Cassette better than CD

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by Lashing, May 23, 2015.

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  1. SoporJoe

    SoporJoe Forum Resident

    Location:
    British Columbia
    I bet he's not trolling. That's the sad thing.
     
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  2. Dennis Metz

    Dennis Metz Born In A Motor City south of Detroit

    Location:
    Fonthill, Ontario
    No it won't
     
  3. AudiophilePhil

    AudiophilePhil Senior Member

    Location:
    San Diego, CA
    I have a home-made cassette with music copied from vinyl.
    I have a CD of the same music but maybe from a different mastering.
    Obviously the mastering is different because the sound of the source vinyl is better than its CD counterpart.
    The recorded music on metal cassette still sound better than the thin sounding CD of the same music but different mastering.

    It boils down to mastering and not the recording medium.

    So, when I'm away from home and listening to a nice car stereo, I prefer listening to the cassette than the CD.
     
  4. Smiths22

    Smiths22 Well-Known Member

    I destroyed the last 2 cassettes i still owned last year (2014). Once was available on iTunes so i bought it and i keep an mp3 rip of the other...
     
  5. Luca

    Luca Wolf under sheep clothing

    Location:
    Torino, Italy
    I have two copies of that double LP... :laugh:
     
  6. cwitt1980

    cwitt1980 Senior Member

    Location:
    Carbondale, IL USA
    There's something a little fascinating with cassettes and which ones sound better and all that jive. I've never had a great set up for listening but certainly some of the nicer quality tapes have a good sound to them. I can't think of too many examples of a cassette sounding better than a cd. My old Badfinger No Dice 1990's issue sounded really good on cassette. I never compared it though.

    However, I will prefer to multitrack while recording on a high bias cassette (if no r2r is available) rather than on any digital platform.
     
  7. sunspot42

    sunspot42 Forum Resident

    Location:
    San Francisco
    Cassette can sound pretty good. With Dolby S, on metal tape, in a quality deck you could make a dub of a CD that was hard to distinguish from the original, which is impressive for a format that began life as dictation media.

    And a decade before Dolby S, DBX could also make for impressive-sounding cassettes, although it was a bit more finicky and sadly never really caught on.
     
  8. nitsuj

    nitsuj Forum Resident

    Location:
    Midwest
    Dennis and Sopor,

    Do either of you own a properly calibrated, high quality turntable and cassette deck? Have you recorded LP to high quality chrome/metal tape? I suggest you get both and learn to use them. Then, when you have real experience, your opinions will be of use to this thread.

    I have recorded many LP's from my turntable to my Nak Dragon (Willy calibrated), and every tape is nearly indistinguishable from the LP. And yes, I have pre-recorded cassettes that sound superior to the CD in some instances. I also have about 600 Grateful Dead tapes that for the most part sound superior to the digital versions offered on Archive.org, of course some of those shows have been officially/professionally released on CD, LP, Flac, etc., and in those cases they are generally superior to my cassette versions for obvious reasons.

    The bottom line is: The more high quality sources you have at your disposal (analog or digital), the more opportunity you have to enjoy the "best" version of available media. Don't limit yourself.

    P.S. Nobody has mentioned DAT yet?
     
    Shak Cohen likes this.
  9. bhasenstab

    bhasenstab Forum Resident

    Location:
    Brooklyn, NY
    Cassettes are just the worst! The idea that some labels are putting out new, contemporary music on cassette makes me howl with laughter!
    Tell you this, if the only medium for listening to recorded music in 2015 was cassette, I would probably do a lot more reading.
     
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  10. Massproductions

    Massproductions Forum Resident

    Location:
    Boston, MA, USA
    Ah well the Dragon has automatic Azimuth alignment, so you don't know if it's right. It uses audio information to figure out where it should be. I don't trust that. The CR-7A has a manual dial, and I use my ears. The best tool for any audio engineer :p
     
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  11. nitsuj

    nitsuj Forum Resident

    Location:
    Midwest
    Fascinating...please share more of your hyperbole and limited worldview
     
  12. Massproductions

    Massproductions Forum Resident

    Location:
    Boston, MA, USA
    DAT? Oh my, what a nightmare that format is. One of the first consumer digital recording formats after the SONY PCM-F1 on Betamax videotape.

    DAT sounded OK, but a little harsh. The major issue is the the tapes were very prone to getting damaged in the machine, and LOTS of drop outs.

    Most DAT tapes that I receive from clients to recover are problematic. Error codes show up on every tape. I'm glad DAT format is dead and buried!
     
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  13. Pizza

    Pizza With extra pepperoni

    Location:
    USA
    When I was at a paper I got to interview a record producer who was hired by TDK to promote their CD that contained tones to help set your cassette meters for different kinds of music. I still got a couple of those CDs.
     
  14. Massproductions

    Massproductions Forum Resident

    Location:
    Boston, MA, USA
    I believe the original poster was referecing pre-recorded cassettes. Cassettes you record yourself in real time on high quality tape using DOLBY C, S, etc can sound really good!

    BUT, keep in mind that you are recording real time, not high speed duplication, better tape, and your Dolby calibration and azimuth will all be dead on because you are playing it in same deck you recorded it on.

    Pre-Recorded is a whole other scenario. Overall, most do sound quite poor. It was NEVER intended as an audiophile format. It was intended as a portable format that sounded good enough for the average person.
     
  15. nitsuj

    nitsuj Forum Resident

    Location:
    Midwest
    I agree with you on the slight "harshness". I have had little trouble with my well maintained Tascam DA-P1 and a hundred or so "data-grade" DAT's in regards to drop-outs and errors. But I have heard the horror stories and realize, as with cassette decks/tapes, it is only a matter of time...
     
  16. sunspot42

    sunspot42 Forum Resident

    Location:
    San Francisco
    It was never really intended for music at all, from what I understand. Cassette was invented with dictation in mind, replacing those old stylus and belt-based systems (remember those?).
     
  17. Massproductions

    Massproductions Forum Resident

    Location:
    Boston, MA, USA
    The DATA grade DATS did perform better. Most people did not know about this, so I see very few of them. I'd get started right now with converting those DATS to digital files!
     
  18. sunspot42

    sunspot42 Forum Resident

    Location:
    San Francisco
    The irony is, CD-Rs are proving a lot more reliable than DAT. And here we were worried about the longterm stability of those dyes, when we should have been more worried about the stability of the oxides and binders and base materials used to make DAT tapes...

    (I've noticed old VHS videotapes are really starting to deteriorate as well. They still play, but tracking issues seem to be growing worse and the picture quality is atrocious - major noise and ghosting, seems like the chroma resolution is deteriorating even faster than the luma.)
     
  19. Massproductions

    Massproductions Forum Resident

    Location:
    Boston, MA, USA
    Thats right! Came out in 1965 by phillips for dictation. The dictation formats you mention were Dictabelt, Audograph, and soundscriber. Before magnetic tape, there was wire recording.
     
  20. Massproductions

    Massproductions Forum Resident

    Location:
    Boston, MA, USA
    Depends on the brand of CDR you used! If you used good quality stuff like Vertabatim, Taiyo Yuden, Mitsui, etc those discs should be fine today. But the average crap you buy for .15 a disc at staples will be drink coasters in the future.

    VHS tapes do lose some signal, and the tracking issues are usually because of damage to the tape or mold. I've been receiving a lot of moldy VHS tapes. If the control track on the edge of tape is damaged or obscured by mold, the video will roll.

    The solution to bring back the chorma and luma levels is to use a deck with a built in time base corrector, or an external one. This helps to restore to the right levels, and re-align them. Some pro decks also have digital noise reduction, and digital drop out compensators.

    Overall it is a horrible format. Digitize them now before they get worse, and ditch 'em!
     
  21. Smiths22

    Smiths22 Well-Known Member

    No dude you have it wrong cassette better than vinyl and CD better than cassette
     
  22. ti-triodes

    ti-triodes Senior Member

    Location:
    Paz Chin-in


    Problem with dbx is you needed another dbx decoder to listen to them. It made them useless in a car deck or portable. Dolby S was a response to CD's that was too little, too late. IIRC, there were problems implementing it. Nakamichi also refused to add it to their decks. They said Dolby C was good enough. But on a Nak, even Dolby B was superb.
     
  23. Nostaljack

    Nostaljack Resident R&B enthusiast

    Location:
    Washington, DC
    Metallica couldn't be any more wronger.

    Ed
     
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  24. nitsuj

    nitsuj Forum Resident

    Location:
    Midwest
    I prefer to record without Dolby. The "noise-floor" is not as low, but in my experience the frequency spectrum of the finished product is more natural and pleasing.
     
  25. Nostaljack

    Nostaljack Resident R&B enthusiast

    Location:
    Washington, DC
    Truly. LOL! If cassettes were that good, they'd still be around in mass quantities. They aren't and never were that good...so they're essentially gone. It really is that simple. I've tried to get people to prove how great cassettes can be and they either show me the opposite or show their butts by "attempting" to be holier-than-thou. Gotta love cassette lovers. They're just so darned cute!

    Ed
     
    Last edited: May 29, 2015
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