TDK SA-X or Maxell XLII-S which do you prefer?

Nakamichi tapes are re-branded TDK not Maxell.
Maxell XLII-S and TDK SA-X sound different on NAK, in most cases I prefer Maxell. SA-X Limited is better than regular but only 100min., no 60 or 90.

XL1-S is lower distortion.

IIRC, the TDKs were smoother, cleaner, but had more frequent dropouts. The Maxells were brighter, a little grittier, with a little more detail, and suffered less from dropouts. I didn't think anyone still cared. I digitized all my cassettes (well, the ones I lacked a CD or LP of) and now my really nice Onkyo TA-2600 (bought new in 1989 - 2 motor, 3 head, with real time and time remaining counter!) sits at the bottom of my rack, gathering dust.

Well.... back during the day when I was using cassettes as one of my music sources (which is now no longer the case), I used TDK SA-X Chrome 2 Cassettes to record off of FM Radio, and their high-end Metal Tape to record CD's (all of which was used to playback on an Awia Walkman Radio Cassette Player..... I bought the 1986 model with Full-Logic Controls and a Wired Remote Control).

My Cassette Deck at the time was a Nakamichi BX-300 (3-Motors, 3-Heads, Direct-Drive, with Pitch and Bias Controls which I bought brand new in 1987, which I still have, but now, I no longer use).

Now.... this is what I call walking down memory lane.

--Charles--