Because I constantly hear myths about the good old compact cassette here's a longer post dispelling them:

Because I constantly hear myths about the good old compact cassette here's a longer post dispelling them:

1. They can sound as good as CDs
2. They don't wear out
3. You can't use a pencil to wind them
4. You can go to specific tracks automatically
5. You don't need to carry around extra batteries

I will elaborate below:

1. Sound Quality

Many higher-end decks can record cassettes on metal tape with various Dolby noise reduction settings; especially the combination of metal tape and Dolby S will make tapes that are pretty much indistinguishable from listening to a CD.

Even normal or chrome tape with Dolby B (around since the 1970s) will give great results; likely indistinguishable from a CD when played in a car or while out and about with a personal player.

Some extremely high-end tape decks produce better than CD results in some regards (for example some Nakamichi models go to 26KHz+ with frequency response, while CD are inherently limited to top out at 22KHz).

It's true that the dynamic range of CDs is much better than either vinyl records or tapes. However, unless you're super into classical music there's likely not much music for which this truly matters, as 99% is mastered to use much less dynamic range than provided by any audio media format. (If you're super into classical music you probably want SACD or other high-res lossless sources anyway, not CDs.)

2. Yes, it will wear out mechanically but you will wear out mechanically before it does. Please watch VWestlife's video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_dgJ4hRHBiw

3. European and American pencils are too thin to engage the cassette reel cogs. (You'd need to get a Japanese pencil. People mostly used BIC pens for this purpose which have the right thickness.)

4. Most (nice) decks and personal players from the early-to-mid nineties onwards have track skip features (e.g. Sony has AMS, Automatic Music Sensor), which allow precise winding to a specific track.

5. My late-90s Walkman has seventy-eight (78) hours of playback on one (1) single AA battery.

Anyway, the main reason why I like them is they're fun to use and recording them is very deliberate instead of algorithms selecting music for me.

@thomasfuchs You won't be able to hear a difference between 22 and 26 kHz, but you will be able to hear a difference between a -60 dBFS noise floor and a -96 dBFS one.

@thomasfuchs You won't be able to hear a difference between 22 and 26 kHz, but you will be able to hear a difference between a -60 dBFS noise floor and a -96 dBFS one.