Is Cassette tape sounds good, better than CD? Or even vinyl?

 

I have been listening to music since 1978, when vinyl was the dominant format. Over the past 50 years, I have explored various formats, including vinyl, CDs, and cassettes. I also have experience with reel-to-reel tapes, which I believe offer the best sound quality. However, original reel-to-reel recordings can be quite expensive, so I primarily use vinyl as my main source of music.

 

Recently, I have taken up collecting vintage cassette decks because I believe they can sound better than vinyl in some cases. There are many vinyl enthusiasts who often claim that cassette decks "eat" tapes and produce a lot of hissing noise. Some even argue that even the cheapest turntable can outperform my cassette deck.

 

I recently posted a message on Facebook about vintage cassette decks, asking why I still enjoy using them. I was pleased to find numerous supportive comments, which reassured me that I am not alone in my appreciation for cassette decks.

 

Here are some of the comments I received:

 

These are some of the comment.

1.      Two wheels are better than one !

2.      Cassette are awesome 。  

3.      No, he never has listened to a good cassette deck. Maybe his experience is one of the early pre-recorded tapes. I had a friend ask "who the hell listens to cassettes anymore" I guess other than her ignorance, she had never listened to Mitsubishi Dragons, oh well John Meyer in terms of what type of source we prefer to listen to, yes. But to make an empirical statement that vinyl is superior to tape, particularly a cheap vinyl setup, just reveals a deep ignorance of the technological facts.

 

4.      Correct! A friend - self-confessed cassette hater, owner of some really high-end Hi Fi, listened to one of my decks (average quality 1990s two head Yamaha) with a pre-recorded cassette and was astonished!

5.      A well-recorded cassette on quality tape from a digital source with proper use of Dolby NR (or dbx if you like) can absolutely beat the sound quality from even the best LP on the best TT with the best cartridge.

 

6.      Yes, simply like that: The cassette sounds better (even at lower quality). Insiders know that.

7.      Cris Schulze just the commercial  World kill the good

Cassette music Media as no one invest on manufacturing hin end cassette deck. I make mix tapes on my Teac to play in my Toyota on my Blaupunkt. I earnestly don't care what anyone else thinks about it.

 

8.      Some of my Cassettes sound better than my Records, depends how it's recorded and on what system it's being played on

 

9.      A good cassette deck, properly aligned to the tape used, using high quality tapes and recorded properly from any source, including vinyl, will produce great results.  There could be some minor trade offs, but excellent nevertheless. That's ok. We don't want everybody to know what we know... 😉 I have some cassettes that I recorded with my BEOCORD back in the eighties that still sound amazing. Bob Hadden l was just listening to a recording of Love Over Gold made in 1984 on fairly modest equipment and it still sounds great.

 

10.  My first cassette deck was an Advent, which I enjoyed a lot. Then, I got a Nakamichi, and enjoyed that, even more! I also added a dbx noise reduction unit which really lowered the noise floor.

 

11.  I’ve been slowly assembling my “retirement” system and decided that the spot that the cassette occupied should be a digital server/streamer in this generation.

 

12.  I do still want something as great as the Nakamichi was and am probably going with Aurender.ACS10. It comes with up to 24TB of storage and the ability to rip all my CDs to that huge SSD drive so everything but my LPs will be accessible from my listening chair. After all, this is the retirement system!-)

 

13.  Then we hope he spends a fortune buying audiophile grade stylus and re-issues of popular LPs over and over.

 

14.  Whenever somebody says something like that to me I just say "you are not doing it right".

 

15.  Tell the guy that he's absolutely right and that he should stick to the turntables. In that case we have one competitor less for the wonderful tape decks 😁 And if he won't listen then ask him how he would imagine a turntable in a car - that being before the CD-player was invented 🤣

 

In my opinion, I dislike the crackling sound of vinyl, while I barely notice the hissing of cassettes. Thus, I prefer cassette tapes. Records require RIAA equalization to suppress low frequencies during recording, which can distort the original musical form. Setting up a turntable for optimal performance is almost like rocket science, and the cost can be ten times higher than that of a cassette deck. The Nakamichi, with its magnetic head azimuth alignment, can reproduce recordings faithfully.

 

When I listen to cassette tapes, I find it more relaxing. Vinyl is less user-friendly; maintaining a good cassette deck requires regular tasks like cleaning the heads and washing the tapes. The drawback is that it's not easy to manufacture a high-quality cassette deck, and if a new production lot were to be made for the Dragon model, I believe the price would start at around HKD$100,000.

 

I own the HK Wing Sing Tsai Chin "Old Song" cassette tape (Taiwan edition) and the Sanyo B series CD of the same title. It sounds best on my Nakamichi 1000ZXL or Dragon. My vinyl system consists of a Wilson Benesch ART turntable and a Koetsu Onyx cartridge, which is more of an average setup than a high-end one.

 

You might wonder how a cassette deck sounds. It’s warm, comfortable, has a wide range, is vivid, natural, pleasant, and offers a more stereophonic experience. You have to listen to believe it.

 

My Current Collection:

 

Akai GX95

Braun C4

Harmon Kardon CD291

Marantz SD551

Nakamichi 1000ZXL x2

Nakamichi Dragon x1

Nakamichi CR7

Nakamichi CR40

Nakamichi LX5

Pioneer T-1000

Revox H1

Revox B710 MK II

Teac 112 Mk II x3

Teac V9000

Teac Z6000

Yamaha KX-1200

Conclusion:

In terms of faithful reproduction, I rank the formats as follows: reel-to-reel, cassette tape, vinyl, and then CD.

 

— HK Snob

錄音帶的聲音好嗎？比CD好，還是比黑膠好？

 

自1978年以來，我就開始聆聽音樂，那時主要的媒介是黑膠唱片。在這50年裡，我使用過不同的音樂格式，包括黑膠、CD、錄音帶，還有一些開卷錄音的經驗，我相信開卷錄音是最好的。不過，使用原始錄音材料的開卷錄音機非常昂貴，所以我仍然將黑膠唱片作為我的主要音樂來源。最近，我開始收藏優質的錄音帶播放機，原因是「它的聲音更好，有時甚至比黑膠還要好」。當然，黑膠的粉絲很多，他們通常會說錄音帶播放機會「吃掉」磁帶，並且有很多雜音……最近有人說，即使是最便宜的黑膠唱機也能超越我的錄音帶播放機。

 

我曾在Facebook上發了一條消息，關於「復古錄音帶播放機」，有人問我為什麼還在聆聽這種設備。結果有許多評論，讓我高興的是我並不孤單於這個錄音帶的世界。

 

以下是一些評論：

 

1.      兩個輪子比一個更好！

2.      錄音帶真棒。

3.      不，他從未聽過好的錄音帶播放機。也許他的經驗只限於早期的預錄磁帶。我有朋友問過：「誰還在聽錄音帶？」我想除了她的無知，她從未聽過三菱的磁帶，唉，約翰·梅爾在我們喜歡的音源上，沒錯。但要說黑膠比磁帶優越，特別是便宜的黑膠設備，這正顯示出對技術事實的深度無知。

4.      正是如此！一位自稱討厭錄音帶的朋友，擁有一些高端音響，聽了我的一台（1990年代的普通雙頭雅馬哈）錄音帶播放機，驚訝不已！

5.      一盤高品質的錄音帶，來自數字音源，並正確使用Dolby NR（或者dbx，如果你願意），絕對能超越即使是最好的黑膠唱片和最好的唱盤。

6.      是的，就是這樣：錄音帶的聲音更好（即使在較低的質量下）。內行人都知道。

7.      商業世界摧毀了優質的錄音帶媒介，因為沒有人投資於製造高端錄音帶播放機。我在我的Teac上製作混音帶，然後在我的豐田車的Blaupunkt音響中播放。我根本不在乎別人怎麼想。

8.      我的一些錄音帶的聲音比我的唱片更好，這取決於錄製的方式和播放的系統。

9.      一台好的錄音帶播放機，正確調整到使用的磁帶，使用高品質的磁帶並從任何來源（包括黑膠）正確錄製，將產生出色的效果。雖然可能會有一些小的折衷，但依然很出色。沒關係，我們不希望每個人都知道我們知道的… 😉 我有一些錄音帶是我在80年代用BEOCORD錄製的，至今聽起來仍然很棒。鮑勃·哈登，我剛剛在聽1984年用相當普通的設備錄製的《愛在金色時代》，聽起來依然很棒。

10.  我的第一台錄音帶播放機是Advent，我非常喜歡。後來，我又買了Nakamichi，享受得更多！我還添加了一個dbx降噪單元，真的降低了噪音。

11.  我一直在慢慢組建我的「退休」系統，決定錄音帶應該被這一代的數字伺服器/串流器取代。

12.  我仍然希望找到一個像Nakamichi一樣出色的設備，可能會選擇Aurender.ACS10。它配備高達24TB的存儲，能將我的所有CD壓縮到這個巨大的SSD驅動器上，這樣除了我的LP外，所有東西都可以從我的聽音椅上訪問。畢竟，這是我的退休系統！-)

13.  然後希望他花一大筆錢購買音響級的針頭和流行黑膠的再版。

14.  每當有人對我這樣說時，我只會說「你沒有做對」。

15.  告訴那個人他是完全正確的，他應該堅持使用唱盤。在這種情況下，我們就少了一個競爭者，讓那些美妙的錄音帶播放機得以存在😄 如果他不聽，那就問問他，想像一下在車上使用唱盤——這是在CD播放器發明之前的事🤣。

16.   

在我看來，我討厭黑膠唱片的爆米花裂響聲，我幾乎聽不到錄音帶的雜音，所以我選擇錄音帶。黑膠唱片在錄音時需要經過RIAA來抑制低頻，並需要在唱放階段重新生成原始音樂，這會在某種程度上造成與原始音樂形式的失配。設置一個唱盤系統就像是NASA的火箭科學，如果你想做到完美，幾乎所有的變數是錄音帶播放機的10倍。而Nakamichi的優勢在於它們的磁頭方位調整，能夠忠實再現錄製的音樂。

 

在聆聽錄音帶時，我更感放鬆，黑膠並不如錄音帶那麼方便。更具體地說，要播放一盤好的錄音帶，還需要定期工作，比如清潔磁頭、轉輪和清洗磁帶……

不過，製作一個好的錄音帶播放機並不容易，如果能生產出新的Dragon，我相信價格至少會在HKD$100,000以上。

 

我擁有HK Wing Sing Tsai Chin的「舊歌」錄音帶，台灣版的Tsai Chin「舊歌」錄音帶，最佳聲音來自我的Nakamichi 1000ZXL或Dragon。我的黑膠系統是Wilson Benesch ART TT和Koetsu Onyx碟針，並不高端，但算是平均水平。

 

你可能會問錄音帶播放機的聲音怎麼樣？

它溫暖、舒適、範圍廣、鮮艷、自然、愉悅且更立體…… 聽了才知道……

 

我的當前收藏：

Akai GX95

Braun C4

Harmon Kardon CD291

Marantz SD551

Nakamichi 1000ZXL X2

Nakamichi Dragon X1

Nakamichi CR7

Nakamichi CR40

Nakamichi LX5

Pioneer T-1000

Revox H1

Revox B710 MK II

Teac 112 Mk II X3

Teac V9000

Teac Z6000

Yamaha KX-1200

 

結論

就忠實再現的百分比而言，我認為首先是開卷錄音，然後是錄音帶，黑膠和CD。

 

HK Snob

卡帶或是黑膠哪個聽起來更好？

 

好問題，我相信有百分之八十的发烧友会选黑膠，

為甚麼呢？因為市面上並沒有最新型的卡帶錄音座。製造一台好的卡帶錄音座的成本比製造一台唱盤機要高出十倍。而製造一個好的磁頭的成本與製造一個好的唱頭的成本是差不多的。

從商業的角度來看，黑膠唱片已經淘汰了卡帶錄音座，因為沒有人會投資十倍於黑膠系統的電子和技術去製造一台聲音比黑膠系統還要好的卡帶錄音座，而且沒有人會花一萬美金去買這樣的錄音座。而黑膠唱盤機可以用一百公斤的盤片和三個馬達來設計和製造，還有一個可以在移動到內側溝槽時旋轉的金屬唱臂……賣三萬美金……這就是商業的伎倆。不知怎的，大多數人並沒有聲音或電子的背景知識。只有卡帶錄音座製造商的旗艦型號才能達到最好的聲音重現效果。

但是，當你聽過一台經過正確校準的Nakamichi dragon、!00 ZXL或Revox B710 MK II錄音座後，你可能會感到驚訝。

卡帶是如何製作的？

在以前，音樂是用錄音室品質的錄音帶（通常是2英寸的母帶）錄制的，而卡帶則是從錄音帶上轉錄過來的。

錄音帶錄音也利用電磁現象來錄制和重放聲波。錄音帶由一層塑料背層塗上一層薄薄的磁性粉末微粒組成，通常是氧化鐵（Fe2O3）和較少的二氧化鉻（CrO2）。……錄音帶只有0.15英寸（3.8毫米）寬，但可以擁有四到八條音軌。

在錄音時，隨著錄音帶經過錄音頭，一個電信號穿過錄音頭，在錄音帶表面留下一個磁性印記。當錄音帶經過播放或重放頭時，會產生一個信號，這個信號會被

LP是如何制作的？

單聲道留聲機唱片利用在塑料盤片上刻印的螺旋形90°V形凹槽。當唱片以每分鐘33 1/3轉的速度旋轉時，一個微小的唱针同時沿著凹槽移動，並與盤片表面平行、與凹槽垂直地來回振動，描繪出聲波。唱针的上端連接著一個微小的磁鐵，該磁鐵在小型線圈中來回移動，誘導產生電壓，從而重新創建錄制的聲波。唱针的振動速率決定了聲音的頻率，而振動的振幅決定了聲音的響度。

LP從錄音帶轉錄到切割機，再到母盤，然後到金屬母盤模具，再到乙烯基，我們用唱针從乙烯基凹槽中回放，理論上似乎比卡帶多了幾個步驟。還有乙烯基重放的RIAA均衡處理，使這個過程變得更加複雜（是的，再次理論上）。我的個人看法

多年來，发烧友和音乐爱好者一直在討論卡帶和黑膠唱片在音質方面的比較。每種格式都有其獨特的特點，並吸引著不同的偏好群體。在這篇全面的文章中，我們將探討卡帶和黑膠唱片在音質方面的差異，深入研究技術方面和主觀經驗如何塑造這一爭論。到最後，您將更好地瞭解這些格式之間的差異，以及哪一種格式可能更符合您的音樂偏好。

卡帶在20世紀末很流行，以其類比魅力和可攜帶性而聞名。以下是卡帶音質的一些關鍵方面：

卡帶

類比溫暖感：和卡帶一樣，黑膠唱片提供了一種溫暖和有機的聲音，這讓一些聽眾覺得很有吸引力。卡帶播放的類比性質可以為音樂增添懷舊感。

妥善保存的錄音帶和優質的卡帶播放器可以很好地還原音樂，不會損失錄音帶上的錄音，我仍然擁有很多聲音很好的優質原裝錄音帶。嘶嘶聲並不影響，因為大多數音樂都蓋過了它，我從不開啟任何NR或Dolby降噪功能。如果我們在好的卡帶播放器上播放，聲音非常悅耳，低音從揚聲器傳輸到房間的每個角落。

類比黑膠溫暖感

以類比溫暖和觸感魅力而聞名的黑膠唱片提供了一種獨特的聆聽體驗。以下是黑膠唱片音質的一些關鍵方面。黑膠唱片因其溫暖、有機和沉浸式聲音而備受讚譽。類比播放創造了一種自然的聲音體驗。黑膠唱片的類比性質使其能夠捕捉音樂中的豐富泛音和微妙之處，尤其是在中頻範圍內，這增加了深度和特色。

將唱针放置在旋轉的唱片上並觀察其動作的行為創造了一種與音樂的切實聯繫，這讓一些人覺得非常吸引人。這是最薄弱的一點，因為你需要在唱臂和唱頭、VTA角度、共面性和水平方面進行良好的設置，最重要的是追蹤重量。即使你做得最好也不容易，那你的RIAA怎麼樣？那可能無法恢復錄音室中類比音樂的原始形式。

最糟糕的是，黑膠唱片固有的缺陷，如表面噪聲、爆音和偶爾的咔嗒聲，被一些聽眾視為其魅力的一部分，為音樂增添了特色。對我來說這很不愉快。

比較音質

在比較卡帶和黑膠唱片的音質時，必須考慮影響聆聽體驗的各種因素：

 設備品質：卡帶播放器或唱盤、唱頭和揚聲器的品質極大地影響著兩種格式的音質。高端音響設備可以更有效地揭示每種格式的微妙之處。

聆聽環境：聆聽空間的聲學特性，包括房間大小、形狀和聲學處理，會影響每種格式的聲音表現。

音樂風格和制作：某些音樂風格可能受益於黑膠的精確度和動態範圍，而其他風格則可能展現卡帶的類比溫暖感。

個人偏好：一些聽眾偏好黑膠的觸感體驗和類比特性，而其他人則優先考慮卡帶的懷舊感和可攜帶性。

結論

關於卡帶是否比黑膠唱片音質更好，或者反之，這個問題很複雜，而且往往是主觀的。每種格式都提供獨特的聆聽體驗，最終的選擇取決於個人喜好、懷舊情緒和對特定聲音品質的追求。

 雖然兩種格式都有其局限性，如卡帶上的嘶嘶聲和黑膠的表面噪聲，但這些不完美之處對一些聽眾來說可能是其魅力的一部分。所謂“更好”的格式是與你產生共鳴並增強你享受音樂體驗的那種格式。一些发烧友同時欣賞這兩種格式，認識到它們各自為聆聽體驗帶來的獨特特徵。

 對我來說，我更喜歡卡帶音樂勝於黑膠，關於這一點的爭論永遠不會結束，但沒關係。看著我們如何制作黑膠和卡帶，我們應該能夠告訴它們之間的差別。

依我看，我的卡帶音樂比黑膠更好聽。CD？這裡不需要討論，因為那是劣於黑膠或卡帶的數碼格式。

 HK Snob

Cassette Vs CD

 The question of whether a cassette deck musical performance is better than a CD is subjective and depends on personal preferences and the specific context. Both cassette decks and CDs have their own unique characteristics and qualities.

Cassettes were popular in the past due to their portability and ease of use. They have a warm and somewhat nostalgic sound that some people find appealing. However, cassettes are prone to degradation over time, 30 to 40 years and their sound quality is generally considered lower compared to CDs. Cassettes can suffer from hiss, wow and flutter, and frequency response limitations.

 

However, Cassette sound is more analogue than CD, is more live and dynamic in terms of musical toen quality, especially using top class cassette decks such as Nakamichi 1000 ZXL, Dragon, Tanberg 3014 or Revox B225, B710 MK II…. If you have listed to them then you may know what I am trying to say.

 

On the other hand, CD format provides a higher level of audio fidelity and a more accurate reproduction of the original recording. They offer a wider dynamic range, lower noise floor, and better frequency response compared to cassette tapes. However all musical prime storage is in form or tape, the quality of the sound is analogue, after conversion into CD, it is becoming Digital which is different with cassette tape. CDs are also more durable and resistant to degradation, making them a more reliable medium for long-term storage.

In terms of convenience and accessibility, CDs are generally more convenient to use than cassettes. CDs allow for easy skipping between tracks and quick access to specific songs. They also provide a rather high level of audio quality when played on a good CD player or a high-quality audio system.

Ultimately, in my personal opinion, whether a cassette deck musical performance is better than a CD comes down to personal taste and the specific characteristics of the audio equipment being used. Some people may prefer the warm and analog sound of cassettes, while others may prioritize the higher fidelity and convenience of CDs.

Nakamichi Dragon and 1000 ZXL

 Anyone who had a chance to own two of these players will tell which one sound better.

For frequency response, 1000 ZXL is better than dragon. Dragon has an advantage is the auto reverse tape play function. Because of this function somehow I think some of the sound response was trade off comparing with 1000ZXL, so 1000 ZXL is still the King of all Cassette decks

Nakamichi 1000 ZXL was produced from 1979-1984 selling price was US$3800.

Dragon was selling 1984-1993 selling price was $2499. 

Weight of 1000 ZXL is 40 pounds and Dragon is 20 pounds, the weight of 1000 ZXL is 2X as Dragon.

So as its sound!

HK Snob

Remarks from top downwards

Pioneer T770S

Nakamichi Dragon

Pioneer T1000S

Nakamichi 1000 ZXL

Nakamichi Dragon Slayer Tanberg 3014

 Many people say the best cassette deck is Dragon, well we don't argue on this point first. 

I long to get a Tanberg 3014 which was described as a Nakamichi Dragon slayer.

Well, haven't heard about its sound, would be great if one day I had a chance to listen to it.

HK Snob

Remarks getty picture

Cassette decks

 from top downwards

Braun C4 deck

Nakamichi Dragon

Pioneer T1000S

Nakamichi 1000ZXL

HK Snob