New Maxells: Not Good

[NAD613]

I recorded some music on a new Maxell XL-II earlier today & it wasn't good. The sound wasn't as good as the other new blank cassettes I've bought & I think I experienced a dropout. I was listening to a song & part of it just disappeared for a few seconds. Later I recorded on a Fuji DR-I, same song on the same deck, & the sound was perfect.

My, how far Maxell has fallen. I'm never buying any of their cassettes again.

[NAD613]

I called Maxell tech support & they'll email me back letting me know what they're going do since the tapes have a lifetime warranty, but I'm not expecting much. The guy on the phone didn't know what a drop-out was. I told them that I've been using their products since 1990 & that their quality isn't what it once was.

[Scorpion8]

I've never had that issue and I have many, many of their tapes. I'll bet it starts to happen to all of us as these tapes age.

[Mr. Lin]

Amusing and a little disturbing that the Maxell guy didn't know what you meant by drop-out. Clearly they're nowhere near what they used to be, this was obvious to me, a newcomer in tape world, when I recently got some NOS XL-IIs from reputable time period and compared it to the new ones. As far as build quality goes I was shocked at how much heavier and sturdier the old XL-II was.

However, like Scorpion8, I've not had any issues with the new ones so far, but in my case I've only used about 3 of them. I have way too many unfortunately, like 5 or 6 boxes that I may never use.

[Des-Lab]

This comes as no surprise to me. I've been saying all along that the current Maxell tapes are essentially worthless.

[Mr. Lin]

This comes as no surprise to me. I've been saying all along that the current Maxell tapes are essentially worthless.

Yes, we know quite well that you have no love for them.:)

[braxus]

I've bought some of the new Maxell XLII tapes and out of the box the second tape was bad. Its hit or miss with these tapes.

[Acoustic]

I've bought some and I do like the TDK SA's and Fuji DR-II's better but they do come a close third for me. No dropouts. I have around 60 unopened... is this the wrong forum to ask if anyone wants to purchase some??:-? Just kidding.:rolleyes:

[macster]

Can you post a picture of the Maxell's that you are talking about? I have a ton of them (used) various interations of the XLII and they are great. (so far)

M~

[NAD613]

It's the most recent version; I bought 2 boxes of them new back in May. You can find them on Amazon.com, tape.com, etc...

[Marc Hugo]

I must say, I haven't any hassles with any of my Maxells yet - including the newer Maxell XLII-90 that I got from American Digital in Connecticut - I think of them as new as they are newer than many others that I have. I got them in about 2002 though. They are, to be frank, just as good as others that I have that are much older. However, perhaps the decline is more recent than that. I have UD1 60 and 90 - and I think very highly of them. They are made in Japan (proabably early to mid nineties), although I also think that a bit much is made of this particular claim to fame(being made in Japan). I have Maxell LN that are 25 years old that are wonderful, UD XLII and XLII-S that are 23-24 years old that are as if I had recorded on them yesterday. By the same token, I have a British made XLII-S Maxell (several of them) - but one that I demo as a testiment to the excellence of Dolby S. It dates back to 2001. Obviously I would not be mentioning this if it was not fantastic. Incidentally, as early as 1984, Hitachi-Maxell was assembling tapes in Korea.