Originally Posted by SirTanon
Originally Posted by GSCJR
The Maxell "super fine epitaxial" XLII-S was in my opinion the highest quality cassette tape available for both reliability and sound performance. They were subjected to substantial wear and tear when I used them as a DJ without any problems.
Believe me I tried many different models and other brands as well.
I remember back when I was in college, and I made tons of mixtapes, copied CD to tape, etc.. for my car, since it only had a cassette deck, buying tons of cassette tapes.. and on at least one occasion, buying Maxell XLII-S tapes by the case through a catalog.. I think it was B&H Photo or something like that. I remember them not being cheap, either.. but I wanted the best quality sound I could get.
Also bought a lot of Sony Metal SR and Metal XR tapes, and plenty of TDK SA-X cassettes.. Man, just thinking of this brings me back..
I think a bunch of my mixtapes are downstairs in boxes. What I primarily used were the Maxell XLII and TDK MA 110. I know the tape was kind of thin, but I never had one break on me. I forgot what else I used for a Type I. The place I bought my Nak deck from would do annual recalibrations for life, although I'm not sure they would still do it. The place is still in business, got sold. They would ask me which tapes they wanted to calibrate it to. Might have been Maxell UR, which are still being made, the XLII, and TDK MA. But over the years I tried all sorts of different tapes.
My wife's 2002 Civic has a cassette deck. My 2004 WRX won't play CDs any more. It just kind of whirs around when I turn on the stereo and it just stops making noise. I think the mechanism is toast. However, the radio still work, and I haven't tested the cassette. Not even sure that any new systems do anything other than play from Bluetooth or via USB. I guess a few new cars still have CD players.