WHat did Audiophiles hear during Tape deck era?

 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. 🎶

Not quite sure how a crappy car tape deck can be the reason that cassette tapes per se were crappy.... lol
Some logic to it to someone I’m sure.........

I listened to vinyl LP, shellac 78s and R2R tape.   By 21 years old (1977), I had 10,000 LPs, 3,500 78s and 150 R2Rs, mostly self recorded from LPs and FM (Met Opera).  My collection doubled by 35 (1991) except for the R2Rs.  Then I added CDs, now at 7,000 with over 1,200 in box sets/collections.  I kept buying LPs and 78s until today.   I sold 18,000 78s and LPs over the years as I have a rule, if I don't potentially want to hear a recording 3 times annually, out it goes.