Cassettes

[Galileo]

I've recently started getting master copies of tapes made to cassette, which are physically smaller and more affordable than two-track 15 ips R2R tape. Not everyone believes me, but the sound comes shockingly close to that "tape magic" you get from R2R in something as simple as an un modified Nakamichi CR-3A although I also have a Dragon. I had wanted the R2R of Jacintha's "Autumn Leaves" but ran out of money and room, so got a copy from the last set of dubs of Patricia Barber's "Café Blue" and am otherwise collecting cassettes and vinyl LPs as well as CDs plus high-resolution PCM downloads, at least for now.

[JCOConnell]

The problem with cassette is it is noisy without noise reduction and adding noise reduction causes new problems.

[MylesBAstor]

I've recently started getting master copies of tapes made to cassette, which are physically smaller and more affordable than two-track 15 ips R2R tape. Not everyone believes me, but the sound comes shockingly close to that "tape magic" you get from R2R in something as simple as an un modified Nakamichi CR-3A although I also have a Dragon. I had wanted the R2R of Jacintha's "Autumn Leaves" but ran out of money and room, so got a copy from the last set of dubs of Patricia Barber's "Café Blue" and am otherwise collecting cassettes and vinyl LPs as well as CDs plus high-resolution PCM downloads, at least for now.

Thirty years ago, a recording engineer gave me a Steve Earle cassette directly copied from one of his master tapes. It was shockingly good. Of course we tend to forget just how awfully made those cassettes were. High speed duped from crappy sources. So yeah, I'm sure they could shock some people. Not to mention, most cassette machines really needed to have their heads aligned.

[Bruce B]

As good as my Dragon is, it's no match for the R2R Studers!! Not even close.... and I've tried.

[JCOConnell]

I used to do a lot of home recording on both cassette and reel to reel ( no longer, I now record digitally with the pc ). Even using metal tape with cassette vs 7.5 ips reel to reel, the cassette always seemed like it was a little strained while the reel was effortless.

[JackD201]

I never had a cassette deck in the same zip code as a Dragon. Used my Mom's ReVox when I could. I even went with costly metal tapes to record onto. Commercial tapes here were a disaster. Just shoot me bad. I elected to record from LP. It was what MP3 is for me today, just for convenience. I remember bitching about sound quality along with my cousins. We came up with a funny theory that Cassettes were the reason stereos in the 80s all sprouted graphic equalizers and that people started that flying V pattern on them. Come to think of it, that might have actually been the case.

[MylesBAstor]

"Flying Vee!" Know what you are referring to but never knew it had a name! 👍

[JackD201]

A friend who owns a chain of gas stations actually named them Flying V as an inside joke. LOL.

[JCOConnell]

Flying Vee is a famous electric guitar body from the fifties

[Galileo]

The problem with cassette is it is noisy without noise reduction and adding noise reduction causes new problems.

It's not as noisy as you might think, depending on how you record and playback the cassettes.

[Galileo]

I never had a cassette deck in the same zip code as a Dragon. Used my Mom's ReVox when I could. I even went with costly metal tapes to record onto. Commercial tapes here were a disaster. Just shoot me bad. I elected to record from LP. It was what MP3 is for me today, just for convenience. I remember bitching about sound quality along with my cousins. We came up with a funny theory that Cassettes were the reason stereos in the 80s all sprouted graphic equalizers and that people started that flying V pattern on them. Come to think of it, that might have actually been the case.

I actually bought a lot of commercially produced cassettes off of eBay and have gotten fabulous sound but, again, following the technically correct playback settings does not produce the best sonic results and I am using three-head decks one of which has auto playback alignment on a per-cassette-side basis,

[ack]

As good as my Dragon is, it's no match for the R2R Studers!! Not even close.... and I've tried.

My Dragon is no match for my B77 either - both tuned and in top condition... cassettes, up to a point

[JCOConnell]

A cassette recorded hard with metal tape can probably match reel to reel with standard tape at 3 3/4 ips but who uses only 3 3/4 ips on reel to reel anymore? At 7.5 or 15 ips on reel to reel with standard tape, its no contest.

[Garth]

I am still pulling for 8 tracks you can buy a whole garbage bag full for a dollar. They are coming back every thing else did.

[Galileo]

A cassette recorded hard with metal tape can probably match reel to reel with standard tape at 3 3/4 ips but who uses only 3 3/4 ips on reel to reel anymore? At 7.5 or 15 ips on reel to reel with standard tape, its no contest.

Respectfully, I disagree. First, I think Chromium Dioxide tape sounds better than metal. Secondly, I don't use the playback decoding and EQ settings the way you're supposed to. The result is that a cassette dubbed from a master tape sounds as close to a live microphone feed as my two track, 15 ips tapes do.

[Galileo]

I never had a cassette deck in the same zip code as a Dragon. Used my Mom's ReVox when I could. I even went with costly metal tapes to record onto. Commercial tapes here were a disaster. Just shoot me bad. I elected to record from LP. It was what MP3 is for me today, just for convenience. I remember bitching about sound quality along with my cousins. We came up with a funny theory that Cassettes were the reason stereos in the 80s all sprouted graphic equalizers and that people started that flying V pattern on them. Come to think of it, that might have actually been the case.

This is slightly off topic, but I used Double Advents in the late 70s, which sounded shockingly good for the money even according to the old TAS, and I tried to calibrate them with a ten band graphic equalizer, in fact I tried two different ten band graphic equalizers. The results were always the same: everything below 1kHz stayed relatively flat but beyond that, as you reached towards 20kHz, the amount of boost just went up and up and up. I think the charm of most of the Advent loudspeakers (except for the Advent/3) was their ability to act as a natural low-pass filter.

[JCOConnell]

Respectfully, I disagree. First, I think Chromium Dioxide tape sounds better than metal. Secondly, I don't use the playback decoding and EQ settings the way you're supposed to. The result is that a cassette dubbed from a master tape sounds as close to a live microphone feed as my two track, 15 ips tapes do.

cassette has way more wow and flutter and a lower S/N ratio than 15 ips open reel tape

[Galileo]

cassette has way more wow and flutter and a lower S/N ratio than 15 ips open reel tape

I don't think it has to do with technical specifications. I think it has to do with what moves you.