Best Audio Cassette From 80/90’s

Valentin i too do love the design of the BASF TP IV, i do have some but i would never pay €60 - €70 for one.
The price for these cassettes can come down, people just need to stop paying the high prices.

 

I too do like open-back designs, give the Focal Stellia a try and it will change your mind as to what can be achieved from a good closed-back design.

 

I'm not sure if all so called superferrics are cobalt doped, but there are plenty of them. Maxells XLI-S, TDK AR (more popular) and AR-X, Denon DX 4 (i'm not sure about DX3, it's supposed to be almost as good), Sony HF-ES and HF-PRO (some even say that about HF-S, and there was HF-X in Japan which is between S and ES) , Fuji FR I Super (and probably it's Axia equivalent*).

* The problem with Axia PS I tapes is they are double coated, but most probably not cobalt doped, it seems this second layer is ferric too, put differently or has smaller particles to give lower noise floor.

I just recorded 2 songs Victor RZ type I (probably just normal late ferric like Maxell UR), on my Aiwa and I can say that it sound nice. Close enough to source, with quite low noise (recorded at +4,5 level).

My Aiwa XK-009 should be enough for MA-XG but I wanted to have one tape as it'a a beauty. That's why I bought used one.

About TDK D - late 90s TDK D seems to be really nice tapes. Someone from TH even recorded them on eq 70 and compared to SA. And he wrote they were slightly better.

 

I remembered now, the price was including shipping (which was in the range of 15euros). Even then, the price is still too high. I also remembered what the seller told me when I asked for a drop in price if I buy all 4: it was something along the lines of "Those are no longer being made, so prices only go up".
From what I have seen in online listings, have an impression a lot of sellers have that mentality. What they don't realise is there must be an increase in market request for a certain product in order for the prices to climb. It's irrelevant that a product is no longer being made if no one wants it.

I totally agree with you that people should stop paying the high prices, but that's not enough. Some sellers will not give up on price no matter what: have seen on many auction sites listings that are years old and the price has not dropped a bit.
There's a D6C in my country which I have seen about 2 years ago listed at the equivalent of 400euros, with an auto-stop problem. The problem itself is not a big deal to solve, but as all D6Cs it will need a complete service to bring it back to specs.
In the 2 years I've seen the listing, the price was dropped by about 20euros (which is a joke). This D6C is just one of the many examples... Of course, one can say as long as no one buys from these sellers, there's not a problem. However I do see a problem, because new sellers will take those prices as a reference.

That's good to know, many of the ones you list here are tapes I never heard of. The XL I-S is likely similar or identical to the UD I. The bad part is most superferrics are similarly priced or even more expensive than TYPE IIs.

You Aiwa deck seems to be a high end one, so clearly very good for recording metal tapes. Even lower end ones will do very good as long as they have automatic or manual calibration feature.
I tried (for the sake of it) to record metal tapes even on my D6C (calibrated to Maxell XL II) and the results were better than expected. Yes, it won't bring out all the potential the metal tapes can offer (especially when not calibrated to a metal), but is clearly good enough so one can listen to it and like it.

 

I want one Fuji FR I Super but no one wants to even borrow me for few days It's really a rare tape.
I know for sure that I like TDK AR for rock.
It was hard to everyday user to justify buying type I tape when type II especially SA which was everywhere was very good and not expensive.

 

Valentin these sellers can be as stubborn as they like and not sell it for years, guess what if no one pays the price the sellers can go to their grave with it. If new sellers adopt these prices as standard if no one buys from them they will soon learn.

The problem is someone will always pay the price and if someone pays it the rest of them will think the market price is that. No one will ever get that kind of price out of me as I don’t care and if I don’t have these things, my life is no worse since these things are not essential for life.
My advice to you is don’t pay the high prices, hang around long enough and the correct deal will land in your lap eventually.

I saw on Tony’s Cassette comebacks site when he was still selling cassettes, MA-XG was £80 for a C90 even though he sold at below everyone else’s price that is still too high. New in shops they were £9.99. Guess how much I paid from my TDK MA-XG’s when you can still get them out of the shops? £5 each and I picked them up in boxes of 50’s. I have been offered many times that to sell some, but I always say no as I can’t play money in my tape deck. I have given many away or swapped some, but I will never sell.

 

@TooCooL4 I stopped paying high prices some time ago. In fact there were just a few instances where I really wanted something bad enough to pay a really high price, otherwise I probably would not have done it at all.
And I did found out exactly what you say, that if one is patient enough, a good deal will eventually be found.

One of the reasons Tony stopped selling cassettes on his UK website was the fact he just could not get reasonable prices. He told that himself in a YouTube video. I never bought blank cassettes from him and I think what he does now with Red Manor Records is more valuable,
as there are new albums recorded on good quality cassettes, which is something unique. Especially TYPE IIs and TYPE IVs, which were almost never used in pre-recorded cassettes. I remember a couple of albums released on TYPE II (but recorded with 120us EQ), but none on TYPE IV.

I do know about the original retail prices of metal tapes, saw that in old catalogs and I remember the same price as you say £10 or a little bit more in dollars. If I were to find sealed metal tapes at that price today, I would buy a lot of them for sure.

@Raul That Fuji FR I Super seems to be a good tape. Found a dedicated thread about it: https://www.tapeheads.net/showthread.php?t=2778
The only tapes from Fuji I have are the DR II, which I like. In regard to cassettes, I'm interested in having as many brands and models as possible. The experience itself on testing and recording on different types of tapes is valuable to me.

 

For anyone that has not seen this, its worth a watch. Cassette Comeback metals