Cassettes still rock!

Never really gave Maxell tapes a fair shot.
Once I tried TDK SA I stuck with them.
My zx7 is calibrated to that tape exactly.

I imagine probably as good though.

@geoffkait 

I can get technical, but can you do so? Do you know the definition of dynamic range? I don’t think so. It is obvious from your post that you cannot differentiate between the dynamic range of the song and the dynamic range of the medium.

And don’t get me started about tape being a “natural medium”—that is nonsensical audio jargon.

Really. Anyone who was there in the 70s and 80s knows cassettes were always second fiddle to vinyl. There were many good quality cassette decks capable of making respectable but relatively noisy copies of good source material (as long as not too much dynamic range in the source) however most commercial cassette recordings were relatively poor quality. Not to mention delicate and not meant to stand the test of time. 
The best larger format hifi VCRs in the 80s were much better. I still have some very nice recordings from an Akai hifi VCR I made back then and the sound quality holds up. I also still have cassettes I recorded in the 70s which sound no better than then if they will still even play without jamming.

Never really gave Maxell tapes a fair shot.
Once I tried TDK SA I stuck with them.

I always preferred Maxell to TDK, although I have a bunch of TDK.

Being a dealer, I think I sold almost every brand of tape, at one time or another.

My Favorites:

3M BlackWatch
Denon 
Fuji
Maxell 
Nakamichi
TDK
That's

Least Favorites:

BASF (awful)
DAK (double awful)
Memorex
Radio Shack/Realistic
Recoton
Scotch


The Nakamichi tape was just hand picked TDK, (from the middle of the pancake reel.  Supposed to be more uniform).  It was fine, but IMHO, no better than the TDK equivalent. 

I agree that cassettes can sound wonderful. I have a collection of 35  cassettes, recorded on a Nak 600 deck (which was stolen by our movers! They knew what to steal!). Currently, I have a (two heads) Marantz Deck, with an all-electronic control (touch switches), headphone output, Dolby B/C, and a very quiet, smooth transport. I got very excited about  cassettes in my youth, when my father bought me a Sony Walkman during a trip to Switzerland. I am talking some 30 years ago, yet Sony already employed SMD (Surface Mounted Devices - read Chips) and the overall build quality was superb. I remember listening to the (equally superb) headphones during entire nights! BTW, anybody here can tell me what a new, blank TDK SA90 BLACK Limited Edition cassette can fetch?