My favorite tapes are the TDK SA-X's. I have heard most top end cassettes and these take the cake. System was a Nakamichi DR-1, cassette deck 1, BX-150, and HK TD4200 (only one I still own). I also like the Maxell XLIIS, they feel alot heavier and more sturdy, but the TDK's sound is way neutral. I have a few metal tapes, they were always an exorbant amount for same audio quality (to my ears). One thing- Never use 110 min. tapes. They kill tape decks, they have thinner film, and just all around a horrible idea. 100 min. seem to be O.K.

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I agree with the advice to avoid 110-munute or longer tapes, except for long continuous playback (that is, the tape will never go through any fast-wind modes). But I've found that even 90- and 100-minute tapes can be iffy. Good-quality 90- or 100-minute tapes should not pose any problems -- but if the tape that you'll be using is crappy to begin with, it's a good idea to avoid versions of those tapes longer than 60 minutes.

And, as I had said earlier, Type II tapes are not the best choice for every type of music: Compared to Type I tapes, most Type II tapes sacrifice maximum usable loudness in favor of a low noise floor.

One more thing: Years ago, several higher-grade tapes showed an obviously boosted high end compared to a "reference" tape (or a lower-grade tape of the same IEC type), which was mistaken by the public for superior performance. But a flat response curve is far more desirable in reality, thus the tilted-up treble is a giveaway that the particular high-grade tape really requires a somewhat higher bias level than the reference standard in order for that high-grade tape to have a flat response curve. That's where the bias fine-tuning knob on many decks comes into play.

Similarly, a higher overall response curve than the reference standard is a giveaway that the particular high-grade tape has higher sensitivity than the reference tape - but such a deviation from the reference in sensitivity actually does ****** up the performance with Dolby NR switched on. Thus, a fine-tuning control for level/sensitivity (not to be confused with the main recording-level control) is highly desirable.

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Sorry, I don't understand this logic. With either vinyl or CD, each format will give you the kind of copy that it can do, for each. That is, with the analog, you will get pretty much what was on the LP or CD, with added hiss and slight overall loss. With MD, you are faced with a compromised copy (lossy compression) whether you are recording vinyl or CD.

For music recordings, I agree that one should avoid any cassette tape over the regular 90 mins. tapes. However, for speech or perhaps radio dramas, I've nothing but good results on 120 minute cassettes of TDK D, Maxell UR, or Sony HF. I use these to record radio dramas or "Hearts of Space" off of my local public radio stations. Some of the tapes are over 10 years old and have held up very well. Of course, using a top-of-the-line 3 head cassette deck to do the recording helps too.

As for recording CDs onto cassettes, I feel that if done correctly, the cassette will beat a MD copy handily. Convenient factors aside, the cassette format is seriously underrated as a recording medium for the consumer. Most people have neither the equipment, the patience, nor the technical skills to make a good copy of a CD (or parts of the CD) onto a cassette.

For a long time I was a cassette deck holdout, but the format's inherent flaws, the fact that I hardly recorded anymore, and lack of rack space forced me to give up my 3-head Yammy deck nearly two years ago.

With a good deck and a good tape, cassettes can sound very good. In fact, I made recordings with the old Yamaha deck that rivaled, at normal listening levels, the CD source. Yes, the difference was there, but many of my non-audiophile friends could not tell the difference in A-B comparisons.

My favorite tapes were the Maxell MX-S and TDK SA-X. Sony used to make a ceramic shell tape called the Metal Master -- some refer to it above -- that was the best I used, by a slight margin over the TDK MA-XG, but also cost over $10.00 a cassette. It was also very heavy. Between TDK and Maxell, I thought Maxell had better cassette shell designs, but that TDK's tape was better -- fewer dropouts, and able to handle greater recording levels without overloading. Hence my general Type II tape was TDK, and my general Type IV tape was Maxell. The old Sony ES Metal tape was good too. Note, though, that all my recommendations are based on early to mid '90s formulations and construction. I would imagine that the general lack of interest in cassettes as a recording media means lower quality control from most of these manufacturers.

Too bad, it was much more fun to adjust bias settings and recording levels with the headphones plugged into the deck, trying to get the sound just right than it is to clone an MD from CD.

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I agree there. The sad truth is, most people who own or have owned cassette equipment tended to buy the cheapest or nearly the cheapest available unit. Most of those units cannot correctly record on anything other than Type I tape - and in addition, there was no fine-tuning capability whatsoever for the exact tape that they were using, and the recording levels were set automatically with no manual override at all.

I am fortunate to own a deck that can finally fine-tune the bias and sensitivity levels to match the exact tape that I'm using, even if that fine-tuning control is a single auto-set button (not as precise as separate manual knobs, but still much better than nothing for fine-tuning).

Regarding the 110 min tapes, I understand that they are good for radio and lecture etc., but they will ruin your deck. For that reason alone, I would stay away.

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Exactly. I use the Walkman Pro D6C and a Denon DRM-800A three-head, dual capstan deck and get wonderful results.

Most new recording formats are designed more for convenience, not sound quality.

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In my experience, I've had even 30 min or 60 min tapes ruin my decks...

...and first-generation Type II tapes will ruin tape decks that cannot properly play them back!

That's right! I went ahead on TDK's Web site after I got fed up with the crappy selection of blank cassettes in stores (the stores that I had been to carry only the bottom-of-the-line tapes, and only my local Target discount department store went as far as carrying TDK SA's these days), I decided to order two 10-packs of 90-minute MA's ($15.00 per 10-pack), two 10-packs of 90-minute SA-X's ($19.99 per 10-pack) and one 10-pack of 60-minute SA-X's ($18.99 per 10-pack). (NOTE: There are absolutely NO 100-, 110- or 120-minute tapes at all whatsoever in this order; though the MA is also available in the 110-minute length, the SA-X is currently available only in 60- and 90-minute lengths.) The total? Almost $98, after shipping charges were added. But this is my biggest single-trip audiocassette purchase ever!

Only one problem with completing my TDK-direct transaction: Netscape or Mozilla won't work; I had to use IE to make the transaction.

By the way, my home deck is a Sony TC-K461S (a good deck for the price, has Dolby B/C/S NR and was the predecessor to the TC-KE400S) that I bought at Best Buy for $179.99 back in 1995 or 1996. And my portable cassette player? A Sony WM-FS593 AM/FM Sports Walkman (which is mediocre in an absolute sense, and lacks any NR circuitry whatsoever, but is very reliable, and somehow has great synergy with the Grado SR-80 headphones) purchased at Best Buy for $99.99 back in 1999. So, I don't need no stinkin' Dolby for my new soon-to-be-delivered tapes!

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My 50-cassette shipment from TDK came yesterday. They were:

1. 2 x 10 - 90 min MA (Metal/Type IV)
2. 2 x 10 - 90 min SA-X (Type II)
3. 1 x 10 - 60 min SA-X

Surprisingly, at today's prices, the metal tape is actually cheaper than the SA-X - $1.50 for the 90-minute MA, versus $2.00 for the 90-minute SA-X and $1.90 for the 60-minute SA-X. But then again, you get what you pay for: The MA had a S/N ratio that barely surpassed even the plain SA, and poorer than the SA-X!

I opened up one of the 90-minute SA-X tape wrappers, and found that one of my particular 10-pack cases of 90-min SA-X was manufactured sometime in 2001. (It couldn't have been 1991, since "eco-slimline" cases weren't available on TDK cassettes back then.) I then proceeded to record my two Classic Records vinyl albums - Miles Davis' Kind Of Blue and the Dave Brubeck Time Out album - on that SA-X. All I can say is this, "Wow, I wonder how I could've listened to crappy sound ever since I had abandoned analog years ago!" That phrase means that ever since I switched to digital, I've become more of the "analysing the sound" type of music listener than of the "enjoying the music" type of listener!!

I seem to recall that the TDK SA-X always cost more than the MA. I preferred the SA-X because it had lower noise (I think, in general, Type II tapes have lower noise than Type IV), but I always felt that the MA could reproduce dynamics a shade better. I thought the SA-X a better jazz, pop and classical tape, whereas MA was a better rock tape. Additionally, with my deck, I could always set the recording level higher with all Type IV tapes vs. all Type II tapes I tried. Didn't mean that the Type IV tape necessarily sounded better, though. As my deck did not have auto-bias, and I had to set bias manually, I would note what appeared to be the proper bias setting and made a list for my most-used tapes. I always recorded with Dolby "B" as I felt that the reduced tape hiss was worth any (minimal) sound quality problems. I almost never used Dolby "C" as I felt that it added an unnatural edginess to the upper octaves of a recording, cymbals in particular. My deck was one of the last single-well decks introduced before Dolby "S" appeared on the scene (circa 1992) -- in fact, when I was auditioning decks, only one deck I listened to, a $200 Sony single deck machine had it. The Sony ES series decks I was auditioning hadn't then been revamped to include it.

*Sigh* Those certainly were the good old days. Darn it, Eagle-Driver! You're making me wish I never gave the old Yammy away! Hmmmmm . . . with two sets of tape loops, my preamp would certainly accomodate both a MD deck AND a cassette deck wouldn't it?

Man, those were the days....when technical developments were getting the most from the cassette format....superior blank tapes, Dolby HX Pro and Dolby S, etc.... That's generally what happen when the format is reaching the end of its product cycle....

As a footnote to all this, the final generation of RadioShack Type IV tapes - the MP-X, which was finally discontinued last year - was in reality a TDK MA in RatShack colors and a much higher price. What a ripoff!!!

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That may be true in recent years, but nowadays the 90-minute MA actually costs less than even the 90-minute plain SA! In fact, the 90-minute MA costs virtually the same as the 90-minute entry-level TDK Type II tape, the CD Power.

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Well, I've been into tapes for well over a decade, had 3 decks (two of them quite good) and have to disagree about tape beating MD for sound quality. It is true that on good equipment the tape has the potential to sound great but so is MD. 90% of the MD users record on their portables and even use their portables as a source in their home systems-how good is that. To me, a high end MD deck sounds better than a careful tape recording on high end tape deck. Good MD copies also need some technical understanding and attention. How many people for instance use good quality electrical digital cables, vibration isolation and put their recording equipment away from stray EMF. All this can influence MD sound quality. Furthermore any tape will deteriorate with number of playings and time