WHat did Audiophiles hear during Tape deck era?

Prerecorded tapes usually sound bad , I only used them in my car. If you used quality metal tapes from TDK , BASF ,and Maxell , you could have a quality listening experience. Dolby and DBX noise reduction systems worked , but I think that you lost upper frequencies. Reel to reels were the way to go. 

tomshults,

"None of the posts that I saw raised the matter of Dolby cassette noise reduction and its tracking issues."


I think a few of us did, albeit by omission.

I for one never liked what Dolby B did to the sound. It was a bit like throwing a heavy shirt over your speakers.

Dolby C was definitely better, but still you could hear it messing up the timing somewhat. 

No Dolby and good chrome tape (ferric was worse in every way especially dynamics and hiss) and it was like listening to a junior reel to reel deck.

Head alignment was also crucial, particularly for high frequency and separation. I used to wonder how many people might have been listening to tape with misaligned tape heads. 

Life before the internet would probably seem slow, strange and frustrating to those who never experienced it. We knew of nothing else.

I hate to judge before all the facts are in but I might be the only one here who thinks that cassettes are great and often sound better than CDs or vinyl in most respects that matter. I’m not talking about the cruddy ones from the 70s but the ones from circa 85 to 95. Even ferrite tapes are good sounding. I have a lot of good cassettes now and it’s rare to hear noise between tracks and I never hear noise whilst the music is playing. I did not fall off the turnip truck yesterday. Perhaps you guys are oblivious to all the overly aggressive compression for CDs and vinyl. I can’t breathe! 😩 Maybe you guys need a good ear candling. 🕯

 hate to judge before all the facts are in but I might be the only one here who thinks that cassettes are great and often sound better than CDs or vinyl in most respects that matter.

Now you know I am VERY pro cassette tape GK with large money invested in a fully restored Nak zx7.
But even I might hesitate to go as far as that statement when you included records as well.

See, I told ya! 🤗 Of course it’s not entirely what you have it’s how you do it too. I have the advantage of avoiding the considerable distortion and noise that comes with house AC, AC ground, power cords, fuses, transformers, all that jazz. 🎶