Why cassettes are better

Its still amazing how good the best cassettes sounded towards the end though, with good tape formulations and noise reduction anyways. Siegmund , Daily Nightly , Aftermath and 1 other person like this. A variation on the old lp vs. I used cassettes for years, making copies of my lps to save wear, car, and workout mixes. When I switched over to cd, the cassettes were relegated strictly for car use, until I finally got rid of my car with cassette deck a few years ago.

As Kevin said, under ideal conditions, cassettes were capable of surprisingly good sound. Under real world conditions, cd offers significantly better sound. Location: Fresno, California. If you used the very finest metal tape on a cassette deck capable of getting everything out of that blank tape you still have to deal with tape hiss and modulation noise one way or another. Dolby B [or C or DBX] doesn't so much eliminate noise as move it around—it's like squeezing a balloon. When I made cassette copies of concerts for the artists alongside my DAT master tapes the performers inevitably asked for no noise reduction—it was easier for the musicians to listen through the hiss than to put up with all the dynamic distortions that Dolby B produced.

No contest—if I could have popped out a CD at the end of the concert, that's what the artists would have asked for. Robin L , Oct 28, Location: Jedburgh Scotland.

It did not catch on. I don't know whether any albums were ever released on the Elcaset format. Then, of course, there was DAT which, again, didn't really find a mass market. I would agree, however, that, in the early 80s, cassettes sounded pretty good. Especially when vinyl quality appeared to take a nosedive in the same period.

Compact discs are often the cheapest thing you can buy in a record store, especially used. Who knows, maybe someday old CDs will be coveted by the hipster masses like old vinyl is today? My daughters can clean up on my estate sale if that ever happens. CDs: Sometimes a little tinny but mostly clear and expansive, especially on stereos. Cassettes: Weak and underwatery, except for in the right gas-guzzler cars. CDs: Skip when scratched, especially the ones cheaply manufactured post But since slim CD sleeves are a dime a thousand nowadays, discs are easier than ever to keep protected.

CDs: Admittedly, compiling a cool playlist onto one disc was always a clunkier, more complicated and less soulful process with CDs than with tapes. Home All Sections. Log In Welcome, User. Coronavirus Minneapolis St. Paul Duluth St. Surge in Twin Cities carjackings is putting drivers on edge. List of vaccine injuries is not what it seems, public officials warn.

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Music Cassettes are making a comeback, but CDs are the superior vintage music format The wrong format is making a resurgence as music fans flocked to indie shops again Saturday for Record Store Day.

By Chris Riemenschneider Star Tribune. Record Store Day What: Limited releases and in-store events celebrating record shops nationwide.

You will find a lot of vinyl collectors but very few pure cassette collectors. One of the most significant ways they differ is sibilance:. De-essing is undertaken only with vinyl records because the sound is so prominent. You can recognize the difference on a CD and a vinyl recording, which often leads to a less-intense sound on vinyl. No matter what format you choose, the music will be optimized for that delivery. That means what you hear on a CD may be different than the vinyl format.

Suppose you like the imperfections of vinyl and appreciate what an artist sounds like in a rawer format, as opposed to a more polished environment where engineers can fix even the tiniest of glitches. In that case, you will probably prefer vinyl. On the other hand, if you want to hear the optimal version of a recording, as close to perfection as you can get, then you will probably prefer a CD.

Yes, the format seems a little colder and impersonal, but it also delivers music in its most optimal form. You can concentrate on the music and less on the experience of listening.