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Should i buy a cassette based on lab test's?

I am a avid analog taper (cassettes)and i came across some cassette tape comparison articles from 1975 1977 1978 1980 1982 1985 1988 1990 and the last from 1993 and all of these test comparisons put TDK as the best chrome tape starting in 1977-1993 (TDK SA-X 1982 on).Is the TDK SA-X cassette the best high bias tape ever made or should these test's be taken with a grain of salt?I always thought the Maxell XLII-S tape was a good tape but all these tests put the TDK SA-X way ahead of the Maxell XLII-S tape and all others in the type II high bias catagory.What's your take on these test's,i would be curious to know what other's that still tape to cassette think?Thanks for any input,Keith H.
keithant
timo's avatar
timo
610 posts
 
You should find out what brand of cassette tape your deck was biased (fine-tuned) with. This should be your tape of choice as its parameters have been "maximized" with your deck. Of course, however, if you have a bias fine adjust capablility on your deck then it should be fairly easy to get good results with most tape brands.
sean
6,231 posts
 
Combine Bomarc's and Timo's response and you've got your answer. They covered different aspects of tape selection i.e. pre-adjusted bias levels vs machines with adjustable bias. Obviously, adjustable bias has advantages so long as one has a way of making sure that it is optimized for the given formulation being used. I think that the most advanced "auto-biasing" machines made came from Phase Linear / Pioneer. Sean
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keithant OP
5 posts
 
The TDK SA-X does seem to have a bit better dynamic range than the Maxell XLII-S and better high end response,My deck has both Bias and sensitivity level controls and i noticed that when both tapes are calibrated correctly,playing back both tapes at the same recording level and the same amp volume level with the same song the TDK lights up the low level frequency LED on my DBX sub-harmonic synthesizer and the Maxell does not which also shows the TDK's low freq prowess over the Maxell...Thanks for all the answers..Keith.
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