Cassette Deck??

I think the three main sonic limitations of the cassette source format are often noise levels together with high frequency response and sometimes dynamic range.

That aside, I still have many cassette tapes still I recorded on various decks in my various system variations over the years. Despite the age of some (30 years old in some cases) when I play these on my current system, by far the best I have owned I would say, they still sound pretty good. I even have some tracks on my music server I digitized from these cassette sources. When these come up in random play mode among others, they sound quite listenable, but I do not think I have any trouble identifying that these were sourced from cassette tape, mainly due to noise levels and frequency response. For other tracks that are more pure digital source or even vinyl, it is hard, although surface noise from vinyl when present is a dead giveaway.

Mapman, I have a program called "Depoper" that came with a DAK 2800-PC. It eliminates clicks and a lot of surface noise on vinyl. I can listen to records that I considered un-listenable before.

ORph,

Thanks for the info.

Vinyl surface noise doesn't really bother me too much. I am used to it. Plus most of my records are in pretty good shape and vinyl is a low % of my listening these days. It is even nicer though when not present at all.

i have a car that still has cassette deck, but i really want to sell the whole car.....

besides nakamichi and revox decks since they are the high end among decks, you might want to try to get a hold of a TASCAM 122 MK 2 or similar deck. It's a pro deck. It's a great sounding and recording deck. You can adjust pitch like you would a turntable. It was originally a 1250 deck, but you might get lucky and get it under $500. Another deck I owned that was well made is the AKAI GX 70. Pioneer made some real good decks as well. A deck that uses cobalt/amorphous heads with at least 3 heads are the best made. How good your deck sounds is based on the types of heads are used. That is why nakamichi and revox are well noted!