Sunday mornings, I will more often than not put on a cassette tape of Yo Yo Ma, or something from Windham Hill as I sip coffee and plan the day. I have been doing that for decades and it’s now dawned on me, how old these home recording are. Yet, they sound incredible. My Yo Yo Ma / Karen Marie Garret cassette is recorded on an ADVENT true Chromium Dioxide 120min tape. Even with the micro thinness of this tape, the fidelity is wonderful. No dropouts, no noise, just beautiful music, and hour per side.
I also realize that I have favorite cassette tape brands. Maxell being number one in my book. I’ve been recording cassettes since 1976, and I have never had a bad experience with a maxell tape. Never. The original UD is the one I will choose more often than not, but truthully they are all really good tapes.
I'm also a fan of Maxell UDXLII high bias tape in its many forumulations. It's outrageously good!
TDK SA, prior to 1982 is my second favorite. From there, I really don’t care. Fuji is pretty good. Never did care for Scotch brand cassettes or BASF for that matter, but I am sure it’s just my personal brand loyalty. I love BASF open reel tape for example. AGFA also made really good cassette tape, though it was never widely distriubuted in the US.
There is a small group of cassette fans wondering why the format isn’t coming back as strong as the LP has. I am one of them. I have cassettes that are nearly 60years old and sound absolutely incredible. I am hoping, that someone like SONY, or TEAC will actually start building cassette decks agin. Currently there is only ONE cassette deck manufacturer, and they private label their nearly identical machines to Pioneer, TEAC, Tascam, SONY etc, etc.
It would be nice to see a resurgence of the home cassette deck. Making dubs of favorite LPs, mixed tapes, etc., has always been an enjoyable past time and certainly would sound better than your best streaming service.
I need to have T-Shirts made! Long live the compact cassette… I can see it now. =)
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