Maxell or TDK cassette's ?

[Keith1964]

Which brand of cassette tape do you like using in your high end cassette decks, TDK or Maxell. Which do you think has the best sound quality and durability?

 

[everettT]

Which brand of cassette tape do you like using in your high end cassette decks, TDK or Maxell. Which do you think has the best sound quality and durability?

Depends on the Deck. What type of recording are you doing?

 

[lovinthehd]

They (i.e. Maxell and TDK) still make cassettes? Calling @3db Back in the day I used both and some others, never really had a favorite, depended on the best deal I could get but I did use the better tape formulations....

 

[afterlife2]

Anyone of those brands are good. Basf was another favorite of mine. Chrome or metal tapes if you can find them. This is a good thread: https://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/best-cassettes-for-recording.716266/

 

[Pogre]

I do not miss wearing out cassette tapes, lol.

 

[highfigh]

I thought Maxell had better balance than TDK, although it could depend on the preference of the equipment manufacturer, too- IIRC, some, like Pioneer, were biased for TDK. Sony would obviously bias for their own tapes but in my own experience, my JVC CD-1770 sounded great with Sony Ferrichrome tape when I recorded. For playback, Maxell was another good choice, but TDK sounded a bit weak on the low end.

I always liked the cassette recorders with variable bias with three heads.

 

[everettT]

I do not miss wearing out cassette tapes, lol.

I was the fool that transferred cassette to DAT.. couple years later all hard drive.

 

[Pogre]

I was the fool that transferred cassette to DAT.. couple years later all hard drive.

Hey, at least you gave me something new to look up! I've never heard of digital audio tape before.

 

[everettT]

Hey, at least you gave me something new to look up! I've never heard of digital audio tape before.

I still have a few units that are broadcast quality, just hate get rid of them. For $500 you can by a phenomenal HardDive based recorder, just wish I could go out and record music again lol.

 

[davidscott]

Yeah I remember when the Sony DATs first came out. That said I preferred Maxel AND TDK to other brands as they seemed to last longer. Don't own a cassette deck anymore but I do have a Toshiba HI FY VHS/ DVD player with some TDK EHG video tapes. Its in storage these days but I might set it up when I move to have a backup dvd player if nothing else.

 

[sterling shoote]

Which brand of cassette tape do you like using in your high end cassette decks, TDK or Maxell. Which do you think has the best sound quality and durability?

I have a high end Sony TC-K950ES. I experimented with pretty much every tape formulation marketed and concluded Maxell UD-XLII's were the most durable and best sounding. This formula as I understand it is no longer available so I now use Maxell UR type 1 cassettes; and, I've got to tell ya, the tape copies I've made of LPs at hand sound indistinguishable from the LPs from which the tape copies were made, using Dolby B. In other words, I'm real happy with the Maxell UR cassettes. I like DAT even better.

 

[TLS Guy]

It all depends on what type of tape your recorder is set up for. The whole curse of magnetic tape is that ALL brands require a different record bias level and equalization. So you have to set up a machine for the correct bias and Eq for one brand for each type of tape. As you know there a ferric oxide , Chrome and pure metal types. So you need to pick a brand of each type that your machine can play and set it up for those types. Then you stick to the tapes you have set it up for. That has always been professional practice and is the only way to get optimal results. Unfortunately these adjustments are super critical.

I have my reel to reel machines set for Ampex 456 and the cassettes machines set for BASF chrome. I have not really set my machines up for pure metal tapes, but I could.

However I don't record cassette tapes any more, just use them for the odd playback mainly for archiving tapes from others.

So if you don't have the means to do these adjustments, then you can only experiment and see which brand sounds best on your machine. I can guarantee a different brand will sound better on another brand of machine.

 

[j_garcia]

I used to prefer Maxell.

Currently do not have a tape deck...

 

[3db]

They (i.e. Maxell and TDK) still make cassettes? Calling @3db Back in the day I used both and some others, never really had a favorite, depended on the best deal I could get but I did use the better tape formulations....

In my college days, I used TDK SA Chromes mainly but were equally happy with Maxell II Chromes and some Fuji Metals. I was really impressed with the Fujis. Fast forward (excuse the pun) a 100 years and I'm using Maxel II, TDK, Sony, and Fuji Chromes. They all sound good and my decks are calibrated for Maxells and TDK. The Fuji and Sony tapes use the same formulation I believe as the Maxels. I stay away from BASF chromes only because Yamaha did not calibrate their decks with their formulation.

 

[sterling shoote]

In my college days, I used TDK SA Chromes mainly but were equally happy with Maxell II Chromes and some Fuji Metals. I was really impressed with the Fujis. Fast forward (excuse the pun) a 100 years and I'm using Maxel II, TDK, Sony, and Fuji Chromes. They all sound good and my decks are calibrated for Maxells and TDK. The Fuji and Sony tapes use the same formulation I believe as the Maxels. I stay away from BASF chromes only because Yamaha did not calibrate their decks with their formulation.

Interestingly enough, I was never satisfied with any Sony Compact Cassette formulation, although I expected the Sony branded cassettes would complement my Sony TC-K950ES. That was not the case. Maxell UD-XLII's perform best. Since they are no longer made I now record using Maxell UR cassettes. With proper calibration they pretty much deliver low noise detail and tone heard off LPs from which the cassette recordings were made. I use Dolby B.

 

[davidscott]

I used to prefer Maxell.

Currently do not have a tape deck...

Maxell and TDK. I sold my last cassette deck in 2012 or so. Don't really miss the format.

 

[Paul-H]

I last bought a blank cassette in the 80's but used to prefer Maxell tapes then but TDK and BASF were close.

Still have a Tape player but only us it for the odd interesting tape i pick up in S/H, Thrift/Junk sores and boot sales.

Paul