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In Reply to: The 234 is a 4-track. posted by soundnut on March 19, 2007 at 13:45:05:
you have a very good point there...may as well keep the 1-7/8 IPS option open toowhat Teac machines have the 3.75 IPS speed ?
I noticed the Tascam 122B has a headphone volume knob, which I find very useful on my Sony Elcaset deck- that's a good option
does the TEAC C- decks have that ?
what are the frequency response ratings of these decks, with standard, chrome, and metal tapes ?
someone elsewhere told me, that NAK and Denon did more with 1-7/8 IPS, than Teac or Tascam did with 3.75 IPS, in upper freq response extension- but I find that hard to believe- although I've seen it on paper. I'd have to hear it for myself. Every time I upped the speed on my reel to reels, sound quality jumped dramatically.
Follow Ups:
I have a Nak that does make stunningly good recordings. The thing is, you have to play it back on a Nak to get the full benefit because of the difference in the head gap widths that Naks have.Of course, you're going to be tied to the same deck if you record at double-speed too, so it's a wash. I'd say the difference between a TASCAM or TEAC at double speed and a Nak at normal speed is minimal, in my experience.
The TEAC C-series don't have the headphone volume control. The TASCAM 122 does.
If you're looking for dubs that sound virtually identical to the original source and want compatibility, CDs are really the way to go in my opinion. The media's easier to get, cheaper, the sound is more accurate than what you can get from a cassette, and they don't wear out with progressive plays. Cheaper media can suffer from bit-rot, but it's not really an issue if you buy good media.
A Nak, other 3-head reference deck from Revox, Sony, Denon, etc. or one of the TEAC/TASCAM options above are about as good as a cassette option is probably going to get, though. Align your deck to a good quality tape type and stick with it for best results.
I've heard from a few NAK is good- but my intuition and common sense tell me, 1-7/8 IPS can only be so good- I hear a lot of people complain about reliability on the NAK decks. My tech tells me they are over-rated. Their specs are great on paper, but what about the sound in between that bandwidth. The Teac/Tascam stuff just looks more industrial to me, and I like the big VU meters- I've yet to hear one guy complain about them, everyone that dubbed to 3.75 IPS cassette said it sounded greatCD-R is a 2-edged sword- they advertise great bandwidth on that- but what they don't tell you, is the information that's missing in between that bandwidth. In other words, I'd rather get ALL the musical information from an analog tape deck at 40hz-16khz, than get lossy digital information at 20hz-20khz. My ears can tell the difference, that the standard CD at 44/16 is low-resolution digital. MP3 and home made WAV CD-R sounds even worse. They sound great until you have an analog tape format 1/4" at 3.75 or 7.5 IPS to compare them to- then the digital lure fades. Digital is basically a low-background noise, convenience format
In the case of the TASCAM/TEAC decks, the 234 is spec'd at 25hz-20khz, it must sound great. Posts I've read spec'd the 122 at 20khz with metal tape, less with chrome and standard- but even with chrome it was a 19 khz high end.
Now if they started selling plug and play SACD or DVD-A recorders for $150 new, that you could input a tape deck or phono into and record analog to digital at that higher resolution, then I'd be in line. But computer seat time to record music turns me off- IMO computers are for surfing the net and email and MS word, spreadsheets, message boards, EBay- while tape decks are for recording- growing up in the 70's dubbing vinyl top tape all the time, I'm stuck in my ways...to me the tape sounds better anyway, as long as it's at 3.75 IPS or faster- and metal tape (or at least chrome tape) on the cassette deck.
I've done quite a few analog to digital transfers using MusicMatch Jukebox at the maximum WAV resolution, and also a few MP3's. The machine I like the most though, is this new DVD-R with built in HDD, it records Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo in AC-3 format, just plug in your tape deck, hit record, and it records- I can fit 6 LP's on a blank DVD+R disk. It will also record vinyl if you put a preamp inline first. IMO it sounds better than MP3 and CD-R. I know that Dolby Digital AC-3 is lossy as heck, but somehow it ends up sounding ok. If I wanted to dub to digital, I'd use that- as easy as hitting record button on the remote.
Get a 3 head nak, get it tuned right and it will be awesome. My recommendation would be a 680 series.
Good Luck,
Ben
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