WHat did Audiophiles hear during Tape deck era?

What was heard during the tape deck era?

Invariably, some level of hiss.

Listen through the hiss, grasshopper. Or use Dolby tapes. Problem solved!  You know, like you listen through pops and clicks on vinyl. Which reminds me, what the heck happened to the tape hiss on CDs? 

There’s a Tool promo cassette listed on eBay as we speak for $8666.

I had a pioneer system, A-80 amp. EQ, Tape deck with dolby b and c, DBX route selector, 3BX range expander, and DBX noise reduction. Also, a KLH active noise filter unit, that would quiet everything down when the signal was low and it would bypass when the music got cranking. This would pretty much make the tape hiss disappear . I still have the DBX units and KLH in storage..

In the early 70s I had one of everything.  R to R was used for recording new albums as well as long listening sessions so you did not have to get up all the time to change the record or cassette.  I even had a 4 channel R to R, content was hard to find, but I loved the sound.  50 years later +/- I still remember the opening bass line from Whipping Post by he Allman Bro’s. Live at the Fillmore in 4 channel.
I miss those days of sharing music, everyone had a favorite band or artist.  I loved having most of the recordings of many artists back in the day.  We listened to music, TV was an after thought, hardly ever on.