps me from tossing anything though... that and a VERY strong pack rat tendency!!!!!!! a bad trait in some circles, not so much in others ;-)
billw

PS. down to only 4 complete systems and soon to be 3!! trying to kick the habit.
it's a journey..

 

[zedex]

I always had poor results buying pre recorded cassettes from the 80s. You gotta roll your own to get the best results IMO..
Rolling your own is alot of fun.

 

[charles 1973]

My experience with Cassette Tapes suggests You Don't need a $1,000 Deck to get really good sound. Dispite having the worst transport I ever saw in a cassette Deck (the whole deck would nearly flip when I pressed some function keys) my $200 Toshiba came way closer to the SQ of my LP's I recorded, or my friends much more expensive Pioneer Decks than it had any right too. When using an expensive Sony Crome Tape w/Dolby B On, my recorded LP's sounded better than many of my CD's.

As for pre-recorded Tapes, I found some sounded really good too, and like other formats, the Mastering is the most important part of the recording, iregardless of the physical media if your using decent equipment. This is one area a cassette Tape may have an advantage over CD's. I believe many of these older tapes are better mastered than their CD counter Part. I don't know how durable Cassette's are, so perhaps used ones aren't the best route. However if there cheap enough, and you throw out 1 in 3 or 4, it might be a rewarding experience.

 

[Bozzmonster]

I've been out of cassettes for years since I went to CD for car use and later MP3s. Lately, I've had a growing itch to get back into cassettes as I am seeing a lot of good deals on pre-recorded tapes at Salvation Army, etc.

As a test, I found one track I played on CD, then recorded directly to cassette (hardwire from CD to a TEAC Cassette deck with no amp in between). I later took that cassette and played it to record a WAV which I have saved. Track is kd Lang's 'Constant Craving.' Played it just now.

You know, it sounds pretty darn good! Back in the day, I usually taped to Maxell chrome tapes, and sometimes metal. The audio memory I have was that cassettes could sound very close to CD, and very pleasant for all around listening. Based on my quick listen tonight, I still believe that is true. For sheer convenience of recording, you can't beat throwing a cassette in, setting the levels and hitting record. Sounds like I'm gonna be hooking up my old TEAC again!

 

[trhee]

While cassettes can sound quite good using a high bias tape, preferably metal, to record on some of the better 3-head decks, the format itself is limiting. As far as playing back pre-recorded cassettes, forget about it. Not even great decks such as Nak ZX-9, CR7a or Dragon could make them sound good.

The cassette format was born out of convenience for home use, not for ultimate sound quality.

While I would love to have any of the above 3 Nak decks for reasons of nostalgia and visual appeal, the prices that they are commanding on the used market are simply not worth it from a price to sound quality ratio IMO.

 

[kmulkey]

As far as playing back pre-recorded cassettes, forget about it. Not even great decks such as Nak ZX-9, CR7a or Dragon could make them sound good.

Nah, this isn't true...at least not on my system. I picked up some used cassettes from the local Salvation Army and the sound is incredibly good on my RX-505.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

 

[Harvey/ Ga]

I haven't tried to compare the two nor actually listened to a cassette in years, but with my new appreciation for vinyl and a couple of deals on cassette players from the thrift store, I'm wondering. Now to find some blank cassettes.

My 3 head Denons and Marantz portable make fantastic sounding tapes with Maxell or TDK CrO2 cassettes. I've tried a few metal tapes, but my old ears can't tell the difference. Would love to play with a good NAK:thmbsp:

I can play the CD and the tape that I dubbed from the CD on either of my systems and have a hard time discerning a difference.

The little Marantz is also a gem...google it for a surprising test review.
http://www.audio-ideas.com/reviews/analog-sources/marantz-pmd430.html

 

[Lapis]

The way how earlier pre-recorded tapes from the 60's to the early 80's were warmer sounding but not Hi-Fi. Also many tapes from that time use pressure pads that are supported by a sponge to the shield (like how 8-tracks used) are prone to falling off, that's why you don't get good sound out of it. Vinyl at 33rpm only sounds good at the beginning but crap towards the center unless you use good or TOTL turntables.