Cassettes still rock!

Sorry Mapman but I would have to vigorously disagree on everything bar the VHS HiFi machines, they did make a great recording.

And no I'm not looking at this through rose tinted spectacles.
My zx7 is set up in same main rig as my 401 and Aurender so i can easily switch quick between all formats.

I hate to quote GK but you should hear what I hear.

Got a couple blank Fuji will try recording on them later.

I've had excellent luck with Fuji tapes.  I have lots of them.  One of my favorites.

The best tapes, (getting specific) that I have ever tried:

Sony Metal Master (Ceramic Shell)
TDK MA-R  (Metal Shell)
TDK MA-XG (Metal Shell)
That's Suono

I'm a proud owner of an Advent 201.
Not a rare deck. Ugly too....but built like a Sherman!
First deck to take advantage of CR02 tape and I think the first to go Dolby B.
And fastest deck ever - with the Woll...wotsit transport.

Here is a most interesting read:
http://www.positive-feedback.com/Issue16/advent.htm


I have over 200 Grateful Dead concerts on tape. Which I almost never play, since I don't much care for this group. (Also , Phish tape collectro goes with Dead, so got lots of them live on tape also.)

Yes, the Advent was (and is) a true high fidelity deck, as reflected in both its price and its weight. I wouldn't call it ugly, however.

Okay, I currently use a Nakamichi ZX7 for playback only. My 150 classical London, Angel, DGG, Philips cassettes sit in a box along with many soundtracks and pop cassettes. They sound bad, either compressed, hissy, tonally wrong, etc. However, I made superb recordings on my former Tandberg 310 (it died) without dolby and they were quiet recordings. Better yet, I substituted my Tandberg 9000 RR deck and made superior recordings to the cassettes. I have about half a dozen great sounding private cassettes, some of organ music recorded outdoors in San Diego. I transfer cassettes of ethnic music to CDs. My high end system prefers RR, LPs and CDs to pre-recorded cassettes despite some of the latter being okay. I have 78s with really wonderful sound that mimic mastertape in that alive quality with real dynamics.  I had excellent results recording to SuperBeta tape as well.  Now I use a Tascam digital recorder.  Different from my Pioneer 1500 RR but I've made some professional quality recordings of chamber music by prominent musicians on the Tascam.

I would NOT go back to listening to pre-recorded cassettes in my life.