Imation TDK SA - Is It As Bad As Some People Say? 

I bought two used Cassette Decks over the weekend. I have been infected with the virus. Once again 😂

The TDK SA 90 cassettes are fantastic

Hi! Subscribed to your channel recently. Also infected with this virus. I'm from Ukraine. The cassette theme sometimes helps to distract from what is happening .... I have been fond of compact cassettes for about thirty years .., with a short break for MP3. TDK SA were the first Type II audio cassettes in my cassette career. Therefore, I always treated these cassettes with special trepidation. Available in the collection of TDK SA produced in different years. Personally, I have heard on the TDK SA tape from Imation the increased noise level of the tape itself in comparison with earlier versions of the SA. Still, this is not quite TDK SA. Most of all I like both the tape and the design of the early 90s version. From me, like and wish the development of the channel. We all need this now. 👍💪🎶 Sony TC-K81 Denon DRM-700A

Thanks again for taking the time & effort to throw good light on an important subject. Great job.

Wow, I am convinced the Imation TDK SA is an excellent tape and is just as good as the original from TDK. The playback sounds bright, clear, with no muddy sound at the lower registers !! The BIAS compare is amazing as it compares well with the 1990 standard formulation ! Thanks very much for this demonstration and talk.

I love that Dual deck you used for playback and really want one now. It has a good feature of loading the cassette straight in without dropping it into a tray. Anyway nice video, keep them coming please.

Glad to hear back from you Tony. Things are as good on this end as they can be. I know about taking care of life things.🙄

Pretty good video Tony. However there wasn't your usual wrap up at the end,I miss that. Oh well perhaps in your next one we'll get the old Tony back.😄😄😄 Thank you for another informative video.👍👍😃

@Cassette Comeback I too like that DUAL deck you show, clean design, simple, inexpensive (not cheap) but good quality too...You saw a LOT of such products back then especially in the mid 80s..I say the absolute heyday of amazing engineering and quality at REASONABLE prices in the mid and lower range product lines.

They stopped making new blank tapes in the late 00s but stores had them in stock until like 2013-14. I also remember they stopped putting screws on one side back around 1999 or 2000 (probably cheaper and easier to manufacture).

I have a few of the Imation TDKs. Had no problem with them and they sound good. In fact I didnt realise they were Imation. Only now I recognize them by the blue drawing on the cassette. Cool vid and funny effects.

In 1990, I found an excellent sale on TDK SA tapes from a store that was going out of business, so I never bothered buying any more, as I was still using my large inventory for my Tascam 424 until I switched to Digital Multi-tracking. It's good to know that the Imation tapes are good enough if I choose to revisit cassette multi-track recording.

I did trace "rairoading" suspecting my repaired deck. Found problem, rollers and pins inside cassette case are damaging the tape. It was surprise. Unscrewing and placing the tape inside case different way avoiding pins helps.

Interesting video...I brought my old tapes out of the loft yesterday and was sorting through them by make and age. I had loads of the 88 and 90 SA's which I remember being good. Only had a couple of the 92's (not enough to form an opinion of - it seems I tried a lot of BASF's and other brands around that time) and quite a few more of the 95's which I never really liked. Always thought the later ones sounded duller... your video would back this up. After 95 it looks like I moved onto CDIIng's and then onto minidisc from there so never bought any Imation ones. Maybe worth trying a few of them for some new blanks

Imation never made a single Cassette, they were still made by TDK in the Rojana Plant Thailand...

I've just checked the ones I got off a mate of mine. Original TDKs. I must dig out the ones I bought from Maplin in 2008. Did Imation also make the later Ds? I really like the look of that Dual deck.

TDK SA90 are the all star tapes, allways good never problems and affordable....no need for any other tape if you can get SA90. I also like east german ORWO Super Chrome from 1989 but today hard to come by...same story with the Agfa Super Chrome tapes from that era that were similar. (BASF Super Chrome too)

PS: Just purchased a Technics M222 dual deck and love it ! Gonna grab me some TDK tapes. Been using the Fuji's CrO2 but want to explore a bit.

CD-Rs became a thing for me in 1998 - with a 4X burner. And tapes were still big in the late 90s, early 2000s.

Very interesting, Tony. I didn't know that those SA were made by Imation O_O However, only a deeper analysys (response frequency, SNR...) will confirm if they really are made with the same formula of the '94. Good video, thanks for sharing.

Just found your channel! It takes me back in time, I think I have used quite a few different SA90 back in the day, I never realised that they changed the tape formulation over the years. I think I still have earlier SAs dating back as far as the early 80's especially those mid 80's ones: www.shizaudio.ru/audio/data/media/112/ScanImage017.jpg

Hello Tony! What do you think about type III Cassettes? Last week I found old used Agfa Carat FeCr, recorded it and was surprised how pleasant it sounds. My deck is 1983 two head Technics M233X without bias ajustment. So I recorded in Fe mode and played back in Cr. In Fe it also sounds good but more highs than original has. Tried to record in crome mode - sound is dull then. I have 1997 TDK SA (Luxembourg) and it sounds a bit brighter than the original on my deck because I calibrated it on modern Basf type II tapes (not true chrome).

Gonna check my SAs now

Sounds great!

Hello First... I have to say that I am very moved and impressed when I watch the impressive reviews you do. Second.... I wanted to ask your opinion about the TDK SA100 tapes what do you think. Is it worth purchasing 100 minutes? Thanks.

Who said they were bad? Back in 2005 i bought a bunch of different cassettes and realized tdk were the better ones, i especially prefer the tdk sa. Equivalent models from Sony, Raks etc were noticeably worse(more faults in the tape, harder to spin) so as a noob, eventually most of my tapes ended up being tdk(D, Ferric, CDing and SA). Great stuff, great stuff. Wish i had bought more of them. And no, i didn't need no dolby NR, just a quality deck and a good source!

I found your channel after ressurecting a cassette deck I had and looking up the insane prices Cassettes have risen to. I have a question for you. What is your take on a Technics M218 cassette recorder? Are you familiar with this deck? Is it a good deck to record on to? Or should I just stick with playing cassettes on to it? Thanx again for the videos. I really enjoy them..

It is funny to see. I have SA90 types like the Imation style BUT there are metal shields over the head in the tape case like the older versions. With dolby S it sounds great! So there are differences between the 1997 TDK/Imation tapes.

I've recorded GUNSHIP's debut album on a 1990 TDK-SAX60 cassette in a Fisher CR-115 deck and it sounds fantastic(to my ears at least). This shows that even in a simple two head deck TDK-SA tapes will sound good, only if you adjust the recording level correctly. Someday I'll probably invest in a good three head deck with bias controls and calibration settings like an Onkyo TA-2020.

if you added some ripple effect on the mirroring for the deck, you could make some sweet water effects :-D

these imation end of the line look way nicer than what we got in north america. the last tdk sa in north america didn't even have shells with screws. the case and the shell feel very cheap, but the tape sounds good.

I have a couple of unopened MA90 and MA60 that has that fancy graphics printed on the cassette, but the cover only has TDK mentioned on it. No Imation mentioned. So when was the graphic art print introduced on the cassette? My tapes seems to indicate that happened before Imation took over.

Maybe Imation was tweaking it based on their specs for what the old 3M Scotch line was?

Could you do a show and rely of your cassette decks. I have Sony K61 and K81.....

Admittedly I don't have the best set up or playback but to my ears me set up sounds perfectly fine But when using the SA90, it sounds crap when I record heavy metal such as sepultura But when I recorded the final cut by pink Floyd, it sounds pretty good but not better than my type 1 cassettes

The SA in my opinion were the best tape I recorded on. I didn’t have any way of adjusting biasing the cassette as I had the entry level Aiwa probably the one produced at the same time as your Aiwa deck. Very little hiss and as faithful to the source as I could get it. Excellent

As to railroading surfaces on SA, it happens maybe due to the softer base of the tape itself. But keeping the capstans and pinch rollers in good condition on a tape machine is key to using ANY tape at all n

Just a question about maintaining your decks their in optimum condition what's your secret I have a tanberg 3014A I'm thinking of opening it and replacing the belts should I or take it to someone who's better qualified

How do the Type 2 cassette TDK SA sound compared to say a TDK D on a regular twin deck on a standard hi-fi? Is there less hiss, is playback as good as source recording?

A good deck will make a great recording on these late nineties SAs

Exactly this TDK SA from 1997 I unpacked today. Unfortunately, I discovered traces of moisture and mild mold on the cassette. Did any glue dissolve? Is this last TDK SA rather worse, as the older TDK SA from the years 1990 - 1995. Greeting Michael

Hey Tony! Excellent video as always. I'm gonna be a little bit off topic here. Do you happen to know what brand of tapes are JVC decks calibrated to?

Got some SA in the wrapper off ebay so will check which ones, I suspect they will be the Imation ones.

Wow, impressive demonstration. Really goes to show that, as you've been saying, perception plays a HUGE role in how folks rate product quality. Just because these SA were the end of the line, made by Imation, with less glitzy packaging folks perceive them as not being as good as "real" TDKs.... I'm kinda pleased because I've picked up quite a lot of these at my preferred strike price for Type IIs. I didn't know much about them except that they were late production. No empirical evidence to back me up, but I figured the quality probably wasn't much poorer than true TDK-mfr SA, for all the reasons you laid out in the video. Plus, these EOL SAs are 10-15 years NEWER than even a NOS 1990 vintage SA. Tip: Another "under-the-radar" sleeper Type II is the Fuji DR-II. I recorded a TON of those back in the '90s. I haven't used any examples from the very end of the the DR-II's run (post-2001). But you can still get older, NOS, 1990s examples from [redacted auction site] for about the same price per tape as the EOL SA. Related topic: I do have to say that Imation floppy discs really were a big quality step down from their 3M predecessors. Not like it matters now, but back in the day, when I'd ask the dept. secretary at work for blank floppies (all office supplies were, of course, kept under lock and key and only the dept. director and secretary had a key), I was always disappointed when she handed me Imations. Bad sector problems were common, and the little sliding door would often fail.

I allway's used the Maxell XL-II tapes and they where excellent..never had any issue with them..the sound (recorded on a Denon 3-Head)..was even better than on CD..

Hi Tony another great video. I have a question regarding connecting tape decks. I have just purchased an additional tape deck. I have only one tape loop on my amplifier. How do I connect both tape decks? I think I need a switch box. What do you use for your various decks? Thank you.

Looks like the Dual CR-1020 receiver that my grandparents had from new and is unserviced to this day would've been what was originally paired with the tape deck at the end of this video, considering the design language is very much the same with the somewhat weird angled buttons and prominent red/green indicator LEDs

thank you

I actually picked up three SA-90s from goodwill for like, $2, and they look like the early 90s ones, but at the same time, they don’t. The SA90 logo is top-center, along with the IEC-II and Type II lettering, it says high bias instead of high position, the lettering is in blue (except for the “SA-90” logo, which is in gold) and the TDK logo is right in the middle, so would it have been made in between 1992 and 1995?

On a different note, I managed to find a Tandberg 3034 deck for what I think was reasonable money. A 3014 is too much for my wallet and a 3004 is unobtainium! I am happy that I have an NAD 6300. I would like to have more of these decks, but I do not have the disposable income anymore. I have been doing this hobby since the middle 70s. Yes, I am an old fart and happy to be so! Keep doing your job Tony

I think that that cassette sounded really good and that it would be a fantastic cassette to record with rock on Tony🤘🤘

I loved these TDK tapes. Thankfully got a hold of a few of them for 4 Track and 8 Track Multitracker usage. I just wish there was a new tape like that that came in such a case. One that is not just a boring all-transparent plastic case like pretty much every new cassette these days.

These were good. A lot of memories. :)

Tony! I have a question for you about the TDK SA. It's a little weird but in the 80's and into the 90's I was a big Eurovision fan and I remember for Eurovision 1989 I bought what at the time was a premium cassette to me to record the songs off the radio. I remember it being a TDK and having that big window with the squares. I remember it looking like the 1988 TDK SA but I remember it as being a lighter shade of gray (my memory could be failing me) and also the case and inlay don't look familiar (but it could be I've just forgotten).... Do you know if there could have been some other tape by TDK looking similar or would it likely have been the TDK SA that I remember? I would have bought it early May of 1989...

Cassette tape decks are not bad. Most people don't know how to use them and treat them bad. I still do own my old , well old Studer A721 and Revox B215 They won't leave the house unless I'm dead. And as you'll gues most people are suprised how good a tape can be. even the TDK SA90 I've bought in the 80's. But before playing them just wind and rewind them and they will last forever just like a VHS tape.

i have just open 2 new SA. the wrapping was like the 90 it also say TDK corporation on it, but they got the 95 shell.

Just checked. All of the last TDK SA90 tapes i have are the Imation ones. Never really knew or cared about. What i always hated the most about them were the Tape labels that didn't quite fit the tapes measurements for the label area. Always had to cut off a bit from them. That and the lack of the little metallic shielding plate were the only things i noticed back then when you bought brand new TDK SA tapes.

Okay, so in all my years I'm collecting vinyl, 40 years that is, and collecting tapes and many, many different tape decks over the years, a thought just occurred to me just out of curiosity. I have a Yamaha KX 390 and a Nakamichi CR-2A. The Yamaha will automatically do things for you such as Auto tape type select and auto tape tuning (bias) and more. Now the Nakamichi on the other hand I have to do everything manually such as push the normal or high bias or metal tape buttons to let it know what kind of tape I put in it for instance. So this thought came to me today that if I were to take one of my empty Chrome High bias tape shells and put a normal bias tape inside that shell and then load the tape into the Nakamichi and push the normal bias setting, how would it record? I mean sound wise? I know that if you put any tape in a tape deck and push any button to let the cassette deck know what kind of tape you put in it, the deck will record it as such. I just wonder how much the sound will be affected during recording with this type of tape loaded into a cassette deck. It seems like a funny idea to me but I might just try it just for the sure heck of it!.... See what kind of people are involved in the cassette community! LOL!

I did have the imation TDK B cassettes but they silkscreen printed the logos and what not

You forgot to put the youtube card link to your previous video mentioned at 0:20

I've got a 2 pack of Super CDing SA 90 Type II with the product code SCD-90EA2, the packaging is quite different and the wrapper is pushing Super Avilyn Technology for CD. Does anyone have a date range for these?

Curiosity finally got the best of me, so I broke down and ordered some off of eBay. Strangely enough, it took me a couple tries because some of the final TDK versions also came in the “Life on Record” packaging as well as the similar “Play It Loud” packaging. Things in the US must have been a mess around then. But when they get here, I’ll finally be able to do a head-to-head with every American SA incarnation since the ‘90 version.

The Sharp RT-100 i used to use is even more low end than that Dual.

I have a still-wrapped SA90 of 1991 vintage I got for $1 American at a thrift store. Still waiting to open it to record something of note, maybe after I get a better deck than my Technics I currently have.

I'm use Sony WT 475 cassette player now purchase TDK SA90 tape now recording CD to cassette player how good recording level please update

I liked the early 80s tdk sa. It worked well with my deck.

I bought a batch of these from richer sounds after they ran out of “that’s” they never sounded any better than the type 1 memorex and I preferred using normal Tdk D series. I didn’t think much of them, however I still have a 1990 SA which is the business.

I bought recently TDK SA without "Live On Record" on the wrapper, but inside there is "Imation" style casete: no metal plate, narrow pad and blue "decoration" in left hand corner (just below "TDK" sign. The tape inside looks folded! I initially thought it was a fault of my Denon DRM800, but it was the only folded tape I had. No other tape I used in this deck is folded. Does anybody have similar experience?

I have seen quite a bit of higher end decks like the 900 series of the Aiwa line, there are some older but still desirable Tandbergs and even some good Akais and Teacs on eBay. The high end decks like Nakamichi and high end Tandbergs are still findable but unless you won the lottery or have a high paying job, I don’t, you are out of luck. These high end decks are sweet, but $2,500 to $3K is twice what they sold for and out of reach! Desirable yes, obtainable: well, that depends on if your wallet’s fat. I am lucky I have what I have. You have to look and be open to other options if you want a deck now!

tdk probably had a stockpile of 1990 tape in their factory and imation just used it.

If you get a quality source and make a mix tape on these tapes with your record level just right, you can get some serious bass response and warmth

The last generation Maxell XL-II has the same bad reputation.

Сделано в Тайланде. =) These tapes for russian market too) I have two TDK Super D from 1996, same with no metal shield in it.

I still have my Dual C-830 in the rotation.

Oh no, Tony, what you do to me, I just bought 52 of rhem yesterday, because you said before TDK SA is the shit! And now youtube shows me THIS!!! ;)))

super !

That’s just it Tony. First you have to find one. Then you have to have the money to lay down. We are not millionaires here. Most of us are hard working and in some cases, hard playing stiffs trying to eek out a living in this world. I have encouraged the ones I know to go to your site for tapes. It is easier to find tapes than good machines for reasonable prices. We just do the best we can! That’s all we can do!

I guess my first (good) deck was a JVC KD-D40 with the eq display...early 80's.

TDK SA cassettes always sounded good, I won't argue with that...what I will say is that they never held up as good as a Maxell XLII especially in a vehicle. The TDK SA tapes always ended up with more dropouts when being moved around in a car.

Спасибо. Большая часть кассет SA90 1994-2002

Are you okay John. You’ve been unusually quiet. Just let me know you’re okay mate!

Some real good cassettes

My TDK SA cassettes made by Imation (bought here in the US) have WELDED shells and not screw construction like the one you have shown here. I wonder where they were made? It is not listed on the packaging.

I know that 2 Head decks sound MINT with good recordings on playback ., there is the proof . Tram lines ? I do not know ware that comes from , looks like the tape head dose it but its not as we know , others are not affected .

Why keep messing with the formulation? Not all cassette decks have adjustable bias settings, especially low to mid end machines with the possible exception of Aiwa who made some great machines. A TDK SA should be a TDK SA and should bias up accordingly.

Marvellous tape. Nothing wrong with it at all.

Never seen these before. Here in the US, TDK put out these last generation SA cassettes, along with “Life on Record” version with the words “Play It Loud” and “Superior High Bias”. They did the same for D cassettes which was also the last generation TDK cassettes as “Superior” since it was bought by Imation along with Memorex. The link for the US version is on eBay. rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.com%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F173591123811

I gave up on cassettes in 1997 when i got into mini disc and threw all of them away shortly after. I always remember TDK SA being good CDing not so good. In 2005 gave away all my mini discs. In 2011 sold off all CDs and now just use flac files and aac for the car. I still have fond memories of cassettes and mini discs but could not go back.

You missed your calling Tony. Should'be been a cameraman on Top of the Pops in the 80s

I think Imation stopped completely with their TDK Life On Record range, haven't they? :( I was quite a fan of the brand and had multiple products of their consumer audio products. They were priced a bit too high and put too much effort in making their packaging look Apple-ish, but still I was quite happy with my purchases. I see tdk-media website also no longer exists, so I assume these tapes are not manufactured anymore?

And just a few days ago i was depressed that i received some SA's Life On Record edition, which i didn't spot right away in the auction. I was wondering why the price was so low. Well i guess it came out a good deal after all.

Audiophiles tend to feel a lot of pure hatred towards 80s Rack componets like those Dual C802. New the full Dual set still would had cost about a month wearth of payment for the average Joe. Just think about it, who is today spending like 1500-2000 Euro on his Home Theatre in A Box AV-Receiver? This Dual still is proper Midfi equipment! I don't think any of the new Ricatech Cassette Recorders will perform anything close to this. I don't even think the newest TEAC/TASCAM deck will beat this DUAL. 80s Rackstereo equipment are great bargains today!

I would say it's not as good as some people say, also TDK D is much better than people remember.

The TDK SA tape is definitely a good tape, but not a stellar tape.

Older one ( 1985 ) are much better.I have some and they are really,,but really good.

I'm always pressing the number 8 in this video... Guess why!

Can’t always discount a product due to a buy over! Seems that ugly is a glass full of holes. Wouldn’t do them much good to shoot themselves in the foot now would it. Honestly, sometimes people believe everything they’re told in a mag, a rag or on tv even. The fact is, if you’re going to invest vast sums of money buying the whole kit n kaboodle, you wouldn’t whiz it away and destroy it and loose money on your investment. Wouldn’t be too smart. Just keep on believing the rags and the haters. You’ll miss out on all that is still good and has been all along. Keep on dishing out the common sense Tony! Eventually, even the naive will catch on!!

Effects were well. Not so good

I say the imation kicks ass than the 1994 lol

No reason to include the source that's cassette eargasm.