An archive of The Cassette Comeback channel, that was active from 2018 to 2024. It was dedicated to the nostalgia and joy of the humble Compact Cassette. Going through the many different cassettes that were available, as well as looking at new developments, this channel hoped to dismiss the fallacy that cassettes were all rubbish and have no place in modern audio.
Hello, Tony? I apologize if this is inappropriate, but I am a longtime viewer and would like to ask your permission, if possible: I recently started a Reverb shop ("Rocco's Gear") and would like to link to this video in my listing for a case of these 1986 HF tapes. I wouldn't feel ethical doing so without permission. Would that be acceptable? Thanks for any consideration (if this is even still Tony running this channel)! 🙏🙏
1:58 are the individuals complaining they want new cassettes and decks the exact same people who are complaining they're too expensive? 6:10 those cassettes are beautiful! I've picked up some card stock and am looking to make some inlays myself. Most are replacements for rescued or refurbished prerecorded and blank cassettes with lost inlays. 4 years on, as for a cassette comeback, more and more people are seeing an issue with not owning any media they listen to. We're at the whim of the media companies removing large chunks of their libraries from their platforms, and other times giving us inferior versions of said media different from the originals (e.g. Star Wars revisions, remasters of albums with crushed dynamics). Streaming platforms have proliferated, profits are thinning or never appeared, and companies are looking to pare back their offerings. It's not a good future for the availability of back catalogues or the long tail of titles and albums that aren't very popular.
I found a 1990 UX-S idententical to the one in the video in a used lot I picked up. On my JVC TD-V531 + SMSL DAC, it's by far one of the best sounding tapes I've ever tried. It's bright and I did have to increase the bias considerably, but the hiss was incredibly low, bass was very good, excellent sound stage, and the tape tracked in the shell and wound on the hub with zero threading. It's probably my second favorite tape in my collection next to a cherry Sony HFX from 1980 that has incredible bass response.
I got bored and went to watch someone yelling over a Minecraft video. Just joking Tony, I really enjoyed this video. I was an 80s kid and yes I remember that feeling well of "shall we rent a film tonight from the video shop". Great video this, I never knew you could record audio to vhs tapes. But we didn't get a stereo vhs player till the mid 90s.
Hi Tony. Was watching this video and I won a bidding of sealed DS-X lot of 5 tapes on eBay for $15.36. Your video was a good luck charm (lol)! Thanks for the videos. Keep them coming. 😎
Thanks Tony for putting your wonderful archive back up. Your work , enthusiasm and dedication over the years may not have made you the fortune you deserve but you have the admiration and thanks of many of us. Good luck !!
The Fiio player is extremely similar to the Aiwa, maybe just a smidge more 'meat on the bones' in the midrange from the Aiwa but when switching from the Fiio to the Aiwa, the upper midrange became a little 'crashy'. These changes are tiny in comparison to the huge difference between either player and the Tomashi. If you don't want to scuff up your Aiwa player for portable use, get a Fiio player and take it with you, and you can be quite happy. The CP13 is a product you can buy today to treasure your music.
I suspect that your confusion over the use of the "D" brand here is simply that you're thinking about it more than they ever did! It's most likely just a cheap, lazy marketing effort to capitalise on recognition of the well-known "D" brand (and persuade the people who would normally buy that to "upgrade" to this instead). It's perhaps telling that the generally clear and consistent hierarchy and categorisation TDK and others used when branding their tapes up until the early 1990s (i.e. around the point the cassette format peaked) started to slip around the point that the market itself began to decline, and they started introducing goofy marketing-driven names like "CD-ing". "Super D" is most likely just a late example of that. I suspect that by that point (early 2000s?) they weren't that bothered about confusing the existing positioning/meaning of the "D" brand since most of the "serious" users would have moved to newer formats, they knew the market was in decline and were only selling to the declining number of more casual users still buying blank cassettes.
I read something on the "Tapeheads" forum mentioning a seller in the Netherlands who appeared to have acquired a large batch of "Super D" tapes, but that many of them showed signs of having being stored poorly (albeit not necessarily by them). Not sure if that's what the problem is here.
You brought memories as well as tears to my eyes. Thank You for sharing, mate. You’re a wonderful gentleman. I am currently missing my 11 Year old son who Loves 70s and 80s tech and culture and i hope this reaches him and his mum. Hopefully she lets us talk again 🫶 All the best to Ya
I had switched to Mini-Disc in 1998 and was an advocate for them at that time. So, please know that when I say this, I'm saying it having had experienced both formats: There's a case to be made for the cassette's existence in the 2020s, but none really for the MD. MD is just compressed digital. Badly compressed digital, and there are just so many better ways to compress and carry around digital content these days. I loved my MDs at the time, but I don't have any nostalgia for the format. Cassettes for me aren't nostalgia, but a way to take an analog audio experience on the go. There's just no other way to do that or at least, do it well. 8-tracks sounded like garbage, were unreliable and aren't currently supported. Cassettes can absolutely kill with fidelity if one knows what the f*ck they're doing. :) I don't ever buy or use any gear for nostalgia...if it doesn't have a rational, reasonable excuse to exist in my audio rack or in my pocket, then I don't have the time or make any room for it. Life's pretty short as it is. 😎
Ampex cassette tapes were sold for limited times in the US during the end of the 70s and the beginning of the 80s, with this beautiful model being the top of the line ❤ thank you for bringing back memories of those beautiful days, I remember having one of these and taping tv series themes using a microphone 😊
Those Revox decks, took NO PRISONERS, they were BAD-ASS, built like a panzer tank! I have a C115 professional, which I ❤️, but couldn't find a B series, you can KEEP the Naks, I'll have one of these ANY DAY over them!
Akai made some BADASS tapedecks, eye appealing, AND very functional as well! NOBODY had a better head than them, and they really weren't that expensive EITHER! When you paid Nak prices for Akai, you got the WORKS! 👍
I’ve been buying mid-90s Chrome Supers and Chrome Maximas from eBay Germany. Their supply isn’t always steady, as some tapes are bought quite quickly. Could you tell me any other places where I can buy more new old stock BASFs online?
Saludos, genial tu video, que bien por las cintas VHS y sus grabadores y reproductores, sonido genial, no fatigante como el digital, sin frialdad ni asperezas, todo analógico, muy cerca de la calidad del Reel yo Reel, pero a un precio mucho más pequeño, sigue adelante con este tipo de aparatos, abrazos, desde Bogotá, Colombia
I have to ask about the oxidation. I have some stored TDK MA-XG 90 which I bought in 2003. I have used a few of them and they show no evidence of oxidation and these still record fine. Three of the remainer are in the original TDK cardboard box they where supplied in and you can view the centre of the tape through the still sealed plastic cover. These also show no evidence of oxidation. It seems odd that the sealed tape shown here should have degraded like that but could they have been stored in an uber damp castle dungeon (or moat) ? The possibility of an original bad batch also exists but if the original tapes were unoxidised and sealed, there should never be a problem if they were stored in dry conditions (as mine have been).
From my experience, the Fiio kinda sucks like the others. Even though Fiio is known for their capable and powerful headphone amps, dacs and headphones, they failed to isolate the motor noise, have weak bass response and i believe some trickery that messes with the audio output, since the volume knob kinda also changes the tuning of the sound - the louder, the brighter the sound. And the output power in itself isn´t massive either, my 250 ohm headphones are rather quiet. But even though they´re 250 ohm, they are very easy to drive and get plenty of volume from an average phone, pc or even an old iPod classic. The We Are Rewind has good bass response, but has a poor treble response with a sharp cut off. The Mulann B1000 sold by RTM has a very open sound, bass and trebles are very well balanced and don´t have a sharp cut off, the motor noise is non existend. But the amplifier is weak, it is very quiet with my 250 headphones, but works fine with <32 ohm. The Mulann has noticeable higher wow&flutter, cheap plastics and auto stop isn´t reliable on my unit. I feel like we have everything here already, we just need to put the right parts together and maybe add an already existing reimplemention of noise reduction and actually include a tape selector switch. The equalization circuit is super easy to replicate, i don´t know why nobody has implemented that yet.
Tony, I'm overjoyed to find out you've changed your mind and making your videos available to watch along with the comment section open so I can message you this. I think I can speak for many people that they are happy you decided to keep this channel open. At the very least an archive for people to use, learn, laugh, and share the joy of this format with each other and for those who have yet to discover it. One thing I have noticed is that when everything came back except for the comment sections, initially the number of videos available to watch was 152, now it's 148. I was wondering why that is, if those 4 videos got deleted, claimed, privated, and or removed by you, RU-vid, or something else. I only ask because I know it might be only 4 videos, but they could have been important enough to keep. I hope you're doing better and good in general Tony, I know I'm just some guy but just want you to know that what you do and your work matters. -Take care.
@@CassetteComeback Oh that really sucks. Do you know what the videos were and what they were about? It's hard to remember with all of them gone briefly, then coming back, then to loose them again, even if it's only a few gone now.
