How skip-resistant are cassette players?

[vorlik]

Just curious.

 

[gort]

It has been years since my last cassette walkman but from what I can remember, they don't skip.

 

[tortie]

I dont think they ever skip.

 

[IpaqMan]

Cassette players are subject to wow and flutter. Impacts and shakes can cause slight speed changes which affects the quality of the sound.

 

[terrymx]

what is the quality for cassette tapes kbs wise?

 

[davidcotton]

Cassette players don't skip, though they have a tendancie to chew the tapes up

 

[blueice]

Quote:

Originally Posted by terrymx what is the quality for cassette tapes kbs wise?

I dont think cassette tape quality can be classified as kbs as it is an analog recording. It's like asking quality for vinyl.

Besides getting chewed up, when stored in humid environment, they also becomes moldy in the inside.

 

[Earwax]

Quote:

Originally Posted by terrymx what is the quality for cassette tapes kbs wise?

It might be better to compare to radio. A cheap portable walkman is something like AM radio. A good portable or basic home deck might be comparable to FM radio quality.

 

[JeffL]

I disagree. I think with a decently aligned, nonportable unit, you can surpass the quality of a CD (because it is analog, your sampling rate is essentially infinity). OTOH, you have hiss, whereas with vinyl you have static from dust. Both can be rectified making vinyl and tapes viable and cheap alternative formats.

Good high quality CR2032 metal tape and a proper bias level, with EQ adjustments done, and Dolby noise reduction can all add up to surprising results.

 

[Harty]

I used to own a Sony Pro Walkman before Minidisc came out, it was a great cassette player and recorder in it’s day, but it’s now been replaced by Minidisc which is far superior in sound quality.

Best wishes,

Paul.

 

[Earwax]

Quote:

Originally Posted by JeffL I disagree. I think with a decently aligned, nonportable unit, you can surpass the quality of a CD (because it is analog, your sampling rate is essentially infinity). OTOH, you have hiss, whereas with vinyl you have static from dust. Both can be rectified making vinyl and tapes viable and cheap alternative formats. Good high quality CR2032 metal tape and a proper bias level, with EQ adjustments done, and Dolby noise reduction can all add up to surprising results.

I don't think we're really disagreeing that much. Deck quality matters a lot. I qualified my statements to "cheap portables" and entry-level decks. By that, I mean the $30 tape walkmen and the $100 home decks. I agree that tapes carefully made and played back on good quality decks can rival CD. (I'm not sure about surpass though.)

I had a pretty good Pioneer deck for nearly 20 years before the motor burned out. I replaced it with a so-so Sony since I don't use tape very much these days.

 

[Earwax]

my mistake, nevermind

 

[HiWire]

I definitely got some wow and flutter with my cassette walkman today. The worst features of cassettes are:

1) Sequential format (new players have bookmarks for "tracks")
2) Poor signal to noise (reduced by Dolby)
3) Incomplete frequency range (improved by CrO2 and Metal tapes, Dolby HX)
4) Signal degradation - each copy is worse than the original
5) Vulnerability to wear and tear

Still, the humble Walkman made Sony the powerhouse that it is today!

 

[Ticky]

Quote:

Originally Posted by terrymx what is the quality for cassette tapes kbs wise?

Wow. I feel old now. It wasn't that long ago when cassettes were all the rage. Ok, maybe it was THAT long.

Well recorded cassettes can sound pretty darn good. You need a good deck and a good blank cassette. I used to have - still do, but not sure if it works anymore - a Nakamichi Deck 1.5. It was a 3-heads cassette deck (one for recording, one for reading and one for erasing) and was the "entry" level 3-heads Nakamichi deck. Most older folks familiar with cassette decks should recall those awesome Nakamichi decks - like the fabled Nakamichi Dragon $3000 deck - which are pure hi-fi in outlook; no auto-reverse even on my $700 deck!!!

Using my Nakamichi, dolby C noise reduction and a good TDK Type IV metal based cassette, I got pretty good recordings. I would say almost 80% of CD quality. The cassette just had more floor noise and less high and low extensions. Otherwise, it sounds almost CD quality.

The only problem is that these tapes wear down overtime through repeated use; say after about 20-30 repeated play, you could notice a slight sonic deterioration.

<Sligh> those were fun times tweaking with analog recording.

 

[krayzie]

A decent cassette based setup can surely rival cds... I personally don't have a vinyl source, but recording off cds using a decent tape deck and metal tapes gives me very good results. I use an old 1980 Teac V-5RX 3-motor / 2-head deck that I got it at Cash Converters for $30 bucks (beige faceplate, backlit analog meters, all metal backlit tape compartment, pretty "pro" looking for a mid-end deck), bought a few TDK MA-XG metal tapes on eBay for 40 bucks, and a Sony WM-DD9 Walkman for playback at 60 bucks... In total, I spend a significant less amount than buying a high-end vintage Discman but still get a very high rivialing sound quality... I don't know what a D-Z555 or DCP-150 sounds like, but I can say for sure my setup sounds 100X better than my D-777 playing back Taiyo Yuden cdrs...

The only downside is the inevitable sound degradation with repeated use as the tape gets worned out and there's nothing you can do about that...