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What is Hip? Cassettes!


thebes

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Interesting and fun. To me, it proves that newer music buffs, like hipsters, are not all about some mythical purity or accuracy in the hi-fidelity world, but rather they are about the nostalgia, the vibe, the social acceptance and the utility of it all. In a very similar way, these same hipsters are into film cameras and instant cameras and toy plastic cameras, which give a retro-style photo result that is as far from the "digital perfection" as you can imagine. 

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  • 1 month later...

Pre-recorded cassettes for the most part are a disaster save for the days of cassette car stereos. When I bought my Nakamichi CR-7 I vowed not to play my pre-recorded tapes in it. I had read that the engineers at Nak had such attention to detail that even pre-recorded tapes sounded great, but I stood firm. There came a time when I gave in, it was kind of like how anal you can be with a new car and keeping it pristine only to finally relent and not sweep it the carpet at the first sign of dust. I put a Marillion tape in and hit Play, it was tremendous. The level of genius that worked for Nakamichi at its peak was impressive. While pre-records are never in heavy rotation I don't give it a second thought to play one every now and again.

Edited by sonder
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If cassettes are hip then I lost being hip about 25 years ago. I don't miss that format a bit. Yeah, they could sound good but...I lost interest. Donated all mine years ago. Even the Denon and Maxell tapes that were dang good for their time are all gone except for the ones my best friend kept that were made years ago on the Nak and Denton decks at the audio store I worked at.

Edited by avguytx
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I have a relatively new very large dual Pioneer cassette player/recorder and the wow and flutter drive me nuts. I will not be one of those switching to cassettes. Although with today's singers warbling one note into 50 it might not be noticeable. 

JJK

Edited by JJKIZAK
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I have a relatively new very large dual Pioneer cassette player/recorder and the wow and flutter drive me nuts. I will not be one of those switching to cassettes. Although with today's singers warbling one note into 50 it might not be noticeable. 

JJK

If you have a need for a deck you can readily find a great one that doesn't do that for less than a 100 bucks...often a LOT less.  Take it and drop in in the nearest trash.  Audible wow and flutter is the sign of either a VERY cheap deck or one that is malfunctioning.  The Yamaha I purchased several years ago for less than 50 bucks exhibits none at all. 

 

Dave

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  • 1 month later...

It seems that I had some sort of "Rip Van Winkle" moment last night as this verse kept playing out in my dream.

 

 

 

I was once out drinking one very cold winter's night

 

When I thought I'd lay myself down to rest

 

In a big hill of deep snow

 

I laid there in the cold and felt frost caressing my face

 

As I fell asleep and dreamed

 

I dreamed I was visited by archeologists of the future

 

This really blew my mind when they asked about this fossil they found

 

The fact that me an overfed long haired leaping gnome……. :huh:

 

 

 

 

_ cassette year-2200.jpg

Edited by Fjd
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This past summer while at my favorite flea market I walked past a cassette deck and glanced at it. I did a double take as most of the stuff I see there is BPC (black plastic crap). Turns out it was a Sony K890ES deck and had the rosewood side panels. This is a top of the line single bay cassette unit, 3 motors and all the bells and whistles. the guy had no idea what it was and I picked it up for 10 bucks. Stopped by a GoodWill on the way home to pick up a cassette to try it out with and was amazed at the quality of sound this unit made. Still not collecting cassettes but this is going in my rack just for the cool factor. Just looking at it you can see the quality that Sony built into it. Someday I'll give it a good cleaning and try making some recordings for my car. My Volvo from 2004 has a cassette deck/CD player.

 

BillWojo

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Why can't studios focus on making CD's sound like they should rather than releasing stuff on inferior media like vinyl and tape?  I really don't get it.  I sold a record player I picked up for $14 from a garage sale for $325 on craigslist!  I had several hipsters wanting it too and I'm in SC of all places?!?  I played a few records on a cheap system I have for sale, and it sounded good, then I hooked my CD player and it sounded very good!  

 

I want dynamic range and a low noise floor and real digital recordings that aren't some inferior analog copies mastered into a digital download.

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On a whim several years ago I noticed a very inexpensive Sony dual-well deck in an audio store in Lima, Ohio and wound up buying it. Intending to dub tapes for a group of friends who agreed to keep the mix tape alive I didn't realize that the unit had Dolby S. After getting accustomed to the deck I started delving into recording with Dolby S and the results surprised me. The tapes sounded great to me and ones made on the Sony were even better when played on the Nak. I used it for a while as my primary recording deck for tapes sent to my buddies who were impressed by the quality of the tapes as well. They weren't playing them on junk, either, as one of them had a Tandberg TCD-3014. 

 

It's a shame that Dolby S came along so late in the cassette time line as cassettes were on their way out. Had it come along a few years earlier I think the medium would have stayed at least viable for quite some time. I am always on the lookout for a higher quality Dolby S deck, but they are hard to find in a price range I consider reasonable. They were big in Europe, but were 230 V/50 Hz so that eliminates a large portion of the decks available today. The Aiwas and Pioneers are just too pricey.

Edited by sonder
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