Did you buy new cassette tapes lately? Show us your musical taste here!

I am a TDK AR fan too, the TDK AR are the lowest quality tapes I use.
I like the crisp clear sound they produce, if I remember correctly the midrange on them are very nice too. Yes you do notice the hiss but once the music get’s going you don’t really notice it much, just don’t use them for music with loads of quiet passages. I too never use Dolby but still I love the AR.

 

I often record with Dolby C and HX Pro with many of my Type I mix tapes. I think for those using portables with headphones, or those who prefer to use headphones with their regular stereo systems, when no NR is used, the tape hiss is noticeable during quiet passages such as song gaps, beginning and end of tape, and times where the recorded music is low in range, . For some it can be bothersome. There a few ferric tapes that can give Type II tapes a run for their money. It's hard to beat the solid bass delivered by a good ferric tape. Some premium ferric tapes like the TDK AR, and AR-X, especially, impart a sound you won't forget. A number of years ago, I was a tape snob who didn't use Type I cassettes, thinking they were somewhat inferior, but I know better now.



Nando.

 

AD-X was one of my favourite tapes. It used a chrome tape stock but operated at normal settings. This allowed much higher record levels without saturation than other normal tapes. TDK did the same trick with HX-S which used metal tape at Chrome position and the headroom on those was enormous. Perfect tapes for use in portable units because you could play louder for less battery usage; all without distortion unless you went mad with the record levels. The other benefit is that chrome and metal tape does not seem to age as badly as normal. Most of my 80's and 90's recorded tapes sound as good today as ever. The only exception was the high end That's tapes with the triangular window. They seem to seize up over time and most are unplayable these days. Shame because the MRX-Pro was a wonderful sounding tape.

 

If you like the TDK-AR check these limited edition ones I got a few weeks ago! Love them!! Presently I don't own a 3 head cassette deck but I own the latest and final iteration of Pioneer's ELITE cassette deck with super Auto BLE and digital technologies such as FLEX and the amazing Digital Signal Processing which completely converts the signal to digital domain where it is vastly improved while the noise is dramatically reduced. Normal tapes greatly benefit from this digital signal processing.

I no longer use noise reduction (which has always hindered the natural sound - only to a lesser amount with Dolby S). On the Pioneer DSP tape decks the sound is so improved that, in many occasions, it competes with CD sound (on my MA-XG tapes, for instance, the sound exudes potency, depth, brilliancy and excellent sound reproduction).

My favorite normal tapes are the AR-X, the Sony ES-1, HF-X and HF-ES (Crystal Gamma).

According to a trusted online source: “We were stubborn enough to believe that digital sound is great — it’s clear and crisp and sharp — but it’s not natural,” says Stepp. “The human ear, like the world around us, is analog. For some strange reason, analog music just sounds better to the human ear, that’s how we’re built.”

Me: In general I tend to favor a natural sound even if it means having more hiss noise issues.

 

I would try the TDK AR limited you recommend but I am not willing to pay the prices they are going for these days, besides I have a pile of TDK AR’s, SA’s and MA-XG’s unopened so I am good for a long time to come.

A lot of people rave on about the TDK SA, they are okay. Given the choice of TDK AR or TDK SA I would pick the AR every time. Funny when I make tapes for other people I would rather let the SA’s go than the AR’s.

 

Hugo: There are many premium ferric cassettes out there - the TDK AR-X would be one of them. Almost every major cassette tape manufacturer of the day produced one - even Realistic. And yes, the prices are really climbing for sealed NOS ones - to the point you are better of using a model down from the premium ferric cassette and do your utmost in squeezing the best the tape can offer with good equipment and good recording practices.







As for Neil Young's latest release on pre-recorded cassette, I think it is safe to say you and I can do a better recording. It is an inexpensive tape and no NR is used in the recording. Nevertheless, I wanted to support the cause. And I do mean cassette revitalization for mainstream artists, not Neil's environmental cause.

Nando.

 

Hi! The truth is that if you are going to use a normal bias cassettes there are still a number of choices. Plus dedicating some time to finding a great deal on the prices of such media is well worth it. Amazingly, you will find the person who is undercharging up to 80%less
For instance, these limited edition TDK-AR could very well be sold around $25 and thats the market price for such items being kept in great condition after at least two decades!
They easily turn into priced collectible items. Bottom line is that I got 3 of those cassettes in excellent shape for around $20 - obviously eBay.

In refernce to your comments related to the TDX-SA, I used 4 generations of that tape and although I never tested or compared them to other cassettes the results were pretty good for everyday recordings. I would get improved definition by using the SA-X or the rare SA-XG. When I traveled to Eur0ope I was made aware of the brands that I had never even considered (other than Sony and TDK): Fuji, Denon, BASF, That's and more.

 

The TDK SA are good, i am not saying they are not good but just saying they are not as good as what everyone makes them out to be.

Is that $20 each or $20 for all 3 AR's either way i would not pay that much for them.

 

Last bunch of tapes I bought over amazon!

 

had been waiting 2 weeks for this tape.