NAD613
05-24-2008, 10:55 AM
Last night, I made a tape on a 100 minute Maxell XLII-S I recovered from my tape collection. It was cleaned up, erased with a bulk tape eraser, & a new label put on. I recorded "Francis Albert Sinatra & Antonio Carlos Jobim" & then 7 other songs the two recorded off the album "Sinatra & Company". All 17 songs clocked in at about 47 min., perfect to put on each side of the tape.
Well, it sounds outstanding. I recorded it on my NAD 613 using Dolby C with the bias set at -1.2. When recording off CD or the computer onto cassette, the tape adds that little bit of warmth to the low-mids & lows that is lacking on digital formats, IMHO. After listening to cassettes all weak, my WMA now sounds thin.
For the first time, I did an A/B listening test between cassette & digital. I listened to a tape I made off a CD of Pink Floyd's "Dark Side Of The Moon" and a version of that same CD burned onto my computer. I switched back and forth & the difference was noticeable. The cassette version had that extra bit of low/low mid sound to it, but the highs sounded the same.
I was fortunate to find some decent blank tape, Akai SX & Akai GX, that sound very good & are well made. Luckily, I also have about a dozen or so Maxell type II tapes, mostly XLII-S, that I have from the early-mid 90's that I have reclaimed.
Well, it sounds outstanding. I recorded it on my NAD 613 using Dolby C with the bias set at -1.2. When recording off CD or the computer onto cassette, the tape adds that little bit of warmth to the low-mids & lows that is lacking on digital formats, IMHO. After listening to cassettes all weak, my WMA now sounds thin.
For the first time, I did an A/B listening test between cassette & digital. I listened to a tape I made off a CD of Pink Floyd's "Dark Side Of The Moon" and a version of that same CD burned onto my computer. I switched back and forth & the difference was noticeable. The cassette version had that extra bit of low/low mid sound to it, but the highs sounded the same.
I was fortunate to find some decent blank tape, Akai SX & Akai GX, that sound very good & are well made. Luckily, I also have about a dozen or so Maxell type II tapes, mostly XLII-S, that I have from the early-mid 90's that I have reclaimed.