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Reel to reel, cassette and other analogue tape formats.

RE: Recommendations For Best Sounding Cassette Deck

I just fired up a Tascam 122 mkII cassette deck..... I have a Nak CR-5A and NAD 6300..... The Nak sounded really nice, but wasn't reliable..... The NAD is a decent deck, but doesn't track recordings well from other decks.... The Tascam, I thought I lost highs over time on old recordings, but play like new on this deck, a used but low-hours unit calibrated at Audio Proz in MA.....

The Tascam has a linearity the NAD and even the Nak don't match. I'm recording Donald Fagen's "The Nightfly" to a 90 minute cassette side, monitoring the output. Using a BASF Chrome Extra II tape, recorded from CD, via Dolby C HX Pro. The record/playback with Type II tapes is as transparent as any deck I've owned, and and devoid of a "graininess" or "house sound" that often plagues cassette playback. The ever slight loss of HF extension isn't as pronounced as with other decks, I will try metal tapes later.

I got the deck because I think when I play back recordings without any active digital processing going on, I sense a relaxed "depth" to the presentation. Loses a smidgen of resolution relative to vinyl or CD, but a convenient analog alternative.


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