What makes tape sound better than vinyl ?


Even when making recordings from vinyl to cassette, in some aspects it sounds better, though overall in this particular example the turntable sounds better than the deck. Tape sound appears to have a flow and continuity that vinyl lacks. 
inna

Showing 5 responses by shadorne

Those who like cassettes may like compression - a more punchy sound. Cassette will definitely compress good vinyl. Good vinyl can have as much as 70dB dynamic range on the outer edge. Cassettes never exceeded 50 dB.

There is no need to feel ashamed that you prefer lower quality compressed audio - a lot depends on the quality of your playback system - compression in a modest car audio system usually works great and this alone probably lead to the success of cassettes (walkman and making your own compilation tapes are other factors). Of course from a sound quality perspective cassettes were a big step backwards.
Geoff,

You are showing complete ignorance.

Analog audio tape has for decades been one of the preferred methods of compression in rock and pop! The tape compression of peaks is what creates the punchy sound on AC/DC type stuff.

When you transfer good vinyl to a cassette you will compress the peaks (this happens whenever the needles on the VU meter get close to the red)
Geoff,

Please re-read the OP post that starts this thread. "vinyl to cassette" is quite explicitly the topic.

You are ignorant as well as completely off topic. 
@inna

In order to avoid confusion, why dont you make another thread as this one is stated to be about Cassette tape recordings of Vinyl and how they sound better.

@raymonda    

You can't share anything of your vast experience with Geoff (or get him to admit he is wrong) even though your experience with compresion and punch is standard audio industry practice. Geoff is as slippery as the snale oil he purveys liberally on this site.