Anyone still into audio casettes?

madman

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I'm not really "into" cassettes, but people would be surprised at how good the format can sound on a high end deck. I've got a couple Nakamichi decks and the sound is really amazing. The later decks with a good quality tape can rival RtR decks. Plus the coolness of this auto-reverse never gets old:
 

GregN

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I inherited a shelf system from my Dad that I have in my sunroom. I have a few cassettes I listen to once in a while. But everybody knows the best thing about them - mixtapes!
 

ki_atsushi

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I'm not really "into" cassettes, but people would be surprised at how good the format can sound on a high end deck. I've got a couple Nakamichi decks and the sound is really amazing. The later decks with a good quality tape can rival RtR decks. Plus the coolness of this auto-reverse never gets old:

Yup, that is sexy. I saw that for the first time about a year ago I think (probably in the A/V thread). Blew me away.
 

F4U57

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I still buy audio cassettes. Mostly demo material on C10's but some highly produced stuff on pro tapes.

I've probably got around 150 or so.
 

ebinsugewa

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I still have a deck in my car. Some local bands still put out tapes, and I occasionally pick up some stuff at yard sales and flea markets and stuff. I found a random Blur promo this way a few years back. I listen almost entirely while driving so the fidelity is not the biggest concern.
 

smokehouse

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...and here I come to be a semi-dickhead...

First off...for nostalgia reasons, I can 100% see why someone would want a tap deck and/or high end walkman...

But...

The "even better than the real thing" silliness is stretching things a bit.

I spent much of the 90's working with recording studio equipment...and lived with cassette tapes...

Can a cassette tape sound great? Sure*. *= only in the rarest of rare situations. You'd better have a top quality tape, and a top quality player...you'd better spend a fair amount of time with that player as well. Cleaning the pickup, adjusting the system per tape (because no one company made tapes the same)...

I am a long defender of vinyl...it can sound amazing...or it can sound like shit. Table off, record off, needle dirty, record dirty, bad pressing, worn needle, worn drive belt...you name it. If the stars align, it be sound amazing. Th other 90% of the time...there's issues.

Digital media is what it is...every time, no excuses. If its a good recording, it sounds fucking great, every time. No rules, or adjustments, or variations...the same thing over and over again.

So again, if this is nostalgia/for fun...fire away. If this is some goofball "it's just as good as digital" thing...it's not.
 

@M

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I still have all of my old cassettes, but I never listen to them (and the last time I tried, my ancient Sony boombox ate the thing). I stick to CDs and MP3s these days.
 

norton9478

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...and here I come to be a semi-dickhead...

First off...for nostalgia reasons, I can 100% see why someone would want a tap deck and/or high end walkman...

But...

The "even better than the real thing" silliness is stretching things a bit.

I spent much of the 90's working with recording studio equipment...and lived with cassette tapes...

Can a cassette tape sound great? Sure*. *= only in the rarest of rare situations. You'd better have a top quality tape, and a top quality player...you'd better spend a fair amount of time with that player as well. Cleaning the pickup, adjusting the system per tape (because no one company made tapes the same)...

I am a long defender of vinyl...it can sound amazing...or it can sound like shit. Table off, record off, needle dirty, record dirty, bad pressing, worn needle, worn drive belt...you name it. If the stars align, it be sound amazing. Th other 90% of the time...there's issues.

Digital media is what it is...every time, no excuses. If its a good recording, it sounds fucking great, every time. No rules, or adjustments, or variations...the same thing over and over again.

So again, if this is nostalgia/for fun...fire away. If this is some goofball "it's just as good as digital" thing...it's not.

That is pretty much where I'm at. Especially when you look at the possibilities with higher end digital formats. 5.1 channels and true reproduction of digitally recorded albums.

Hell, people talk about how vinyl is theoretically superior, but it can't even handle two completely independent channels.
 

Tripredacus

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I was big into tapes in the 2000s. Mostly because my car still had a deck and it sounded great. After I got rid of that car I bought a dualie that I used for a couple of years but it now has some strange problem. I still buy tapes if I find any good ones at thrift and some day I will fix or get a new tape deck. I prefer tapes to records.
 

smokehouse

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That is pretty much where I'm at. Especially when you look at the possibilities with higher end digital formats. 5.1 channels and true reproduction of digitally recorded albums.

Hell, people talk about how vinyl is theoretically superior, but it can't even handle two completely independent channels.

Tons of people confuse "different" with "better/worse".

I sold mid-end home theater equipment for a few years, people would always ask me what sounds "best". I'd often reply with "Well, what kind of meat tastes "best" to you?"

Tastes vary, what you want to hear varies. Analog media and digital media sound different...but one being "better" than the other in terms of quality? Hard telling. I will say that digital media is the same, every time. I can definitely appreciate that.

I tell younger people this, I've been there and done that, I don't want t do it again. I've struggled with vinyl, tape cassettes, VHS, Laserdisc. I don't want to go back.

Dirty vinyl, flipping record sides, the needle being of, the table being off, audible pops and cracks...
Dirty/worn cassettes, background noise, machines eating a tape...
VHS PQ (even when new), lackluster audio quality, dirty players, worn out tapes...
Laserdisc players being out of level, video noise, bad discs, laser rot, swapping disc sides, swapping discs...

I don't want to fuck with any of that stuff anymore. My Blu Ray discs work every time and deliver the same performance every time. Digital audio offers great sound quality and you know for a fact the delivery is exactly the same, every time. On top of that...accessibility is not even comparable. I load my phone up with MP3's. Pop headphones in and bam...massive music library anywhere I go. No tapes, no CDs. I get in my car and my phones syncs Bluetooth and again, instant library access.

In short...Nostalgia? Sure, why not. Functionality? No fucking way.
 

hyper

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LOLZ at cassette tapes. I'm only into big tapes.:keke: I've been itching to dive into reel to reel. When I do, I will have officially lost my mind:loco:

The Otari 5050 is on my short list.

View attachment 31142
I had an Otari 5050 console style deck its hard to maintain and you have to bias and calibrate it all the fucking time.. this is a machine for people who love fixing machines more than audio fidelity. took me months to find a buyer for my machine.

high quality tape is expensive and a major hassle to work with.. recording to cassette tape has way too much hiss to be of any value at all, I transferred a bunch of material from cassette and I had to use a couple noise gates and manually edit out the hiss, shit is garbage

if you like tape and you like spending money buy a UAD card or firewire unit and get the Studer and Ampex plugins
 

madman

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I am a long defender of vinyl...it can sound amazing...or it can sound like shit. Table off, record off, needle dirty, record dirty, bad pressing, worn needle, worn drive belt...you name it. If the stars align, it be sound amazing. Th other 90% of the time...there's issues.
If your vinyl has issues 90% of the time, you're either buying the worst condition used records or you have no idea how to setup a TT. I put my records into new anti-static sleeves and dust is rarely an issue. I check my cart setup every few months, no real issues to speak of here.
 
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GutsDozer

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I actually still have a few of my original tapes. I even have some brand new Blank cassettes still in the plastic. I have no idea what I'll ever do with them except confuse the younger generation.
 

smokehouse

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If your vinyl has issues 90% of the time, you're either buying the worst condition used records or you have no idea how to setup a TT. I put my records into new anti-static sleeves and dust is rarely an issue. I check my cart setup every few months, no real issues to speak of here.

Hmmm...that's funny...

I keep my MP3s in go-fuck-yourself bags and dust is never an issue.
 

StevenK

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I sold mid-end home theater equipment for a few years, people would always ask me what sounds "best". I'd often reply with "Well, what kind of meat tastes "best" to you?"

Did you really sell theatre equipment, or did you actually just star in the set up scenes for pornos?

I'm going to need to see pictures of your facial hair when this was going on.
 

ki_atsushi

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Hmmm...that's funny...

I keep my MP3s in go-fuck-yourself bags and dust is never an issue.

He's right though, the only vinyl I have that skips or crackles is the shit that I wasn't the original owner of, none of the ones I've bought personally have a single scratch and play perfect.

It's not that big of a deal to static brush them off real quick before you put one on.

Sometimes not all that is good is convenient.
 

madman

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He's right though, the only vinyl I have that skips or crackles is the shit that I wasn't the original owner of, none of the ones I've bought personally have a single scratch and play perfect.

It's not that big of a deal to static brush them off real quick before you put one on.

Sometimes not all that is good is convenient.

Typical smokehouse response, honestly not sure why I bothered to respond to him.

Vinyl is far from perfect, but the people who talk about cracks and pops are either buying shit used vinyl, use a shit cart or know shit about setting up a TT.
 

norton9478

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Does "properly setting up a turntable" really alleviate cracks and pops?

I know it makes a difference in other areas of sound quality, but cracks and pops?
 

madman

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VTF can affect surface noise, so getting that dialed in properly is important. I'm not sure it'll help with pops and clicks vs overall surface noise, it just depends on the record. I used to have a Goldring cart that sounded great for the price, but even properly setup it was susceptible to surface noise. I've got an Ortofon 2M Black now and it's a world apart.
 

Neo Ash

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I had an Otari 5050 console style deck its hard to maintain and you have to bias and calibrate it all the fucking time.. this is a machine for people who love fixing machines more than audio fidelity. took me months to find a buyer for my machine.

high quality tape is expensive and a major hassle to work with.. recording to cassette tape has way too much hiss to be of any value at all, I transferred a bunch of material from cassette and I had to use a couple noise gates and manually edit out the hiss, shit is garbage

if you like tape and you like spending money buy a UAD card or firewire unit and get the Studer and Ampex plugins

Oh...I know good and well what I'm getting into. Reel to reel is definitely not for the faint of heart. That's why I said the day I get a RR I will have officially lost my mind as it is an overall pain in the ass and not cheap by most standards. 1:1 master copies is my main interest.

This is actually the last year for the 5050. They are still available on a build to order basis at $8300 for a brand new unit. I like the fact the spare parts are not an issue and there are some good mods for that unit. I also might have a need for long cable runs, so I like the option of using XLR terminated balanced cables. Lot of people are coping their valuable LP collection to reel to both preserve the LP record and minimize wear to expensive cartridges.


Does "properly setting up a turntable" really alleviate cracks and pops?

I know it makes a difference in other areas of sound quality, but cracks and pops?

There are a lot of variables, but an LP can sound clean. I invited a friend to an event at a favorite hifi shop. When I told him it was a record he said...wow it's not popping I thought it was a CD.
 

Kiel

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I like tapes cause I can still play them in my car. I have a combo CD/cassette player and the CD part doesn't work anymore and I'm not doing anything about it. And a bunch of local people only put stuff out on cassette for physical releases

In fact these guys just arrived in the mail today (the vinyl came about 2 months ago)

index.jpg
 

ki_atsushi

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Man, those are nice!

And I too, have a CD player in my ride that's on it's way out, but the tape deck still works great...
 
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smokehouse

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Did you really sell theatre equipment, or did you actually just star in the set up scenes for pornos?

I'm going to need to see pictures of your facial hair when this was going on.

LOL...no. I took a few side jobs to feed my home theater habit. From 2001-2003 I worked for 2 different small, local stores selling/installing stuff.

Store A:
B&W
Jamo
Rotal
Sunfire
Toshiba

Store B:
Monitor Audio
M&K
Solus
Classe'
Marantz
Sony ES

As you would expect, business was hit/miss...so I got to play with a ton of stuff all of the time. Took a fair amount of stuff home on "demo" too...

Typical smokehouse response, honestly not sure why I bothered to respond to him.

Vinyl is far from perfect, but the people who talk about cracks and pops are either buying shit used vinyl, use a shit cart or know shit about setting up a TT.

Come on now...as long as you've been here, you should know me well enough to know my bullshit. I was busting your balls...

My point was, vinyl takes some TLC to set up properly...not everyone wants to screw with that anymore. Whether or not someone wants to take the time to mess with a niche item doesn't always come down to someone not knowing how, but rather no longer caring.

If you're into vinyl...that's totally cool by me, I couldn't care less. Different strokes for different folks...
 

norton9478

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There are a lot of variables, but an LP can sound clean. I invited a friend to an event at a favorite hifi shop. When I told him it was a record he said...wow it's not popping I thought it was a CD.

I do have records that sound exceedingly good. My original issue of the Black Album for instance.

What I'm asking is if cracks and pops are tt issue or a vinyl issue.
 

blakeb8111

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When my parents moved not that long ago I had to take the last of my old stuff that was packed up in their house. Along with some boxes of old toys was a box of cassette tapes with some hilarious mix tapes and cassingles. I can't believe I actually liked some of the stuff to buy the single of it back then. The only problem is I no longer have a cassette player to take a stroll down memory lane.
 
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