 
|
Audio Asylum Thread Printer Get a view of an entire thread on one page |
For Sale Ads |
|
|
Audio Asylum Thread Printer Get a view of an entire thread on one page |
For Sale Ads |
82.143.215.64
To whom it may concern: I am writing an academic paper on the evolution of sound medias and i need ome information about cassette decks. I am especially interested in facts concerning the quality of sound (compared to modern mp3 for example). Does anyone know where to look? If so please contact me on my emailadress.
Follow Ups:
This web site may be helpfull:
http://www.ischool.utexas.edu/~cochinea/html-paper/a-crews-03-magnetic-media.html
Well I don't want to do your work for you but it is rather interesting really!
The cassette started out being a portable recording medium that was simply compact and portable and was not really meant to be a HI FI medium. It was adapted to do that however because, despite it's limitations, it was attractive to audio engineers too.
But, the compact characteristics of the medium and the slow tape speed were also part of it's limitations too. The noise problem (hiss)created by the slow moving tape across the heads of the machine was solved at least partially by the Dolby labs when Dolby B noise reduction was put on an audio tape deck (the Advent 201).
Overcoming the physical complexities of producing a good tape deck was challenging but with sound engineering the better tape decks that were created towards the end of the formats era were great machines. Direct drive motors, dual capstan transports, seperate playback and record heads, and headroom extension technology all contributed to great record/playback decks. Speed fluctuations(wow & flutter) were held to a minimum after these technologies were put in place. Closer tolerences and close tape to head contact created better frequency response.
One of the best improvements over the years was to tape formulations. The creation of Chrome and metal formula tapes was one of the best accomplishments in the technology.
After all was done...a recording made on a premium well adjusted cassette deck with a premium formula tape was was nearly indistinguishable from it's source! That means for sound quality it would blow away an MP3 or almost anything else accept a bit to bit digital copy for accuracy and clarity. There are those that would argue that because of it's analog properties which include a less edgy harshness to the sound(warmth)that a casette recording from a good analog source represents the ultimate way to archive a sound other than possibly the old reel to reel format (the way much of our classic music was mastered).
Because of the technical touch, feel, and look of a nice cassette deck there are a lot of people who still appreciate the medium. The bouncing meters or pulsing lights along with the nice hands on feel and the great warm analog sound contribute to this love afair.
However, it is getting harder and harder to find decks that still work 100% as they were designed to. The old belts and idlers, out of spec mechanics and lack of parts have lead to the format's final fading breaths. Only the die hard analog audio buffs make the efforts to keep the old units running. You can include me in that group! Good Luck! Franksta
Franksta, I'm new to the group, so you'll have to forgive me for responding to a few very old posts from time to time. Anyway, I thought your summary written to the guy interested in cassette output and how it sits today in a world infatuated with Mp3 sound, was quite masterful. Informative without getting too technical, (which I'm sure you could handle well also). So, kudos to you, Franksta for your year-ago effort! ---Jcard
You will in general be mislead on this issue.
No matter how high you aim in any doctors degree or other academic level of education.
Cassette is, when you listen to the best decks, by far better than any digital source.
That is MHO.
However, most people, and in particular most people with HiFi as hobby, never had the pleasure of listening to the potential of these top cassette decks and therefor most of the HiFi hobby guys will claim that Cassette represents a lower quality sound than CD and even MP3 in high resolution.
You will even acknowledge a kind of religion on the suject of what is best: Analog or digital sound reproduction.
Some people will use measurments as preference to do a verdict in this subject.
Digital sound is superior on certain measurements.
There are a lot of very important parameters, though, that will not be put into measures of any stringent data.
Such as: room perspective, the organic nature of the sound, precision and attack etc. etc.
That is why some extreme well sounding set-up easily can measure very bad compared to very modest or even poor sounding setups.
So bare in your mind that to do any academic analysis on this subject is born to loose.
We talk about the same material as love, care and trust are made of.
Add to that that your perception of the hearing (and other) senses are under influence of how your subconsciousness and every little traumatic experience is adapting and mediating this kind of information further on to your brain.
Analyze that!
"dolph"
i thought cassettes, by nature, have limited frequency range, compared to CD.
On measurement of things like absolute dynamic range and frequency response cassette deck will fall short on any scope or printed out chart BUT! you have to look at it deeper at things. A better to great quality deck especially if it has 3 heads and a good Type IV metal tape will have a frequency response that will cover every audio frequency of digital and maybe even more, no brick wall filter, no need for over sampling etc. Just a wide range recorded frequency response. Employing Dolby C or better Dolby S at a recorded level of 0db with a metal tape will see the better 3 head decks even reach out close to 20KHz. even less pricy decks may reach beyond 15Khz at 0db. Now most high frequencies will never reach 0db output on a typical music recording, usually only mids and bass may go into 0db range. Highs usually drop off to -6 or -10 db range and any decent cassette deck with even a good Type 1 tape will cover out to 20Khz region at -10.
Signal to noise ratio with Dolby B will be lower tan a CD or other high quality digital recording but is still more than enough for most listeners. Dolby C nr got cassettes into audibly the quiet range. In other words humans would not be able to effectively hear tape hiss on all but the most quiet recordings in a quiet listening room. Dolby S achieved a greater amount of S/N ratio and overcame Dolby C's side effects (tape sensitivity mis-match and deck to deck mismatch in decoding). S/Ratio with Dolby S on a metal tape was almost equal to a CD. Dynamic range using esp. Dolby C or Dolby S with a good Type II or better Type IV tape was more than wide enough for most recording material.
Recording audio onto a good or better deck with a good tape using good discipline makes recordings as good a any digital overall and in maybe better as they do not have that digital edge often heard on CD's and other formats (I have heard it on DVD-A discs too). Lets not even bother wit the crappy sound of Mp3.
| FAQ |
Post a Message! |
Forgot Password? |
|
||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||
This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors:
Top of Page ]
[ Contact Us ]
[ Support/Wish List ]
[ Copyright © 2025, Audio Asylum, all rights reserved ]
