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The sound quality of this machine is fine for recording nature sounds and children's music concerts. This is another good thing about the Maxell XLII tape.I have nothing bad to say about the 90 minute Maxell XLII tape. But I do have bad things to say about tape recorders. The particular recording was a duet with Max Roach on drums and Anthony Braxton on saxophone. Again, this is not the fault of the tape.
Finally, Sony had an excellent little hand-held cassette player/recorder, the TCM-454VK. Therefore, at least for amateur recordings of nature sounds, marching bands, and parties, cassette tapes and cassette recorders might no longer be medium of choice. Perhaps, one time out of 100 times that I use the Tandberg, the tape gets tangled up. A similar recorder, the Panasonic RQ-L31 Portable Cassette Recorder with Slide Microphone, adds a high-pitched chirping sound to your tapes. First of all, my Tandberg is a risky machine. This recording was an especial challenge to the tape's ability to record at higher frequencies.
The Nakamichi 581 was, and probably still is, the highest quality cassette deck known to mankind. This demonstrates the high quality of the Maxell XLII tape. But this is not the fault of the tape. Sony TCM-200DV Standard Cassette Voice Recorder adds a high-pitched whining sound to your tapes. Last year, I bought a digital voice recorder, the Olympus DS-40.
I've used the Maxell XLII tapes for recording albums from vinyl, recording from compact discs, and recording live, e.g., parties, waterfalls, and my own electric-guitar playing using a Nakamichi microphone. The following does not apply to making tape recordings from commercially available music on compact discs. I've used them on a Nakamichi 581 cassette deck, a Tandberg TCD320 cassette deck, and small hand-held recorders from Sony (with built-in microphone). But I can't find anybody who can fix mine.
I was not able to tell the difference. The following applies only to recording nature sounds, children's marching bands, and so on. The Olympus DS-40 is an absolute dream and a miracle -- because of the very low background noise, because of the absence of clicking sounds when starting/stopping or when pausing/restarting recordings, because of the extreme length of recordability, and because of its extremely compact size. Please see my review of the Olympus DS-40.
I blame this on the Tandberg, not on the tape. When I first got my Nakamichi 581, I did a side-by-side test of an actual vinyl record, and my taped copy of the vinyl recording.
The Maxell tape passed the test, so to speak. Another problem is that my Nakamichi 581 has been broken for many years, and I have not been able to find anybody who repairs this sort of machine.
Instead, Sony does make a similar, newer model, but the sound quality of this Sony cassette recorder is garbage (please see my reviews of the newer Sony machine). I have no reason to believe that the recordings on my Maxell tape have deteriorated.
I have used Maxell XLII for over two decades. Also, I recently listened to recordings that I made in the year 1980.
However, I dropped this Sony machine, and it broke, and it is not manufactured anymore.
YOU ENTER YOUR INFORMATION AND THEN GET TO THE PLACE WHERE IT SAYS: "PLACE YOUR ORDER" AND THE CART GOES TO "0". i CALLED JANDR TWICE ABOUT REMOVING THIS PAGE FROM AMAZON BUT THEY SAID IT TAKES TIME. THIS PRODUCT IS NO LONGER AVAILABLE AT J AND R. REAL DRAG.
Hard to find but necessary item for cassette users (yes, there are probably still millions of us). Top of the line quality, top value, arrived quickly and in excellent condition.
One thing that I should probably say though is to make sure that the cassette deck you are using has the ability to switch to the high bias postition for recording. I used a JVC cassette deck that is over 25 years old to record onto the tapes and the sound quality is outstanding. If your deck can switch to the high bias position then I highly recommend these tapes. I am very pleased with this purchase. The product arrived on time and all of the tapes in the set worked fine. If it cannot, then you will not be able to use these tapes.
Even before stores quit carrying high-bias tape cassettes, it was difficult (in San Francisco and San Diego) to find Maxell, my preferred brand from way back. Amazon makes it easy, just the way it makes so many things easy.
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