Very informative, I’m a vinyl buyer and have been for 40 years. However I’m a big user of cassettes and I still get so much pleasure out of making my own compilation albums. Anyway well done on your video.
0:46 Bring back the cassettes fast, I love audio cassettes, cassette decks, and i listen to them. Iam a vinyl fan too. I love them both. Physically owning/ collecting Vinyls, cassettes, CDs , Books, and so on is just human! Collecting things is natural, animals and birds do it for what ever reasons. Mankind has done the art of collecting, owning, right from souvenirs, prizes,gifts and the like for ages. It's a go to sort of thing by going through ones collection and taking the right pick to hear music, there's a physical and mental connection, it livens the mood, and mental well being. On line music is different, you can't see it in form physically, can't collect them,no physical storage, the human element is lacking.
When I was running the cassette duplication department of the recording studio I once operated, I'd always get CrO2 as the tape. The tapes would be produced in real time, usually 5 at a time, on high quality decks, some Sonys and some Teacs, each calibrated for each tape. We charged $7.00 each and everyone was happy.
The two "external parts" are called "erase tabs". Breaking the tab off prevents recording over the existing recording. If you decide you want to record over the existing recording, you simply put some sticky tape where the tab was and your cassette recorder will now record on that cassette. The extra slots on the Type II and Type IV cassettes are so that the cassette recorder can identify that tape and adjust accordingly.
My grandad got a Sony TC-K61 and a TC-K81 in 1980. The K81 was stolen in a burglary late 80's. He gave my dad the k61 mid 90's and my dad gave it to me at Christmas....even though it only has Dolby B it has type I,II, III and IV. It sounds great.
I stocked up on high grade tapes in the 90s. I'm glad I did. I use Nakamichi cassette decks because there are still some repair shops that stock parts and services them. I also love the way they sound.
Hello, I want to thank you for reintroducing me to my cassette deck! I have been playing about 75% records and 25% cd’s for the last 4 years. After watching you champion the cassette format I decided to clean the heads and pinch rollers on my Onkyo Integra TA-RW909 that’s in like new condition. I put some battery’s in the units remote-control and enjoy some of the well recorded cassettes that were made about 35 years ago. I put on my Sennheiser HD580 headphones and sat back in a zero gravity chair and hit play button on the remote. First I started tapping my feet then moving my head and before I knew it I was dancing in the chair. WOW... I had forgotten how great a high quality cassette in a high quality tape deck that is properly recorded sounds. Now I have about 100 cassettes that I will reintroduce myself to, thanks to you...lol. It’s time to put another cassette in the deck and I enjoy my new favorite format. A question sir , besides having my machine professionally tuned can you recommend in-between maintenance tips? Many thanks for the educational videos, there super helpful. Also what are your feeling about leaving a cassette in your unit until the next time you use it, the manual does not mention anything about that?
Now this is what I call satisfaction!!! It is fantastic that you started to listen to your cassettes and that you actually enjoyed it! Thank you for informing me! Coming to your questions, I would say that you should clean uour heads and tape path (NOT the plastic and rubber parts) with isopropyl alcohol, demagnitize these with a proper tool and possibly change the rubber belts for optimal trasport. I will do a video on these aspects in the future.
bought a 4 track cassette , finally used it after many year's in the box . Sound is real as it gets , pure analog . order new chrome one's out of Japan thru Amazon
For the longest time besides radio. My dad's cassette collection was the only format I could listen to at home in my bedroom off my boombox or off my Walkman. So like many others I'm too nostalgic for the return of the format. Still buying cds and now that tapes are coming back I can grow my tape collection some more.
This section is right up my street I have been using tapes since the 80s right up to today and tomorrow I am stiking with it more FUN for recording pity about chrome & METAL tapes not being sold today
Thank you for confirming something I already knew had to be done to the cassette player besides just cleaning the heads and capstans, etc, which is demagnetizing the heads. I've had several people call me NUTS for doing just that.
I've got hundreds of type 2 and 4, which are 20 to 45 years old. And surprisingly, they sound just great on my Nakamichis (2). The Nakamichi will spot the brakes between songs and stop at its beginning. They haven't degraded one bit. On the cheaper ones, type 1, I have to glue back the felt buffer.
Thanks for your video. I have a Tascam 103 manufactured in 1989 and still sounds pretty good!. Unfortunately the industry never massive launched records in metal cassettes, but if the growing trend continues, I think that is probably we have good quality cassettes tapes in the near future. Respect, Leo.
Very informative video ! Thanks. Just bought a SONY TC-KA5ES and a bunch of metal cassettes. It has been almost 20 years I haven't played a cassette !! Looking forward to starting recording my vinyls albums...!
thanx for exploration, i've been recording ( experimenting) my music on tascam digital 24 track, but just purchased yamaha 4 track cassette recorder, and didn't know and wondered about the difference in cassettes
By the late 90s Audio cassette technology was very good precise sound along with Dolby Technology. On a good system or cassette type, recording on cassettes sounds good as CDs. With portable players the cassette was handy than records. That's why the cassette will come back in the 2020s. Thank God I still have my old cassettes, all types of bias and time, 60 to 120!!! Last time I had a boombox was 2002. My portable cassette player, or "Walkman' as ALL were known as, I bought back in in 1998, it's an Aiwa TX401, still works! I just bought a new one on Ebay, Sharp WQ-T354! Got also my cassette cassette looking MP3 player for my car cassette deck I found in one of my boxes at my parents closet!!! And I have Teac duel cassette recorder rack. All set!
I grew up on cassettes. I’m starting to prefer them (and CDs) again because I’m tired of losing data in the cloud. Apple Music Match is a subscription service. You PAY for a song, then you PAY to be able to play that song across all your devices….THEN, when Apple no longer sells the song (aka, “This title is no longer available in your country or region”) they simply delete it from your device and purchase history and no refund. Saving your entire library in physical format is very desirable.
16:32 Oh boy i'd LOOOVE to get one of these TDK MA 90 tapes sometimes. Only had the SA-X 90 Chrome equivalent of it. Nice to see they used the same case housing with just a different label print.
It was a very instruktive and practical lesson of how to distinguish good Qualität cassettes and how to Record on them. Thanks very much for or excellent practical Piece of advice you have given us.
Metal cassettes also have set up the revolution of computer backup tape market ever since. And were actually greatly improved straight for a really high quantity of data which can be stored onto data cartridges of many different formats (DDS/DAT/DLT etc.) while the audio market already phased out for metal tapes. All still existing data tape media today are using metal substrates of highest purity and smallest particles on a very high remanence and coercivity. ( on required bias levels which an audio recorder could no longer handle)
I have the whole cassettes of my dad. They are from 80s and 90s ... They are so cool ! I love cassettes... its a great feeling to have it and keep it But I noticed that every cassette is different from the sound ... Few of them are in good audio quality and other in low quality... can someone help me ?
Thanks for a great video, made me pull out a very good cassette I recorded from a good quality CD. It is the Allman Brothers in1971 , recording called "The Fillmore Concerts", I have a very good Onkyo single well cassette player, it has a single metal player, so no sloppy rubber cassette bands, which can cause all sorts of wow and flutter. The tape is a Fuji type 2 cassette. I loved these tapes, they were very stable, and warm sounding. This sounds plain awesome. I have about 6 or 7 metal tapes, put my best recordings on them.
Many Nakamichi decks have spares still available and B&W in Worthing (England) can repair and service these to ‘as new’ condition. Strongly recommended!
I'm still using my 30 year old Sony TC-K950ES, now recording onto Maxell UR Type1 tape; and, I've gotta tell ya, these sound great. I can not distinguish the tape from vinyl.
I'm mostly bying for more than 30 years now 90 min tapes or sometimes i was bying 45 min if i wanted to record an LP only .........you do know most LPs lasts no more than 45 minutes though
That's why I get 90 minute tape @ 45 minutes per side since many of my jazz albums run way over 30 minutes per side. At any rate, I'm very pleased with the UR's, sounding indistinguishable from LP.
I have a pioneer Ct-f950 I love it with metal tapes it has VERY high quality recording playback. I also listen to digital and vinyl and I can't tell a difference.
A considered and clear rendition of the tape phenomenon... mostly known to those who went through the era but new to those who didn't. I've just purchased two machines in the last 6 months. a twin deck which has dolby s and a cassette changer ct-m6r that has convenience. I am trying to combine the best of both these by putting the audio from the cassette changer through the audio processing of the dolby S unit. I know that twin decks have a poor reputation however I am more circumspect when it comes to playing cassettes. I look for the best blend of convenience and clarity. So the fact that an auto reverse might affect the azimuth isn't a consideration to me if the result is a more convenient listening experience. I've heard that 3 heads are better because the head gap is correct for both the recording head and the playback head but it also introduces the possibility of misalignment between record and playback azimuth. I've found out that there are 3 head cassette players with auto reverse(Akai) which have the record and playback head gaps on the same head ! This removes the possibility of azimuth mismatch between record and play. I've always gone with the 2 heads because most have auto reverse and 3 heads mostly dont. An interesting point about head gaps is that while the manufacturing capability of tiny head gaps have been increased over the years, the recording head gap plays a much smaller part in the quality of the recording than the playback head gap does in the playback. A salient point is that this means old recordings will sound even better now with newer head gaps as the playback experience has become ever more enhanced through better heads/gaps. Dolby S is something I'd always look for in a new tape deck. its backwards compatible with dolby B. I like the auto demag of your aiwa and I'm actually surprised that this feature wasn't put into more models. I have a pen demagnitizer which will have to do for now.
Hi armarra, thank you for your considerations. Very interesting! I have been intoxicated by this passion and now the Aiwa is on sale on eBay and a reached out for a Nakamichi Dragon and a NAD 6300. Excellent machines!
yes these have auto azimut adjust I understand. I'm willing to make the trade off between performance in audio quality and performance in usability because if these are carefully selected then a better listening experience arises. Does the NAK have remote control I wonder ?
In the video i uploaded recently i show you how i do it and how people say you should do it. You should record pinknoise in different bias settings and then record it to your computer with audacity and than compare those recordings side by side with the original.
yes, manuel calibration would be great. Imean thats a real issue to go to a technician all the time when youre changing the typology of the tape. We should learn to make that D.I.Y style at home;-)
Just giving my F770 a bit of TLC, belts replaced, got a new tyre for the idler and that will be job done. Bought the deck in 1989 and with these bits replaced it should be good until I come over all dead! Tape of choice? TDK SA or SAX, sound fantastic, even after thirty years they still sound good. Apart from the quality of the recording I always preferred these to Chrome, chrome is harder, more abrasive and wears heads out faster than cobalt treated ferric. I never tried ferro-chrome so don't know how good they were, but if I remember correctly they were supposed to be less good than chrome or metal.
Hello my friend at ANA(DIA)LOG. I just watched your Video about Cassettes. I have a lot of virgin not opened quality cassettes. Sony 90 min. ceramic, TDK aluminum framed 60min., and some type II and metal. You were talking about the Normal cassette tape that is not good in the TREBLE and even BASS. You are right. But I solved this problem and I am having very good recording on my cassette recorder which is not a high-end machine. But how I am recording? I have very good high quality recording on my TEAC X-3 Reel to Reel. I am recording on my cassette, from my TEAC, onto my JVC cassette recorder using my TEAC's HEADPHONE jack. And I have a great recording. Thank You.
thumbsup. Still have mine as well. TC-K71, one -K81 (bought later as vintage already for pretty cheap and only had to replace one single transistor in the touch control logic circuit to get it back into a working state) and one old collected grundig CF5100 with HIGH-COM (still needs some rework).
I own a Sony TC-V7 deck, it has type 3, autodetects it as well 😊. I don't own a type 3 cassette, but I'd love to test one Autoreverse can't be that much of a problem, and I'm not including my TC-V7. Some nice decks have 1 or 2 4 track heads (because why the hell wouldn't that be standard) (1 if there's no separate PB and REC head, and 2 if they are separate. The azimuth isn't a problem anymore in this case since the heads font flip. În my deck there is a 2 track head that flips, it's OK, I do own the equipment to calibrate the azimuth, but for the average Joe that could become a problem in time. As for the dual deck, I agree, that is to preferably be avoided, but in my humble opinion, any decent brand deck is okay. Have the Dolby NR, C is a good one. S is overkill for most of the people, have a single deck or a cassette changer, there are a few good ones that have the cassette changers, and hunt for Autoreverse that has 4 track heads. And as a message if you're not audiophile, most of the decks will sound okay to you if you never heard something better. I did but I am still happy with my deck even if it's a mid-low range one. Test before concluding and don't take an audiophile's word for it :) I would've spent much more on my reel to reel if I listened to the audiophile's out there, but mine (Sony TC-377) is a heck of a great reel to reel at a fraction of the price of an audiophile approved one
I lost my love for cassettes when we got CDs and again I'm going for cassettes almost after two decades. I got a good deal for a Yamaha KX-580SE and a Yamaha K-1D. I don't want to buy both units and very difficult to select a one. What would you prefer from those decks?
Auto demagntization is not going to be found in other decks so I wouldn't mention that as a must have. The rest was well presented for newbies to the medium.
What you are trying to explain is signal modulation 😇 since you can't record low frequency signals because.. Reasons, you need a high frequency (aka Bias) to modulate the audio signal, it's basically FM Radio technology, only with a much lower carrier frequency. If you replaced the head with an antenna and put a radio tuned to the bias frequency near it, you'd hear the music. Also the graphic representation is inaccurate, the bias doesn't add with the audio signal, it's amplitude (vertical size) stays at its initial value, it only gets attenuated in sync with the audio. Only decks with a modulation stage with built in amplifier actually adds the signals together. Same technique is used in any kind of magnetic recording. Playback is like tuning into the station; it amplifies the signal from the head and passes it through a low pass filter, removing the carrier and forwarding only the audio. As I said, FM Radio technology. The bias is only there while recording and storing the audio. It's absent in the input and playback stages
If your buying these old tapes your doing it for the nostalgia the higher quality tapes don't have has much hiss to them which is a big part of that not to mention that with the right equipment you can make type 1 cassettes sound just as good as type 2 if not very close
Nope! There are old pancakes. Now Recording the Masters (Mulann industries) are bsck in production. Maxell are probably old pancakes as well. Recently The US National Company as just started again, up untill now they where using old tape...
@@anadialog the Maxell UR - these are made in Indonesia by a company called Panggung.. In the Netherlands you can buy new tapes with tape from Recording the Masters. www.debandjesfabriek.nl/ Saehan (korea) is making new tape too. shmedia.en.ec21.com/Audio--730425_730462.html And NAC ruclips.net/video/4QL9g72FMAE/видео.html
before I start I must say I am a big cassette tape lover ever since, I began listening to music. The truth and reality is I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news and it's not my intention to burst your bubble, but records, CD's Cassette Tapes, Reel to Reel Tapes, 8 Tapes, mini disk. All these old medias especially Cassette Tapes will never come back, into the main stream. they are all gone forever. They may not be quite dead, but the main problem is streaming. Streaming is a more practical way to consume audio and visuals not media. Though I do enjoy your channel, so please keep making. I still consume music on cassettes, so i do find your channel and yes I own three Nakamishi tape decks along with TEAC, Kenwood, Sony, Technics tape players and if I see any more top decks, iwould try to acquire them. I'm just trying to keep it real.
I love my pioneer cts-830s cassette deck.. Record to maxwell or tdk chrome or metal tapes with dolby s and it records sound rich & full in detail.. Sounds awesome!!!
I 've got a SHARP SG 222 BLACK FACE STEREO from 1986.And it works wonderfully .Cassette,turntable and receiver.Plays all types of cassettes and sound great.200watts rms
Pre Fostexs 4 track recording my first recording was at and with Emerald Sound Recording on Basic Cassette tape from Modules with an sound engineer I worked around .at his house I played this recording " Out From the dark side Into Gods Kingdom of Light" and also all the first interest in cassette tape itself I would look at the lines and found the stripes on the ribbon contains the track running on the head right? I like the older BSF tapes and experimented with Fostex recording but in the 70' s. Reel to reel tape...what a reverb nightmare for me and had a great time playing cassettes I still have some the engineer chart on back of these were what for illiterate mike ? Then now I'm watching you on RUclips.
Normal bias tapes have bad treble response (compared to chrome type 2 tapes) when played in low to mid end decks, but with a good quality machine, (Dragon, Revox,, etc.) they can sound just as good as type 2 tape. I even prefer them for certain genres of music.
interesting video! and very well explained....I have all my music that I composed on cassettes....I will digitize them to make them immortal, that is the great advantage of the digital age....on the other side digital killed the story...now you listen single tracks, picking up just the best part, the part you love...but a story need also boring parts, but very important as well....to tell a real story you need time, wonderful parts but also boring and ugly parts....and digital killed this important part.....
Raul after what you have written, you must see this: ruclips.net/video/_CR02Ol050c/видео.html Remember that each medium is tied to its gear. This means that a format is 'immortal' as long as it can be reproduced!
Those Maxell UR Normal Bias tapes are AMAZING. I grew up using tapes as a kid/teen, so I have spent a lot of time (and money )on them and feel I've come to know the good from the bad, in regards to brand, bias type, durations, etc. I must say, Maxell did something amazing to make those UR tapes sound so good for a Normal bias. Great output, nice sound, and they even have a sturdy construction with their all-clear shells and transparent components allowing the entire reel of tape to be visible. My only complaint of those UR tapes is the limited capacities. I have seen different durations from different brands, which created conflict for a guy like me who wanted to keep his tapes consistent - use the same brand and the same bias, while finding the best-fit length of tape for whatever program I was mixing. UR is pretty good, you got you standard 60 and 90 minutes, and I think they may even have made 100 minute lengths, but they also were the first brand to finally match Sony's HF tapes (a normal bias that wasn't very good for fidelity output) of a 120 minute length. I used the Sony HFs for years only because of the 120 minute capacity. Then Maxell comes along, with a nice Normal tape, 120 mins, and it SOUNDED GREAT. And the clear/transparent design made it look sleek as well, which I really liked because I could make my own index labels and insert them INSIDE the shell, so they could be seen but also protected. Oh, if only they could have also made 80 minute (which I've only ever seen from TDK in chrome bias), some 110 minute, and even some of those random "CD-friendly" lengths that Sony's "CD-it" (chrome only) line put out ; 54, 74, and 94 minutes. Oh, and perhaps resurrect some of the shorter lengths form the 70s, like the 15 and 30 minutes, for those early albums and EPs that rarely exceeded 30 mins, and 45 minutes for the "average" run of a full-length album of the times. It'd be fantastic if ONE brand (Maxell) produced ONE bias (UR Normal Type I) that could cover all those lengths : C-10, C-15, C-30, C-45, C-50, C-54, C-60, C-74, C-80, C-90, C-94, C-100, C-110, C-120.
@@Christian-fu8vx I loved the TDK D series, but I never had a 120 min from them. The highest II could get on a TDK D was 90 min. Before the Maxell UR tapes came along ,the only 120 min lengths I could find were the Sony HF Type I, which were okay but were not great of playback output, sounded a little dull.
There are a few manufacturers of analog cassette tapes left around the world but the good thing is that they are still exist and supposedly analog tapes and R2R tapes are back and there are a few R2R manufacturers that would like to make a comeback if there are enough sales to make. I still listen to cassette tapes and still record on them as it is fun for me to do so and also listen to however i must admit that time is very crucial for me and as i am aging with all the things i need to handle in life recording takes lots of time and by the time i do it i already know all the tracks on that particular tape so listening to it again will have to wait for a while to leave enough time to forget mostly the order and the tracks recorded on it ;)
I've said this on other cassette videos, get an a dsp or equalizer or a DSP equalizer (they are different) a cassette deck with Cobalt amorphous heads (these decks were manufactured at the end of the era),all of this will give you today's sound , at least CD quality, lossless quality is much much better, but for archiving purposes you will not be disappointed.
Further test results from the music brand label SM L.T.D. B220 Leb. For this, a reverence recording was made by an independent Thon studio using a DAT (Digital Audio Tape) (D) (D) (D) WAW 44.1 16 byte, noise value of vu -100 db. between track 1 and track2, through track12, and a stampe CD WAW 44.1 16 bytes worth of vu -100 db. between track 1 and track2, until track12 used by Deldec as a set point all titles were with (D) (D) (D) Say super transparency and synthetic trebles and bass what noise value and dynamics are concerned. It was up to the music label SM L.T.D. B220 Leb. Whether one manufactures the LP analogue or digitally on CD basis CD ''74 / 80' 'CD-ROM audio 74/80 min. WAW 44.1 16 byte). The tests showed that you can delete the medium analogue LP (Vinyl-LP) and can replace it with a digital medium, so by a DLC-LP on CD basis CD ''74 / 80' 'CD-ROM audio 74/80 min. WAW 44.1 16 bytes). Therefore, the CD became a better playback medium than the analog LP. Classified. The CD-based DLC-LP has a Ladin track 10 sec. Data track (30 to 47 min. Audio), Ladout track 10 sec., Like the analogue LP. Ladin track, data track, (Audio track1 to track12 A + B side) Ladout track). With the DLC-LP on CD basis within the data track (30 to 47 min. Audio) there is no track split, (from track1 to track12) the tracks; from track1 to track 12 are without marking (wallet split) all other specifications of the DLC-LP on CD-based sound a CD WAW 44.1 16 bytes so that the digital medium in the CD player / DVD player / BD player playable is. (Setup of a CD-based DLC-LP CD ''74 / 80''is: [Ladin track 10 sec / data track, 30 to 47 min. Audio / Ladout track 10 sec.]) Further test results MD (below) follow Sony) DCC (Philips / DCC Emi-Electrola): Literally, Sony Music and Emi-Electrola have fallen out with each digital media: Stampe-MD (Sony Music) 44.1 16 Byte Sony Music overrides vu +1 db. and stumbling bass (limping bass as data would be missing) in comparison with a CD Sony music WAW 44.1 16 bytes, the same artist was the MD (Sony music) 44.1 16 bytes rather bad the recording were rather poppy. (Demo took place at Sony L.D.T. Switzerland) used Demo Stampe-MD Sony Music (interpreter Maikel Jackson). (DCC Philips) DCC Emi-Electrola 44.1 16-byte output with highest level vu -1 Db / - + 0Db Noise value of vu -40 Db. between track 1 and track2, to track12 noise value too high for a digital medium that is not in an acceptable range. The individual frequencies controlled to the last point (massively compressed) for a DCC very bad! Emi-Electrola is better at proofing the recording of CDs. Test place independent music house, used demo DCC Emi-Electrola (interpreter Roger Whittaker) If one compares the recording of (DCC Philips) DCC Polygram one makes a clear difference regarding the quality, super transparency, noise value and dynamics. With DCC Polygram there is in comparison (analog medium ALC-MC) (digital medium DCC / CD / DAT) super transparency in terms of noise value and dynamics. No differences the DCC sounds like an analog ALC-MC with a noise value of vu -100 db between track 1 and track2, up track12 side A + B and also shows the quality, super transparency and synthetic treble and bass what noise value and the Dynamics of: / CD / DAT on! Despite data reduction factor 4 or factor 5 (data compression factor 4 or factor5) due to less memory space. DCC Polygram Performer Johan Sebastian Bach) This example shows clearly who made the house and who did not do what the music quality on the new media MD (Sony) / DCC (Philips). PS. Compare yourself and you'll see who offers good quality or poor quality in terms of media, be it analog or digital (MC / DCC / CD / DAT). Google Übersetzer (enlisch)Google translator (english)
Would it perhaps be fair to say that Type IV pre-recorded cassettes - should they become available in quantity - might provide the finest possible audio playback when played back on suitable decks of the highest quality?. (I know there are $450.00 2-track 15 ips reel-to-reel tapes on 10.5" reels that have become available and they may well be finer still). When you discussed what to look for when buying a cassette deck, one of the first things I'd want to know would be the condition of the heads - and I'd expect an honest answer from the seller!! If the heads are badly worn it might no longer be possible to obtain replacements.
True, but not too far! In any case I have covered reel to reel at length. Start here (4track) if you haven't seen my vids: ruclips.net/video/EnUhGjc_Er8/видео.html And proceed here (2 track): ruclips.net/video/Yly9Ubzs5iY/видео.html And finally here: ruclips.net/video/2FmJnYmHOcA/видео.html
About 15 years ago Richer Sounds in the UK were selling Nakamichi DR8`s.9`s and 10`s for about £200 to £300 brand new. I bought 2. I wish I`d bought 20.
Hi, i like your review. I have a nakamichi cassette deck2 in an excellent condition. My opinion is that i enjoy it more than digital media. My ears grab frequencies never been noticed throu digital recordings i.e cd.
Thanks much I'm contacting MAXELL Corporation for this MX-S 60. Wear out the heads ? Checking I have this kit blue tape no ribbon came with a small blue plastic bottle with cleaner I take and apply it to the pads run forward. And reverse. But need something cause in running out looking at the ingredients .Amen. Great video man and thumbs up ok Audio ...s
At 11:02 did you say "the downside is that there's a lack of fish? FYI: Bass is pronounced as "Base" ...in this case. "Bass" (rhyming with ass) is a deep sea fish. Sorry to be such a pendant and point out this one tiny error in an otherwise wonderful video! Thanks for sharing this info with us all. It was very informative and I'm truly grateful to have learned something new.
I've always had highest quality audio I've owned some recordings that sounded better than any other source the vocals usually sound better on cassette than digital
Type 1 or Type 4 are the only way to go. Type 4 is a cost issue for me but I have plenty of professional quality Type 1 cassettes for recording and a reverberater. I never let go of the cassette, not because I'm living in the past but because it is better quality. They never put a CD in a cartridge like a zip or floppy disk and it never lasted as it scratched easily. And I really can't take digital sound. That reverberater helps me give digital recorded music a wholesome sound with depth and is used when I record on a cassette.
I actualy like mete.l (type 4) My problem with chrome (type 2) is that it sounds flat like a CD and it dirtys up a tape machine pretty fast. I am an analog sound diehard. Type 4 was great in another time but now I can only find those on e-bay and the cost is a little too much for me. I did however buy professional quality type 1. And I am just fortunate enough to own a Pioneer tape deck from 1980 and I make pretty nice cassettes. I prefer type 4 but have setteled for type 1 as long as it was professional quality. Anything less just won't cut it.
PS taking away the whole debate of what sounds better, physical mediums like tape are just exciting and fun to collect. I listen to records, I listen to high quality wavs/ flacs, I listen to spotify and I listen to tapes. It's all good fun. I do enjoy natural tape distortion and limiting (and so do many other audio engineers, even digital releases use these methods of saturation) but I don't think it makes it objectively better than Digital from a pure "quality" standpoint. But there is a sonic magic to it.
True...I would add, too bad producers and engineeres rape digital media instead of using this tool with intelligence! Hence, for now, digital looses big time, and vinyl was brought back to life thanks to this nonsense...
With all that information on the different types in mind, which type of tape would you recommend for daily recording? Any specific names would be appreciated a lot!
Excellent video, i just do not agree entirely on your claim that all double decks where bad. I used an Akai HX-A451W from 2012 until 2015 and even used n.o.s. TDK D120 cassettes to tape 1 hour radio shows and that sounded excellent. It was sold by Akai in 1987. I played these cassettes recorded from 2012 until 2015 recently and they still sound the same. Some might say it's not hifi, but it really sounds good, even with Ferro tape. I did not use dolby NR. These TDK D120 cassettes where concidered inferiour, but the last ones made where really good. I still have maybe 250 pieces of those. TDK D cassettes. This Akai deck HX-A451W where apparently very good for TDK D cassettes.
+bonno666, congrats for your experience and thank you for your comment. Yes, I agree with you, not all doubledecks are bad, but you do need to know what to look for becase a lot of them were very bad! Good to know about the Akai TDK combination!
@@jimflys2It was nakashit-mishi hissing at the background. Aiwa is a nakakiller.Go watch price comparison,and see the light. I have that same ADF-770, and what a GEM. Looking for at 990- to find..from somewhere....
Hi folks . I only had 3 pre-recorded tapes . Just the past 5 years the binder dried up and the tape shed the oxide . Garbage .But of the 350 cassettes that i do have are Maxell ,TDK , Sony , BASF and Memorex in all varieties of oxide types . The tapes date from 1998 to 2010 . While I recorded all of these tapes ,and continue to play them . My point is that these brand name tapes are not shedding their oxides . It seems that the binders are much more stable . That's my two cents worth . But since 1998 I've worn out 4 decks and i am in need of more decks . Any suggestions ?
I need to raise a flag about twin decks. Twin decks are cool (and when I bought my tape deck a couple of years ago I went for a twin deck) because if one goes out of order, you stilll have the other deck. This is one point I considered when buying a second-hand tape deck in 2014 (or maybe 2015) because there were no more good-quality tape decks being produced (still the same in 2018). Not that because I have any intention to dub (copy) one tape to another now in 2010s; just in order to have a spare deck in case one goes out of order. Auto-reverse is also cool to me. With an auto-reverse twin-deck, you can go for a 3-hour (2 x 90 min) "almost" non-stop music playback. Also with auto-reverse, you have one key advantage (in my experience): If the head alignment does not fit in one play direction, it may fit in the opposite direction (Here I'm not talking about hi-end decks with calibration capability). In this way, you can find a compromise for head alignment for most of your cassette tapes, plus, if you have a twin-deck your chances are doubled. Back to twin-decks... One of the decks is for playback only, and the other one plays and records. If, in year 2018, you are still interested in recording on tapes (for example me; I want to copy some of my LPs onto tapes "if I can find hi-quality (chrome) tapes at reasonable prices") then you can dedicate the recording deck to recording only and save the head from playback wear. All and all, twin-deck auto-reverse decks give you more options :)
@kingblonde If we had we would have been drunk enough to miss him say bass as in the fish to describe low frequencies at 11:11. I think we're good here.
indeed but at least, for a type1 tape, these are at least capable of handling high volumes pretty well. Was really surprised how high you can turn up the recording levels on the current UR type series.
In my experience, the TDK D can handle a little bit more energy (sometimes with high bias calibration they can handle +6) than the Maxel without clipping distortion; but they are more expensive and rare. @@KRAFTWERK2K6
The Japanese equivalent FF70B was sold fore ¥84800 back in 1986. If you put that into inflation calculator. It will be at around 2400 USD nowadays. Which is incredible.
Well, Hx pro helps those that do not know how or have the right ear to set bias properly. Tandberg for exampke did use it and I must admit that pre-recorded cassetes that have it are usually better.
The Kenwood KX9010 and the Yamaha KX-1200U have HXpro and have the same Sankyo DD motor dual capstan transport as a Nakamichi CR-3/CR4 decks and they use hi-quality amorphous combi-head and good circuits in these decks. "HX PRO" stands for "Headroom Extension" and is an electronic control of the high-frequency pre-magnetization signal (English: bias), which is only used when recording. The recording / playback head not only receives the audio signal during recording, but also a high-frequency pre-magnetizing signal. That signal is often derived from the signal from the erase head. The strength of that high-frequency signal usually has a fixed value. With "HX PRO", that high-frequency signal is somewhat attenuated with loud audio passages. In this way less distortion occurs with loud sounds, and a stronger audio signal can be put on the tape. This method was devised by Bang & Olufsen and licensed to Dolby, which it called "Dolby HX-Pro".
The majority of type 2 cassettes did not use chromium dioxide . They were cobalt doped ferric cassettes eg TDK SA. The Sony UX you showed I does NOT use chromium dioxide it is a type 2 ferro-cobalt.
Incorrect on the transition to CD. By that time most people on a budget had worked out that a Decent tape deck and tapes were a cheaper way to get decent music. They were already used to using high quality FM signals as a source. Also LP's from Libraries etc. When CD's came out, for most, it was only something your parents could afford. Fortunately the libraries would buy in CD's for shared use. The combination between CD as a source and decent tape was good enough for a lot of people for years. As a teenager I could run vinyl, CD and Tape. I would buy only occasionally Vinyl or Tape as CD's were too expensive.
On 10:31 say, what frequency of BIAS = 40-150 kHz. But my deck have 210 kHz. :) SONY UX-S - not chrome cassette, it's cobalt. Just respond of type 2 for correction and level of BIAS. Many people more like top level cassettes of type 1 (TDK AR-X, SONY HF-Pro and others), than cassettes of type 2, although there are very high quality tapes.
You know what I would hope that there would be some Independence how can I put this entrepreneurs out there that may find a way to develop making cassette decks and blank cassette tapes wouldn't that be interesting
It is stated that there are no longer any cassette tape players manufactured with Dolby. but is China I can usually copy anything why they don't make a copy of Dolby. I mean the function itself. Then there is surely some software for the computer where you can do that. There was also a cassette unit specifically for computers
Good vid. However, dual capstans is a bit of a gimmick, unless you're doing autoreverse that way. I prefer a single capstan, less to go wrong and id doesn't put any strain on the tape itself, less risk of wrinkly tapes if the machine is illadjusted.
For me, with a proper set up and tape, the overall experience is much more engaging than a CD. It is the tape distortion and liveliness that are simply more interesting and IMHO faithful to a live performance...CD to me always sound flat and compressed...as I said many times it is like in photography. When you first see a digital shot you say wow, then you zoom in and see that it is very artificial. With a high quality analog photo you might have less detail as an overall impression but the experience is much better than digital and when you zoom in...it still looks like a photograph!
I love your videos, and I'm now watching this in July 2020. I just really want a great tape deck and good quality tapes to record my vinyl records onto. Any suggestions, my fellow music lovers?? Interestingly, I'm seeing one single TEAC reel blank tape on Ebay for about $140!!! And it's just type 2 position, so it will probably lack in bass reproduction.
Always used TDK metal sometime BSAF metal best result with Nakamichi Dragon and portable the Sony Professional walkman but that was a while ago .Used Reel to Reel as well (TANDBERG&TECHNIC) .But I moved on as I had problems with fungus as I leaving in Bali that has high humidity.!
I bought a used vehicle with roughly 30 cassettes stashed in it. Most say gen 1 and gen 2. Lots of well known people and locations. I would like to listen to them! Some can’t be found on the internet! What would you recommend me to buy? I want to play these and likely won’t ever get any new tapes. I’m getting I to hifi for the first time. Budget for tape deck is $200 (US) or less. Thanks in advance if you’re able to help! Pm if you want to see pictures of the stash!
Look for a 2 or better 3 head deck, serviced/refurbished. Good brands at that price are Nakamichi, Akai, Onkyo, Denon, Pioneer, Aiwa, Dual, Sansui, Sony, and several others. Check the specs not the brand.
If I have to be honest It is a decent machine. The major weakness is the very low frequency response and perhaps there discrete heads. It you enjoy tape with a modest expense you would have a major upgrade.
I started to wonder if the common compact cassette could be used as a digital recording/playing media. I know about the DCC but it would be interesting to see if the cc could be used as a digital audio medium, I wonder how much digital audio information can be compressed on 4,76 cm/sec. tape...they could also buffer it for a few seconds for higher data amount. So...it would be exciting to use common tapes with almost hifi/mp3 quality sound.
![ANA[DIA]LOG](http://yt3.ggpht.com/50CpmGNilS8aoMlarZVhI_GxRDoZdbj4ZgwCMZXg-Rq2PrEvCytlE6RVyLUrNY-rwE_sAlZ1Zw=s48-c-k-c0x00ffffff-no-rj)
DAMN it would be SO NICE if someone started making a bunch of new type II & METAL blank cassettes!!!! Uuugh, that would be some heaven.
Yeah I want to get into cassettes and I was looking at blank cassettes and would like metal but they are way to expensive in my opinion
I record mainly on Type I Normal Position cassettes like the TDK AD90 for example.
It'd be great if manufacturers started making stereo cassette recorders that can use metal and chrome tapes.
@@pcorfdo you find that you can tell a difference between type I and type II?
single cyded ´head machin€Z -: - 24-96??
wow a sqvakey FF aiwa big büttönie??
Very informative, I’m a vinyl buyer and have been for 40 years. However I’m a big user of cassettes and I still get so much pleasure out of making my own compilation albums. Anyway well done on your video.
Thanks Jim!!
0:46 Bring back the cassettes fast, I love audio cassettes, cassette decks, and i listen to them. Iam a vinyl fan too. I love them both.
Physically owning/ collecting Vinyls, cassettes, CDs , Books, and so on is just human! Collecting things is natural, animals and birds do it for what ever reasons. Mankind has done the art of collecting, owning, right from souvenirs, prizes,gifts and the like for ages. It's a go to sort of thing by going through ones collection and taking the right pick to hear music, there's a physical and mental connection, it livens the mood, and mental well being.
On line music is different, you can't see it in form physically, can't collect them,no physical storage, the human element is lacking.
When I was running the cassette duplication department of the recording studio I once operated, I'd always get CrO2 as the tape. The tapes would be produced in real time, usually 5 at a time, on high quality decks, some Sonys and some Teacs, each calibrated for each tape. We charged $7.00 each and everyone was happy.
Fantastic! That is true high fidelity!
The two "external parts" are called "erase tabs". Breaking the tab off prevents recording over the existing recording. If you decide you want to record over the existing recording, you simply put some sticky tape where the tab was and your cassette recorder will now record on that cassette. The extra slots on the Type II and Type IV cassettes are so that the cassette recorder can identify that tape and adjust accordingly.
My grandad got a Sony TC-K61 and a TC-K81 in 1980. The K81 was stolen in a burglary late 80's. He gave my dad the k61 mid 90's and my dad gave it to me at Christmas....even though it only has Dolby B it has type I,II, III and IV. It sounds great.
I stocked up on high grade tapes in the 90s. I'm glad I did. I use Nakamichi cassette decks because there are still some repair shops that stock parts and services them. I also love the way they sound.
Good investment!
Hello,
I want to thank you for reintroducing me to my cassette deck! I have been playing about 75% records and 25% cd’s for the last 4 years. After watching you champion the cassette format I decided to clean the heads and pinch rollers on my Onkyo Integra TA-RW909 that’s in like new condition. I put some battery’s in the units remote-control and enjoy some of the well recorded cassettes that were made about 35 years ago. I put on my Sennheiser HD580 headphones and sat back in a zero gravity chair and hit play button on the remote. First I started tapping my feet then moving my head and before I knew it I was dancing in the chair. WOW... I had forgotten how great a high quality cassette in a high quality tape deck that is properly recorded sounds. Now I have about 100 cassettes that I will reintroduce myself to, thanks to you...lol. It’s time to put another cassette in the deck and I enjoy my new favorite format. A question sir , besides having my machine professionally tuned can you recommend in-between maintenance tips? Many thanks for the educational videos, there super helpful. Also what are your feeling about leaving a cassette in your unit until the next time you use it, the manual does not mention anything about that?
Now this is what I call satisfaction!!! It is fantastic that you started to listen to your cassettes and that you actually enjoyed it! Thank you for informing me!
Coming to your questions, I would say that you should clean uour heads and tape path (NOT the plastic and rubber parts) with isopropyl alcohol, demagnitize these with a proper tool and possibly change the rubber belts for optimal trasport. I will do a video on these aspects in the future.
8:12 wow! It’s one of my favorite films ever. And the soundtrack there is amazing!
bought a 4 track cassette , finally used it after many year's in the box . Sound is real as it gets , pure analog . order new chrome one's out of Japan thru Amazon
Good job Dave!
For the longest time besides radio. My dad's cassette collection was the only format I could listen to at home in my bedroom off my boombox or off my Walkman. So like many others I'm too nostalgic for the return of the format. Still buying cds and now that tapes are coming back I can grow my tape collection some more.
Excellent video you make the valid point at the outset that the compact casssette opens the door to reel to reel appreciation
This section is right up my street I have been using tapes since the 80s right up to today and tomorrow I am stiking with it more FUN for recording pity about chrome & METAL tapes not being sold today
HI Shaun, well the National Audio Company sells good quality chrome cassettes. I ordered a few and in a following video I will analyze them.
Thank you for confirming something I already knew had to be done to the cassette player besides just cleaning the heads and capstans, etc, which is demagnetizing the heads. I've had several people call me NUTS for doing just that.
I've got hundreds of type 2 and 4, which are 20 to 45 years old. And surprisingly, they sound just great on my Nakamichis (2). The Nakamichi will spot the brakes between songs and stop at its beginning. They haven't degraded one bit. On the cheaper ones, type 1, I have to glue back the felt buffer.
VWestlife did a video once, showing how good 50 year old compact cassettes could sound. A lot of them still sounded fantastic :O
Higher end Naks don't need a felt buffer.
Thanks for your video. I have a Tascam 103 manufactured in 1989 and still sounds pretty good!. Unfortunately the industry never massive launched records in metal cassettes, but if the growing trend continues, I think that is probably we have good quality cassettes tapes in the near future. Respect, Leo.
I really hope so Leonardo! I just discovered that Recording the Masters has started to produce a high quality type I cassette: FOX C-60
Very informative video ! Thanks.
Just bought a SONY TC-KA5ES and a bunch of metal cassettes. It has been almost 20 years I haven't played a cassette !!
Looking forward to starting recording my vinyls albums...!
thanx for exploration, i've been recording ( experimenting) my music on tascam digital 24 track, but just purchased yamaha 4 track cassette recorder, and didn't know and wondered about the difference in cassettes
By the late 90s Audio cassette technology was very good precise sound along with Dolby Technology. On a good system or cassette type, recording on cassettes sounds good as CDs. With portable players the cassette was handy than records. That's why the cassette will come back in the 2020s. Thank God I still have my old cassettes, all types of bias and time, 60 to 120!!! Last time I had a boombox was 2002. My portable cassette player, or "Walkman' as ALL were known as, I bought back in in 1998, it's an Aiwa TX401, still works! I just bought a new one on Ebay, Sharp WQ-T354! Got also my cassette cassette looking MP3 player for my car cassette deck I found in one of my boxes at my parents closet!!! And I have Teac duel cassette recorder rack. All set!
Tapes came out in 1962. By 1972 They had progress in Technology and were on the markets to buy with pre recorded music!
Congratulations for your amazing comeback!!!
I grew up on cassettes. I’m starting to prefer them (and CDs) again because I’m tired of losing data in the cloud.
Apple Music Match is a subscription service. You PAY for a song, then you PAY to be able to play that song across all your devices….THEN, when Apple no longer sells the song (aka, “This title is no longer available in your country or region”) they simply delete it from your device and purchase history and no refund. Saving your entire library in physical format is very desirable.
I didn't no that, unbelievable! Thanks for sharing that
16:32 Oh boy i'd LOOOVE to get one of these TDK MA 90 tapes sometimes. Only had the SA-X 90 Chrome equivalent of it. Nice to see they used the same case housing with just a different label print.
I love my Tascam 112 and Pioneer CT-F4242. I love the rackmountability of the Tascam and the lights and analog VU meters of the Pioneer.
Indeed!!
It was a very instruktive and practical lesson of how to distinguish good Qualität cassettes and how to Record on them. Thanks very much for or excellent practical Piece of advice you have given us.
Thank you Abele!
Metal cassettes also have set up the revolution of computer backup tape market ever since. And were actually greatly improved straight for a really high quantity of data which can be stored onto data cartridges of many different formats (DDS/DAT/DLT etc.) while the audio market already phased out for metal tapes. All still existing data tape media today are using metal substrates of highest purity and smallest particles on a very high remanence and coercivity. ( on required bias levels which an audio recorder could no longer handle)
Indeed!
I have the whole cassettes of my dad. They are from 80s and 90s ...
They are so cool ! I love cassettes... its a great feeling to have it and keep it
But I noticed that every cassette is different from the sound ...
Few of them are in good audio quality and other in low quality... can someone help me ?
Thanks for a great video, made me pull out a very good cassette I recorded from a good quality CD. It is the Allman Brothers in1971 , recording called "The Fillmore Concerts", I have a very good Onkyo single well cassette player, it has a single metal player, so no sloppy rubber cassette bands, which can cause all sorts of wow and flutter. The tape is a Fuji type 2 cassette. I loved these tapes, they were very stable, and warm sounding. This sounds plain awesome. I have about 6 or 7 metal tapes, put my best recordings on them.
Cool! Thanks for sharing that Jim! Love the Allman Brothers...
Many Nakamichi decks have spares still available and B&W in Worthing (England) can repair and service these to ‘as new’ condition. Strongly recommended!
I'm still using my 30 year old Sony TC-K950ES, now recording onto Maxell UR Type1 tape; and, I've gotta tell ya, these sound great. I can not distinguish the tape from vinyl.
I agree!
Today i bought this Maxell UR type 1 normal didn't use it yet ......so you are very pleased i see that's good :-)
Badassvidsz I was surprised that the UR seems to exceed performance of UD XL lol. Buy 90 minute, not 60 for taping vinyl.
I'm mostly bying for more than 30 years now 90 min tapes or sometimes i was bying 45 min if i wanted to record an LP only .........you do know most LPs lasts no more than 45 minutes though
That's why I get 90 minute tape @ 45 minutes per side since many of my jazz albums run way over 30 minutes per side. At any rate, I'm very pleased with the UR's, sounding indistinguishable from LP.
Really enjoyed this and learned so much, many thanks 👍
Your are playing a metal cassette on a F770! you have just simply have the best sound!
I have a pioneer Ct-f950 I love it with metal tapes it has VERY high quality recording playback. I also listen to digital and vinyl and I can't tell a difference.
i had the ct-f 650- the tapes it made were very good-pioneer made great decks
A considered and clear rendition of the tape phenomenon... mostly known to those who went through the era but new to those who didn't.
I've just purchased two machines in the last 6 months. a twin deck which has dolby s and a cassette changer ct-m6r that has convenience. I am trying to combine the best of both these by putting the audio from the cassette changer through the audio processing of the dolby S unit. I know that twin decks have a poor reputation however I am more circumspect when it comes to playing cassettes. I look for the best blend of convenience and clarity. So the fact that an auto reverse might affect the azimuth isn't a consideration to me if the result is a more convenient listening experience.
I've heard that 3 heads are better because the head gap is correct for both the recording head and the playback head but it also introduces the possibility of misalignment between record and playback azimuth.
I've found out that there are 3 head cassette players with auto reverse(Akai) which have the record and playback head gaps on the same head ! This removes the possibility of azimuth mismatch between record and play. I've always gone with the 2 heads because most have auto reverse and 3 heads mostly dont.
An interesting point about head gaps is that while the manufacturing capability of tiny head gaps have been increased over the years, the recording head gap plays a much smaller part in the quality of the recording than the playback head gap does in the playback. A salient point is that this means old recordings will sound even better now with newer head gaps as the playback experience has become ever more enhanced through better heads/gaps.
Dolby S is something I'd always look for in a new tape deck. its backwards compatible with dolby B.
I like the auto demag of your aiwa and I'm actually surprised that this feature wasn't put into more models. I have a pen demagnitizer which will have to do for now.
Hi armarra, thank you for your considerations. Very interesting! I have been intoxicated by this passion and now the Aiwa is on sale on eBay and a reached out for a Nakamichi Dragon and a NAD 6300. Excellent machines!
yes these have auto azimut adjust I understand. I'm willing to make the trade off between performance in audio quality and performance in usability because if these are carefully selected then a better listening experience arises. Does the NAK have remote control I wonder ?
Great video, you should try to make a follow up going more in depth, like HX pro, dbx, how to properly calibrate manually and tape biases.
Thanks Command8 for your appreciation and suggestion. I will try to do that in the future!
In the video i uploaded recently i show you how i do it and how people say you should do it. You should record pinknoise in different bias settings and then record it to your computer with audacity and than compare those recordings side by side with the original.
yes, manuel calibration would be great. Imean thats a real issue to go to a technician all the time when youre changing the typology of the tape. We should learn to make that D.I.Y style at home;-)
Great job. Just picked up an F660 for 150US. Hopefully I'll get it running soon. Such a cool looking deck.
Just giving my F770 a bit of TLC, belts replaced, got a new tyre for the idler and that will be job done. Bought the deck in 1989 and with these bits replaced it should be good until I come over all dead! Tape of choice? TDK SA or SAX, sound fantastic, even after thirty years they still sound good. Apart from the quality of the recording I always preferred these to Chrome, chrome is harder, more abrasive and wears heads out faster than cobalt treated ferric. I never tried ferro-chrome so don't know how good they were, but if I remember correctly they were supposed to be less good than chrome or metal.
Hello my friend at ANA(DIA)LOG. I just watched your Video about Cassettes. I have a lot of virgin not opened quality cassettes. Sony 90 min. ceramic, TDK aluminum framed 60min., and some type II and metal. You were talking about the Normal cassette tape that is not good in the TREBLE and even BASS. You are right. But I solved this problem and I am having very good recording on my cassette recorder which is not a high-end machine. But how I am recording? I have very good high quality recording on my TEAC X-3 Reel to Reel. I am recording on my cassette, from my TEAC, onto my JVC cassette recorder using my TEAC's HEADPHONE jack. And I have a great recording. Thank You.
Careful, the headphone jack has a special amp for headphones and you are missing out on the real capabilities of your deck that way!
I still have my Sony Tape-deck from 2001. It's great!
thumbsup. Still have mine as well. TC-K71, one -K81 (bought later as vintage already for pretty cheap and only had to replace one single transistor in the touch control logic circuit to get it back into a working state) and one old collected grundig CF5100 with HIGH-COM (still needs some rework).
Bernd P yes its a great deck👌
I own a Sony TC-V7 deck, it has type 3, autodetects it as well 😊. I don't own a type 3 cassette, but I'd love to test one
Autoreverse can't be that much of a problem, and I'm not including my TC-V7. Some nice decks have 1 or 2 4 track heads (because why the hell wouldn't that be standard) (1 if there's no separate PB and REC head, and 2 if they are separate. The azimuth isn't a problem anymore in this case since the heads font flip. În my deck there is a 2 track head that flips, it's OK, I do own the equipment to calibrate the azimuth, but for the average Joe that could become a problem in time.
As for the dual deck, I agree, that is to preferably be avoided, but in my humble opinion, any decent brand deck is okay. Have the Dolby NR, C is a good one. S is overkill for most of the people, have a single deck or a cassette changer, there are a few good ones that have the cassette changers, and hunt for Autoreverse that has 4 track heads.
And as a message if you're not audiophile, most of the decks will sound okay to you if you never heard something better. I did but I am still happy with my deck even if it's a mid-low range one. Test before concluding and don't take an audiophile's word for it :)
I would've spent much more on my reel to reel if I listened to the audiophile's out there, but mine (Sony TC-377) is a heck of a great reel to reel at a fraction of the price of an audiophile approved one
I lost my love for cassettes when we got CDs and again I'm going for cassettes almost after two decades. I got a good deal for a Yamaha KX-580SE and a Yamaha K-1D. I don't want to buy both units and very difficult to select a one. What would you prefer from those decks?
Simpky the one with better specs if you can't audition them. In decks it's more important than today's stuff.
Auto demagntization is not going to be found in other decks so I wouldn't mention that as a must have. The rest was well presented for newbies to the medium.
Yes, I agree Dean. Made a mistake there! Very rare feature indeed.
What you are trying to explain is signal modulation 😇 since you can't record low frequency signals because.. Reasons, you need a high frequency (aka Bias) to modulate the audio signal, it's basically FM Radio technology, only with a much lower carrier frequency. If you replaced the head with an antenna and put a radio tuned to the bias frequency near it, you'd hear the music. Also the graphic representation is inaccurate, the bias doesn't add with the audio signal, it's amplitude (vertical size) stays at its initial value, it only gets attenuated in sync with the audio. Only decks with a modulation stage with built in amplifier actually adds the signals together. Same technique is used in any kind of magnetic recording.
Playback is like tuning into the station; it amplifies the signal from the head and passes it through a low pass filter, removing the carrier and forwarding only the audio. As I said, FM Radio technology. The bias is only there while recording and storing the audio. It's absent in the input and playback stages
If your buying these old tapes your doing it for the nostalgia the higher quality tapes don't have has much hiss to them which is a big part of that not to mention that with the right equipment you can make type 1 cassettes sound just as good as type 2 if not very close
Of course.. check my other tape vids, you will see that I am right there, and beyond: ruclips.net/p/PLDKsdsTBptr477KwjoZyMlCc8Yvjplijw
Hopefully they'll come back strong enough that they will actually start making new blank tapes and new cassette players and recorders
🤞
Maxell UR type 1 are still being made. And a few companies are making custom runs.
Teac/Tascam still making decks but expensive.
Back in late 80s and early 90s I'd buy a box of 10 Maxell Chrome tapes for $30-40.
Today I buy one of those, from the same time, for the same amount!
type 1 (normal) tapes are still made in the USA, France, Netherlands, UK and Maxell still makes them.
Nope! There are old pancakes. Now Recording the Masters (Mulann industries) are bsck in production. Maxell are probably old pancakes as well. Recently The US National Company as just started again, up untill now they where using old tape...
@@anadialog the Maxell UR - these are made in Indonesia by a company called Panggung..
In the Netherlands you can buy new tapes with tape from Recording the Masters. www.debandjesfabriek.nl/
Saehan (korea) is making new tape too. shmedia.en.ec21.com/Audio--730425_730462.html
And NAC ruclips.net/video/4QL9g72FMAE/видео.html
before I start I must say I am a big cassette tape lover ever since, I began listening to music. The truth and reality is I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news and it's not my intention to burst your bubble, but records, CD's Cassette Tapes, Reel to Reel Tapes, 8 Tapes, mini disk. All these old medias especially Cassette Tapes will never come back, into the main stream. they are all gone forever. They may not be quite dead, but the main problem is streaming. Streaming is a more practical way to consume audio and visuals not media. Though I do enjoy your channel, so please keep making. I still consume music on cassettes, so i do find your channel and yes I own three Nakamishi tape decks along with TEAC, Kenwood, Sony, Technics tape players and if I see any more top decks, iwould try to acquire them. I'm just trying to keep it real.
They said the same thing of vinyl ;-)
My favorite tape to record on is a Maxell UDII 90 extended range, low distortion tape...
youz full inn formation ! Tanks ! ;)
No! 15 days since this video I have yet to contact Maxell. Corporation.but thanks again
I love my pioneer cts-830s cassette deck.. Record to maxwell or tdk chrome or metal tapes with dolby s and it records sound rich & full in detail.. Sounds awesome!!!
Yeah!! I bet!!
I 've got a SHARP SG 222 BLACK FACE STEREO from 1986.And it works wonderfully .Cassette,turntable and receiver.Plays all types of cassettes and sound great.200watts rms
Pre Fostexs 4 track recording my first recording was at and with Emerald Sound Recording on Basic Cassette tape from Modules with an sound engineer I worked around .at his house I played this recording " Out From the dark side Into Gods Kingdom of Light" and also all the first interest in cassette tape itself I would look at the lines and found the stripes on the ribbon contains the track running on the head right? I like the older BSF tapes and experimented with Fostex recording but in the 70' s. Reel to reel tape...what a reverb nightmare for me and had a great time playing cassettes I still have some the engineer chart on back of these were what for illiterate mike ? Then now I'm watching you on RUclips.
Thanks for sharing your experience Michael!
A double capstan system is probably the most important feature for tape azimuth and the best sound, IMHO.
Normal bias tapes have bad treble response (compared to chrome type 2 tapes) when played in low to mid end decks, but with a good quality machine, (Dragon, Revox,, etc.) they can sound just as good as type 2 tape. I even prefer them for certain genres of music.
interesting video! and very well explained....I have all my music that I composed on cassettes....I will digitize them to make them immortal, that is the great advantage of the digital age....on the other side digital killed the story...now you listen single tracks, picking up just the best part, the part you love...but a story need also boring parts, but very important as well....to tell a real story you need time, wonderful parts but also boring and ugly parts....and digital killed this important part.....
Raul after what you have written, you must see this: ruclips.net/video/_CR02Ol050c/видео.html
Remember that each medium is tied to its gear. This means that a format is 'immortal' as long as it can be reproduced!
Those Maxell UR Normal Bias tapes are AMAZING.
I grew up using tapes as a kid/teen, so I have spent a lot of time (and money )on them and feel I've come to know the good from the bad, in regards to brand, bias type, durations, etc.
I must say, Maxell did something amazing to make those UR tapes sound so good for a Normal bias. Great output, nice sound, and they even have a sturdy construction with their all-clear shells and transparent components allowing the entire reel of tape to be visible.
My only complaint of those UR tapes is the limited capacities.
I have seen different durations from different brands, which created conflict for a guy like me who wanted to keep his tapes consistent - use the same brand and the same bias, while finding the best-fit length of tape for whatever program I was mixing.
UR is pretty good, you got you standard 60 and 90 minutes, and I think they may even have made 100 minute lengths, but they also were the first brand to finally match Sony's HF tapes (a normal bias that wasn't very good for fidelity output) of a 120 minute length. I used the Sony HFs for years only because of the 120 minute capacity. Then Maxell comes along, with a nice Normal tape, 120 mins, and it SOUNDED GREAT. And the clear/transparent design made it look sleek as well, which I really liked because I could make my own index labels and insert them INSIDE the shell, so they could be seen but also protected.
Oh, if only they could have also made 80 minute (which I've only ever seen from TDK in chrome bias), some 110 minute, and even some of those random "CD-friendly" lengths that Sony's "CD-it" (chrome only) line put out ; 54, 74, and 94 minutes. Oh, and perhaps resurrect some of the shorter lengths form the 70s, like the 15 and 30 minutes, for those early albums and EPs that rarely exceeded 30 mins, and 45 minutes for the "average" run of a full-length album of the times.
It'd be fantastic if ONE brand (Maxell) produced ONE bias (UR Normal Type I) that could cover all those lengths :
C-10, C-15, C-30, C-45, C-50, C-54, C-60, C-74, C-80, C-90, C-94, C-100, C-110, C-120.
Thanks for sharing your experience...I am not a big fan of the UR but I do see the convenience...
Don't forget the TDK D 120 tape, it sounds similar good to the maxell UR tapes.
@@Christian-fu8vx
I loved the TDK D series, but I never had a 120 min from them. The highest II could get on a TDK D was 90 min.
Before the Maxell UR tapes came along ,the only 120 min lengths I could find were the Sony HF Type I, which were okay but were not great of playback output, sounded a little dull.
There are a few manufacturers of analog cassette tapes left around the world but the good thing is that they are still exist and supposedly analog tapes and R2R tapes are back and there are a few R2R manufacturers that would like to make a comeback if there are enough sales to make. I still listen to cassette tapes and still record on them as it is fun for me to do so and also listen to however i must admit that time is very crucial for me and as i am aging with all the things i need to handle in life recording takes lots of time and by the time i do it i already know all the tracks on that particular tape so listening to it again will have to wait for a while to leave enough time to forget mostly the order and the tracks recorded on it ;)
He he...true! Recording the Masters started to produce also HQ type 1 cassettes at a low price...
I've said this on other cassette videos, get an a dsp or equalizer or a DSP equalizer (they are different) a cassette deck with Cobalt amorphous heads (these decks were manufactured at the end of the era),all of this will give you today's sound , at least CD quality, lossless quality is much much better, but for archiving purposes you will not be disappointed.
OG thank you for your experience and suggestion! Sounds reasonable.
5 yr old video...are cassettes still being used in 2022.? I’m getting back into them in the last year.
Hell yeah! I did a bunch of other videos on the topic. Here is the playlist: ruclips.net/p/PLDKsdsTBptr477KwjoZyMlCc8Yvjplijw
Further test results from the music brand
label SM L.T.D. B220 Leb. For this, a reverence recording was made by an
independent Thon studio using a DAT (Digital Audio Tape) (D) (D) (D) WAW 44.1
16 byte, noise value of vu -100 db. between track 1 and track2, through
track12, and a stampe CD WAW 44.1 16 bytes worth of vu -100 db. between track 1
and track2, until track12 used by Deldec as a set point all titles were with
(D) (D) (D) Say super transparency and synthetic trebles and bass what noise
value and dynamics are concerned. It was up to the music label SM L.T.D. B220
Leb. Whether one manufactures the LP analogue or digitally on CD basis CD ''74
/ 80' 'CD-ROM audio 74/80 min. WAW 44.1 16 byte). The tests showed that you can
delete the medium analogue LP (Vinyl-LP) and can replace it with a digital
medium, so by a DLC-LP on CD basis CD ''74 / 80' 'CD-ROM audio 74/80 min. WAW
44.1 16 bytes). Therefore, the CD became a better playback medium than the
analog LP. Classified. The CD-based DLC-LP has a Ladin track 10 sec. Data track
(30 to 47 min. Audio), Ladout track 10 sec., Like the analogue LP. Ladin track,
data track, (Audio track1 to track12 A + B side) Ladout track). With the DLC-LP
on CD basis within the data track (30 to 47 min. Audio) there is no track
split, (from track1 to track12) the tracks; from track1 to track 12 are without
marking (wallet split) all other specifications of the DLC-LP on CD-based sound
a CD WAW 44.1 16 bytes so that the digital medium in the CD player / DVD player
/ BD player playable is. (Setup of a CD-based DLC-LP CD ''74 / 80''is: [Ladin
track 10 sec / data track, 30 to 47 min. Audio / Ladout track 10 sec.]) Further
test results MD (below) follow Sony) DCC (Philips / DCC Emi-Electrola): Literally,
Sony Music and Emi-Electrola have fallen out with each digital media: Stampe-MD
(Sony Music) 44.1 16 Byte Sony Music overrides vu +1 db. and stumbling bass
(limping bass as data would be missing) in comparison with a CD Sony music WAW
44.1 16 bytes, the same artist was the MD (Sony music) 44.1 16 bytes rather bad
the recording were rather poppy. (Demo took place at Sony L.D.T. Switzerland)
used Demo Stampe-MD Sony Music (interpreter Maikel Jackson). (DCC Philips) DCC
Emi-Electrola 44.1 16-byte output with highest level vu -1 Db / - + 0Db Noise
value of vu -40 Db. between track 1 and track2, to track12 noise value too high
for a digital medium that is not in an acceptable range. The individual
frequencies controlled to the last point (massively compressed) for a DCC very
bad! Emi-Electrola is better at proofing the recording of CDs. Test place
independent music house, used demo DCC Emi-Electrola (interpreter Roger
Whittaker) If one compares the recording of (DCC Philips) DCC Polygram one
makes a clear difference regarding the quality, super transparency, noise value
and dynamics. With DCC Polygram there is in comparison (analog medium ALC-MC)
(digital medium DCC / CD / DAT) super transparency in terms of noise value and
dynamics. No differences the DCC sounds like an analog ALC-MC with a noise
value of vu -100 db between track 1 and track2, up track12 side A + B and also
shows the quality, super transparency and synthetic treble and bass what noise
value and the Dynamics of: / CD / DAT on! Despite data reduction factor 4 or
factor 5 (data compression factor 4 or factor5) due to less memory space. DCC
Polygram Performer Johan Sebastian Bach) This example shows clearly who made
the house and who did not do what the music quality on the new media MD (Sony)
/ DCC (Philips). PS. Compare yourself and you'll see who offers good quality or
poor quality in terms of media, be it analog or digital (MC / DCC / CD / DAT).
Google Übersetzer
(enlisch)Google translator
(english)
Would it perhaps be fair to say that Type IV pre-recorded cassettes - should they become available in quantity - might provide the finest possible audio playback when played back on suitable decks of the highest quality?. (I know there are $450.00 2-track 15 ips reel-to-reel tapes on 10.5" reels that have become available and they may well be finer still). When you discussed what to look for when buying a cassette deck, one of the first things I'd want to know would be the condition of the heads - and I'd expect an honest answer from the seller!! If the heads are badly worn it might no longer be possible to obtain replacements.
Yes, I wish they would make them!
I am spoiled, after 6 month-experience with reel to reel tape recording - far better that the stuff discussed in this video.
True, but not too far! In any case I have covered reel to reel at length. Start here (4track) if you haven't seen my vids: ruclips.net/video/EnUhGjc_Er8/видео.html
And proceed here (2 track): ruclips.net/video/Yly9Ubzs5iY/видео.html
And finally here: ruclips.net/video/2FmJnYmHOcA/видео.html
About 15 years ago Richer Sounds in the UK were selling Nakamichi DR8`s.9`s and 10`s for about £200 to £300 brand new. I bought 2. I wish I`d bought 20.
Me too!!
I still use my cassettes and 8 tracks. They sound great.
Bravo!
Hi, i like your review. I have a nakamichi cassette deck2 in an excellent condition. My opinion is that i enjoy it more than digital media. My ears grab frequencies never been noticed throu digital recordings i.e cd.
I agree! The overall engagement is just superior IMHO
Thanks much I'm contacting MAXELL Corporation for this MX-S 60. Wear out the heads ? Checking I have this kit blue tape no ribbon came with a small blue plastic bottle with cleaner I take and apply it to the pads run forward. And reverse. But need something cause in running out looking at the ingredients .Amen. Great video man and thumbs up ok Audio ...s
Thanks!!
love tape
At 11:02 did you say "the downside is that there's a lack of fish? FYI: Bass is pronounced as "Base" ...in this case. "Bass" (rhyming with ass) is a deep sea fish. Sorry to be such a pendant and point out this one tiny error in an otherwise wonderful video! Thanks for sharing this info with us all. It was very informative and I'm truly grateful to have learned something new.
I know I always make that mistake. I am mainly Italian so I mispronounce several words. Sorry about that.
I've always had highest quality audio I've owned some recordings that sounded better than any other source the vocals usually sound better on cassette than digital
Type 1 or Type 4 are the only way to go. Type 4 is a cost issue for me but I have plenty of professional quality Type 1 cassettes for recording and a reverberater. I never let go of the cassette, not because I'm living in the past but because it is better quality. They never put a CD in a cartridge like a zip or floppy disk and it never lasted as it scratched easily. And I really can't take digital sound. That reverberater helps me give digital recorded music a wholesome sound with depth and is used when I record on a cassette.
I understand the higher fidelity in Type 2 but in my own experience the sound is flat like a CD and it dirtys up the tape machine pretty quickly.
Some type 1 tapes are better than Metal; for example TDK AR-X.
I actualy like mete.l (type 4) My problem with chrome (type 2) is that it sounds flat like a CD and it dirtys up a tape machine pretty fast. I am an analog sound diehard. Type 4 was great in another time but now I can only find those on e-bay and the cost is a little too much for me. I did however buy professional quality type 1. And I am just fortunate enough to own a Pioneer tape deck from 1980 and I make pretty nice cassettes. I prefer type 4 but have setteled for type 1 as long as it was professional quality. Anything less just won't cut it.
Interesting point!
Type 1 pro, what brand?
PS taking away the whole debate of what sounds better, physical mediums like tape are just exciting and fun to collect.
I listen to records, I listen to high quality wavs/ flacs, I listen to spotify and I listen to tapes. It's all good fun. I do enjoy natural tape distortion and limiting (and so do many other audio engineers, even digital releases use these methods of saturation) but I don't think it makes it objectively better than Digital from a pure "quality" standpoint. But there is a sonic magic to it.
True...I would add, too bad producers and engineeres rape digital media instead of using this tool with intelligence! Hence, for now, digital looses big time, and vinyl was brought back to life thanks to this nonsense...
With all that information on the different types in mind, which type of tape would you recommend for daily recording? Any specific names would be appreciated a lot!
I would love to see CRTs make a comeback.
Excellent video, i just do not agree entirely on your claim that all double decks where bad. I used an Akai HX-A451W from 2012 until 2015 and even used n.o.s. TDK D120 cassettes to tape 1 hour radio shows and that sounded excellent. It was sold by Akai in 1987. I played these cassettes recorded from 2012 until 2015 recently and they still sound the same. Some might say it's not hifi, but it really sounds good, even with Ferro tape. I did not use dolby NR. These TDK D120 cassettes where concidered inferiour, but the last ones made where really good. I still have maybe 250 pieces of those. TDK D cassettes. This Akai deck HX-A451W where apparently very good for TDK D cassettes.
+bonno666, congrats for your experience and thank you for your comment. Yes, I agree with you, not all doubledecks are bad, but you do need to know what to look for becase a lot of them were very bad! Good to know about the Akai TDK combination!
I subbed at the word *analog*.
what the hell is that high pitched noise in the background? its incredibly annoying...
It's tape hiss.
haven't noticed it until i read your comment. now i can't unhear it. thanks alot. :D
I think its his son/daughter
It’s the first thing I noticed and I had to stop watching, sorry
@@jimflys2It was nakashit-mishi hissing at the background. Aiwa is a nakakiller.Go watch price comparison,and see the light. I have that same ADF-770, and what a GEM. Looking for at 990- to find..from somewhere....
Hi folks . I only had 3 pre-recorded tapes . Just the past 5 years the binder dried up and the tape shed the oxide . Garbage .But of the 350 cassettes that i do have are Maxell ,TDK , Sony , BASF and Memorex in all varieties of oxide types . The tapes date from 1998 to 2010 . While I recorded all of these tapes ,and continue to play them . My point is that these brand name tapes are not shedding their oxides . It seems that the binders are much more stable . That's my two cents worth . But since 1998 I've worn out 4 decks and i am in need of more decks . Any suggestions ?
Right here: ruclips.net/video/F3Bv7EUhSy8/видео.html
For dried binders: ruclips.net/video/ov9frNzqrhU/видео.html
I need to raise a flag about twin decks. Twin decks are cool (and when I bought my tape deck a couple of years ago I went for a twin deck) because if one goes out of order, you stilll have the other deck. This is one point I considered when buying a second-hand tape deck in 2014 (or maybe 2015) because there were no more good-quality tape decks being produced (still the same in 2018). Not that because I have any intention to dub (copy) one tape to another now in 2010s; just in order to have a spare deck in case one goes out of order. Auto-reverse is also cool to me. With an auto-reverse twin-deck, you can go for a 3-hour (2 x 90 min) "almost" non-stop music playback. Also with auto-reverse, you have one key advantage (in my experience): If the head alignment does not fit in one play direction, it may fit in the opposite direction (Here I'm not talking about hi-end decks with calibration capability). In this way, you can find a compromise for head alignment for most of your cassette tapes, plus, if you have a twin-deck your chances are doubled. Back to twin-decks... One of the decks is for playback only, and the other one plays and records. If, in year 2018, you are still interested in recording on tapes (for example me; I want to copy some of my LPs onto tapes "if I can find hi-quality (chrome) tapes at reasonable prices") then you can dedicate the recording deck to recording only and save the head from playback wear. All and all, twin-deck auto-reverse decks give you more options :)
take a shot everytime this guy says "typology"
A great idea.... if you fancy dying of alcohol poisoning.
@kingblonde If we had we would have been drunk enough to miss him say bass as in the fish to describe low frequencies at 11:11. I think we're good here.
I am mainly Italian so I make some mistakes and mispronounce some words. Sorry about that.
@@anadialog no worries!
@@anadialog I was wondering where you were from!
Maxell UR is about the only new old tapes I can find. They are not bad with some tweaking the bias and using some EQ 1 octave . Pretty flat til 16 k .
Yep! Those are the only new tapes i can find to... sad.
Still being made today and can sound pretty good
HDXFH I would prefer high bias tapes flat to 20k .
indeed but at least, for a type1 tape, these are at least capable of handling high volumes pretty well. Was really surprised how high you can turn up the recording levels on the current UR type series.
In my experience, the TDK D can handle a little bit more energy (sometimes with high bias calibration they can handle +6) than the Maxel without clipping distortion; but they are more expensive and rare. @@KRAFTWERK2K6
Thank you 🎵
The Japanese equivalent FF70B was sold fore ¥84800 back in 1986. If you put that into inflation calculator. It will be at around 2400 USD nowadays. Which is incredible.
But locally in Japan here. Inflation rate is relatively low. ¥85000 only comes into ¥100000 now.
Wow!
Good video, though you didn't mention the tape color as a distinguishing feature.
Hi geetarbube, you are right...I did so here though: ruclips.net/video/EnUhGjc_Er8/видео.html
"Dolby HX pro" is fairly important as well! You will get "Hotter" recordings with extended dynamic range, even on high quality ferric cassettes!
Of course! But that is more something related to recording and reproduction...I Will get back to this and other juicy cassette aspects!
Apparently HX Pro was just a sales gimmick. As long as you have the bias set correctly it makes no difference. Nakamichi refused to use it
Well, Hx pro helps those that do not know how or have the right ear to set bias properly. Tandberg for exampke did use it and I must admit that pre-recorded cassetes that have it are usually better.
The Kenwood KX9010 and the Yamaha KX-1200U have HXpro and have the same Sankyo DD motor dual capstan transport as a Nakamichi CR-3/CR4 decks and they use hi-quality amorphous combi-head and good circuits in these decks.
"HX PRO" stands for "Headroom Extension" and is an electronic control of the high-frequency pre-magnetization signal (English: bias), which is only used when recording.
The recording / playback head not only receives the audio signal during recording, but also a high-frequency pre-magnetizing signal. That signal is often derived from the signal from the erase head. The strength of that high-frequency signal usually has a fixed value. With "HX PRO", that high-frequency signal is somewhat attenuated with loud audio passages. In this way less distortion occurs with loud sounds, and a stronger audio signal can be put on the tape. This method was devised by Bang & Olufsen and licensed to Dolby, which it called "Dolby HX-Pro".
The majority of type 2 cassettes did not use chromium dioxide . They were cobalt doped ferric cassettes eg TDK SA. The Sony UX you showed I does NOT use chromium dioxide it is a type 2 ferro-cobalt.
Yup, because it was property of BASF-AGFA. To me the Japanese cobalt doped sound is better.
Incorrect on the transition to CD. By that time most people on a budget had worked out that a Decent tape deck and tapes were a cheaper way to get decent music. They were already used to using high quality FM signals as a source. Also LP's from Libraries etc. When CD's came out, for most, it was only something your parents could afford. Fortunately the libraries would buy in CD's for shared use. The combination between CD as a source and decent tape was good enough for a lot of people for years. As a teenager I could run vinyl, CD and Tape. I would buy only occasionally Vinyl or Tape as CD's were too expensive.
On 10:31 say, what frequency of BIAS = 40-150 kHz. But my deck have 210 kHz. :)
SONY UX-S - not chrome cassette, it's cobalt. Just respond of type 2 for correction and level of BIAS.
Many people more like top level cassettes of type 1 (TDK AR-X, SONY HF-Pro and others), than cassettes of type 2, although there are very high quality tapes.
Nice video, thanks. Cassettes is still nice formatt however nowadays music streaming services and hardware have reached very high point of development
You know what I would hope that there would be some Independence how can I put this entrepreneurs out there that may find a way to develop making cassette decks and blank cassette tapes wouldn't that be interesting
I wish!
It is stated that there are no longer any cassette tape players manufactured with Dolby. but is China I can usually copy anything why they don't make a copy of Dolby. I mean the function itself. Then there is surely some software for the computer where you can do that. There was also a cassette unit specifically for computers
Good vid. However, dual capstans is a bit of a gimmick, unless you're doing autoreverse that way. I prefer a single capstan, less to go wrong and id doesn't put any strain on the tape itself, less risk of wrinkly tapes if the machine is illadjusted.
Very helpful for me, thanks sir!
+Pipen Depu thank YOU!
Simply stated, CDs, Vinyl, and Reel to Reel (at 7-1/2 ips or more) all offer superior fidelity.
With a good deck, a good metal or even chrome tape, the experience offeted by audio cassettes can equal or beat CD quality IMHO
I wonder, in what way(s)?
For me, with a proper set up and tape, the overall experience is much more engaging than a CD. It is the tape distortion and liveliness that are simply more interesting and IMHO faithful to a live performance...CD to me always sound flat and compressed...as I said many times it is like in photography. When you first see a digital shot you say wow, then you zoom in and see that it is very artificial. With a high quality analog photo you might have less detail as an overall impression but the experience is much better than digital and when you zoom in...it still looks like a photograph!
I love your videos, and I'm now watching this in July 2020. I just really want a great tape deck and good quality tapes to record my vinyl records onto. Any suggestions, my fellow music lovers?? Interestingly, I'm seeing one single TEAC reel blank tape on Ebay for about $140!!! And it's just type 2 position, so it will probably lack in bass reproduction.
Welcome aboard! Soon I'll make a dedicated video on the topic!
@@anadialog Sounds good.
Always used TDK metal sometime BSAF metal best result with Nakamichi Dragon and portable the Sony Professional walkman but that was a while ago .Used Reel to Reel as well (TANDBERG&TECHNIC) .But I moved on as I had problems with fungus as I leaving in Bali that has high humidity.!
😂 Gee!
17:44 type iii has the two holes on the middle but no holes near the write protect hole
I bought a used vehicle with roughly 30 cassettes stashed in it. Most say gen 1 and gen 2. Lots of well known people and locations. I would like to listen to them! Some can’t be found on the internet! What would you recommend me to buy? I want to play these and likely won’t ever get any new tapes. I’m getting I to hifi for the first time. Budget for tape deck is $200 (US) or less. Thanks in advance if you’re able to help! Pm if you want to see pictures of the stash!
Look for a 2 or better 3 head deck, serviced/refurbished. Good brands at that price are Nakamichi, Akai, Onkyo, Denon, Pioneer, Aiwa, Dual, Sansui, Sony, and several others. Check the specs not the brand.
My tape deck doesn't meet all the standards you put up there, but it sure does deliver good quality for a start!
The autodemag, is very rare ( don't consider that)....what deck do you have?
I have a Sony TC-W170 Dual deck.
If I have to be honest It is a decent machine. The major weakness is the very low frequency response and perhaps there discrete heads. It you enjoy tape with a modest expense you would have a major upgrade.
ana[dia]log I am planning for a upgrade, and i'll get it when I can. But for $10 this machine is great.
😱😱😱😱😱 10$!!?? Then it is a GREAT machine!!!!
I would say, the only auto-reverse audiophile deck is ironically, probably the BEST deck every produced! You know it well, my friend. :)
True...but that is the classical exception to the rule!
Let me guess... Nakamichi?
I started to wonder if the common compact cassette could be used as a digital recording/playing media. I know about the DCC but it would be interesting to see if the cc could be used as a digital audio medium, I wonder how much digital audio information can be compressed on 4,76 cm/sec. tape...they could also buffer it for a few seconds for higher data amount. So...it would be exciting to use common tapes with almost hifi/mp3 quality sound.
Well, your best option IMO is DAT! You can easily surpass CD quality with DAT.
im useing a yamaha kx-650 and it sounds just as good as cd lol...its a 3 head deck.
Very useful video. Before reading further I almost sense a Scandinavian accent.
Italian!
I prefer cassette tapes for recording over a DVR .
The recordings aren't compartmentalized on cassette .They flow freely when playing back .