In my opinion these 8-tracks sound better than Cassettes. How did I get so lucky to find a fully functional 8-track Player without needing service? Won this off that popular Auction site.
That is not true. Whilst it is true that the 8-track has a faster tape speed 3 3/4 ips versus 1 7/8 for the cassette the tape track widths are the same.
The problem with the 8 track is the tape path is such that attaining acceptable wow and flutter is impossible.
The cassette deck was capable of extreme refinement and with noise reduction systems such as Dolby B and especially Dolby C and dbx 2 tape saturation was ameliorated, to a large degree.
To avoid tape saturation out to 20 kHz at full modulation requires a half track machine running at 15 ips minimum.
The slow tape speeds and small track widths are the downfall of all domestic tape formats, with the exception of the expensive half track 15 ips reel to reel machines. All these machines were built to at least a semi professional standard. Prices for such machines in the 70 were around $1500 to $3000.
The best cassette machines were also in that price range.
A TEAC machine like the one you see below was over $2000 and no 8 track would come close to it.
