# The comeback of Cassette tapes and Vinyl?



## tonyvdb (Sep 5, 2007)

So seeing as there now seems to be a small but none the less noticeable comeback of the Cassette tape and vinyl seems to be gaining ground again do any of you plan on buying a Tape deck and or digging out the one you already have and using it?

http://www.ctvnews.ca/entertainment...of-cassette-tapes-in-canadian-music-1.3290300


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## willis7469 (Jan 31, 2014)

Hahahaha!!!! Not a chance. I survived all that once already! Lol. Far too many detractors for me. It was fun in the 80s when I was growing up, but I find zero technical advantage in using tape. And being able AirPlay, or stream from my pc is priceless. IMO, cassette media and equipment belongs in museums. I have a decent technics TD gathering dust. Maybe I could sell it to one of these new guys!


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## tonyvdb (Sep 5, 2007)

Ya, I see the draw of vinyl but the cassette is a little odd to me as the sound quality even on a new tape is not nearly as good as CD. I have two higher end tape decks at home and other than the odd tape I have kicking around they hardly ever get used.


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## Wayne A. Pflughaupt (Apr 13, 2006)

I really don't get the attraction to these old mediums fraught with clips, pops and background hiss. After enduring that stuff for a decade, the first time I heard a CD and music faded into a total inky-black silence - wow, it was absolutely stunning, a thing to behold. I'll never go back.

The only reason I keep a turntable and cassette deck around is to transfer tapes and vinyl to my computer, where I can clean up the clicks, pops and background hiss as much as possible before saving it to a file or burning it to a CD.

Regards,
Wayne


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## kevin360 (Oct 4, 2012)

Vinyl I get, but cassette tapes are a miserable medium, and I had (among others) a Nakamichi 700ZXL (tossed it about 10 years ago). I do still have a TEAC A-4010, but I doubt it will ever be removed from its box again (don't really know why I'm hanging on to it). I even bought a PCM add-on for a Sony SL-2710 (I think that was the model) Beta Hi-Fi. I have no desire to ever see another tape of any flavor - just a horrible storage medium for so many reasons.


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## Lumen (May 17, 2014)

I enjoyed sitting in front of my cassette deck for hours on end making mix tapes for the car and portable player. The deck wasn't high end, but leached out (what I considered to be) fantastic sound from high grade tapes. There was a lot of hiss, though. Dolby-B seemed to dull the whole presentation, while Dolby-C seemed better but with different results on different decks. Home tapes were made without Dolby NR. I preferred to remove tape hiss using a single-ended noise gate (KLH Burwen Research DNF-1201A).

I still have the cassette deck, the noise filter, and a graphic EQ unit with LEDs on each slider. All work, but I only keep them around for nostalgic reasons.


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## JoeE SP9 (Jan 18, 2017)

I have enough music on cassette that's not available on any other medium that I keep a cassette deck (Teac V-7010) connected to my system. All my tapes were recorded by me using Dolby B or C and consequently sound pretty good. I have no pre-recorded tapes.


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## tonyvdb (Sep 5, 2007)

Ironic, I just was given this Denon DN-T620 rackmount CD/Tape unit. I have enough rackspace in my theater room rack that this will work nicely. I needed a decent CD player anyhow and now I can have it mounted in the rack properly.


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## DqMcClain (Sep 16, 2015)

Anybody need a Sony ADAT player/recorder? I hear those are making a comeback...? 

But seriously... pay for shipping and you can have it.  Fair warning, it is NOT light. Or small.


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## Wayne A. Pflughaupt (Apr 13, 2006)

tonyvdb said:


> Ironic, I just was given this Denon DN-T620 rackmount CD/Tape unit. I have enough rackspace in my theater room rack that this will work nicely. I needed a decent CD player anyhow and now I can have it mounted in the rack properly.


Nice unit, Tony! Looks like they’re cleaning house at your church again, huh? 

Regards, 
Wayne


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## tonyvdb (Sep 5, 2007)

LOL, yup.
They recently gave me a profecinal JVC Digital S deck as well. It was a format that was out just before High definition came out and was the competition the ED digital Bata format.


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## 3dbinCanada (Sep 13, 2012)

There's all kinds of chat on the net about the comeback of cassettes. Its not gonna happen despite my recent purchase of a 2nd deck.  Vinyl never went away but will never reach the hayday before the CD came out. The growth will continue but it will never reach digital downloads in numbers. A big reason for this is my kids generation listen to random songs, not a whole album that my generation tended to do.


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## tonyvdb (Sep 5, 2007)

I was doing some digging in our storage room and found a box of my old belongings and in it was a cassette from MC hammer "have you seen her" still in its original case LOL


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## 3dbinCanada (Sep 13, 2012)

tonyvdb said:


> I was doing some digging in our storage room and found a box of my old belongings and in it was a cassette from MC hammer "have you seen her" still in its original case LOL


Did you play it?


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## tonyvdb (Sep 5, 2007)

I did, and it still sounds not bad at all. Its been in a cool dry place for years.

I also have Chicago 17 on cassette and Tim Feehan's first album.


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## 3dbinCanada (Sep 13, 2012)

I had bought a Yamaha KX-800 with dbx NR facility about two years ago because I still have some casettes that I listen too. For fun, I recorded a CD on a chrome tape and if I were to compare the sound between the two blindfolded, I would not be able to distinguish the CD from the tape. It was just that good. I was gob smacked. I was able to buy some new blank cassettes from Ebay and began recording albums that I have that are not available digitally or on CD. I also picked up a Panasonic "Shockwave" Walkman so I could listen to these albums on cassette while commuting to work.


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## tonyvdb (Sep 5, 2007)

On a good new blank cassette chrome or metal it can sound really good. I used the Sony Metal SR100 blanks for years and still have some around that sound surprisingly good for being 20years old. I never used a DBX unit simply because of compatibility with other decks. Dolby C noise reduction was quite good.
Personalty I would just buy a CD recorder and record the Albums to that (thats what I did). Tapes are fun and nostalgic for sure.


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## 3dbinCanada (Sep 13, 2012)

Vinyl will contiue to rise in popularity for a lil while longer but cassettes will be a short lived fad.


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## Susan Steele (Dec 19, 2018)

well, regardlesss of whether they are coming or going, I decided to have my Nakamichi refurbished this year (capstan wheelie thingamagiggy?) as I have hundreds of party tapes from the 70's and I figure I can put them in while cleaning house or cooking for a good trip down memory lane. That and I lost 2500 lps in a marital dispute, and much of the old music I ONLY have on tape. Just moved and going thru equipment odds and ends and trying scrape together a logical setup for both LR and den, and for the first and only time am into new and lovely OLED TVs but aged and obsolete AVR and stereo equipment (from complete Adcom setup to Denon AVR 1911, Dual 1219 turntable, Nak 3-head deck, 2 huge tower SVS subs with 700 amp, Paradigm speakers, BR 4K DVD along with several more ancient decks). I'm not sure I even want to replace the AVR setup, but definitely want a nice stereo setup....to the point I may even be okay with a decent soundbar with my LG OLED (holding my hands over my ears so I dont hear you all scream). I simply am not as picky about movie sound as music sound...but then I guess I'll have to hook up some sort of AVR in the den to use the two huge SVS subs or they'll look pretty silly. <Sigh> Why can't it all last a lifetime...our pets and our equipment??


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## 3dbinCanada (Sep 13, 2012)

I have 3 decks, all Yamaha as you can see by my signature. I purchased my first KX800 as I have music that I have on vinyl that I cannot find digitally or prohibitively expensive on CD. I bought two Walkman that I use so I can listen to these albums on my commute to work. The second KX800 was purchased so that I can play the tapes on my 2nd system when my first system becomes unavailable. I then purchased a 3rd deck, a K-720 so that I could play the tapes in my bedroom system. I record with the deck's onboard dbx facility. I recorded a CD using dbx onto a Maxel Chrome tape and you will be hard pressed to hear a difference between the CD and the cassette.


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