Does a Cassette Tape Sound Better Than a CD?
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- Опубліковано 12 вер 2024
- This is a fun video that we made to compare the audio quality of a cassette tape and CD. Enjoy!
Albums: Led Zeppelin IV, Secrets (Allan Holdsworth), Thriller (Michael Jackson), and Dogman (King's X).
Directed by Aakash Chawda (Frostbyte)
cassette tape anyday
try cassette on a decent machine it will blow you mind
MarkosGeorgiou Photography correct
Hell yeah
What i liked more about cassettes and 8 track tape input output recorders in stereos is you could record the vinyl records at the volume level and pitch you want both left speakers and right speakers to have. i cannot find input output CD burners from vinyl record player stereos like that anymore. Your stuck with the shitty sound level album CD's the stinking music companies sell you today. i liked having control over my own personal preference sound level i'm recording on which i was able to do up until the end of the 1980's.
Micah Lall-Trail yes like vinyl but they last easily over a lifetime so no thing to worry about. Analog all the way for serious listening
Don’t let this video distract you from the beautiful telecaster in the back
My favorite comment lol
That's where my focus went. Had to watch 2 times.
That’s just a prop for authority 🤡
I’m fifteen and I’ve been collecting mainly vinyl records for almost two years now. I have a few cassettes and few CDs as well. Personally, I feel like having the physical version of an album really lets you appreciate the art of the record more - especially when the artist releases a record with colors/patterns and has a gatefold with art or whatever.
💯
I am 15, younger generation, and I honestly prefer cassettes over cd, they have a much better feel to it, they sound better, and they are more portable compared to cd, which can't fit in a pocket. Now, I have an iPod, and I prefer my Walkman over the iPod because it feels better to hold, and doesn't feel fragile, and getting songs into it is hard and costs money, which I spend less of on my cassettes. Another thing is that cd can scratch, and then it can't be used again, cassettes are much more durable, the only thing you have to watch out for is the film inside the tape, which is manageable.
Good for you, man! I won't listen to some of my favorite CDs if they skip in a few places.. They scratch very easily. I'm only 25, but I remember having a Walkman when I was a little kid, and it was such a simpler time to listen to music.. No plugging your iPod or phone into the computer and synching songs. Obviously, digital music is very easy and practical, but the musical experience itself is a little bit different. I like both methods, and I love music. Thanks for watching!
A Walkman would sound way worse than an iPod.
CDs are way more durable than cassettes, they have a shitton of error protection so you can scratch the fuck out of them and they'll still work. Also it's 2019 no one finds iPods hard to use??
With cassette one must keep in mind that even though they are EXTREMELY resilient in certain ways they are EXTREMELY VULNERABLE in other ways ... in a word "magnets" close to even the weakest of sources of magnetism and the recording (or at least some portions can be totally erased.... CDs are 100% percent immune to magnets no matter how strong it is ... CDs are strictly optical.
I use iPod in my bedroom hi-fi set up and cassette/CD on my living room hi-fi set up.
Listening to cassettes and vinyl also means you don`t skip tracks like they were unwanted fruit, it creates a more ritualistic experience where many people enjoy the experience more overall, not considering the change in sound.
For me personally, the more organic, warm sound and the slight crackle of a record or the different sound from a cassette is also something I really appreciate :)
I have some tapes that are just recordings of cd`s because I wanted a different sound, it just sounds nice.
I like my minidisc too ;)
E R.A.
Nice music choices ;)
Jan Christian Frodahl absolutely true.
Dude, old technology is technology too ;)
I remember I had a pretty bad ass sony digital cassette walkman, with all kinds of functions, pretty good battery life AND it was SLIM AF..
I still miss that thing lol, but finding something like that in good condition means an investment of sometimes hundreds of dollars, and I just can`t justify it :/
Point being, that thing was pretty high tech, I would still consider it advanced technology, even if it is from around 20 years ago :)
Btw, I hate fashion too, and my brother is a clothes designer lol..
Jan Christian Frodahl I still got a technics cassette deck and amp. The amp is 80s. Old stuff was built to last
Nice :)
Stock up on chrome and metal tapes!
I`m kinda struggling finding good minidiscs now, I guess good tapes are also getting hard to find ;)
Honestly, through my phone speakers alone I notice a ridiculous difference in sound quality.
Just began my cassette collection and waiting on my cassette stereo to arrive! Thanks for this, my excitement increased 10x!
which kind?
@@Ricecooker64 It's a QFX J-220BT. I run it through some active speakers when I'm not bringing it with me to places, otherwise the quality of the boombox isn't the greatest.
nice!
In the beginning of Black Dog on the cassette his voice just feels full like he's right there compared to the CD that felt kind of empty
Oh wow this is lovely! I like the cassette tapes not because of nostalgia but using a cassette contains more 'spirit'. CDs are more soul less
High end cassette decks like one I owned years ago had something called A.M.S.S. (Automatic Music Search System) which meant one did not have to approximate where a music track began by constantly fast forwarding and reversing the tape until it got to the start of a track. It worked by counting the silent spaces between tracks to get to the exact beginning of the music track number you set it for.
Lucky you! The constant "search" for the beginning of the song was awful.. Even a vinyl record has markers so you can see each song. Thanks for watching!
I think another factor in addition to those you mentioned re. analog vs. digital, is that up until around the early 1980s (I think) when digital took over, music was recorded and mixed with the intention of being listened to on either vinyl or tape, so to me, those recordings sound better on vinyl/tape rather than CD, as this was the medium they were engineered for. Recording engineers would have taken into account, for example, the equalisation provided by a tape and mixed the tracks accordingly, to ensure they sounded fantastic on tape. Just my thoughts. :)
Analog was mainly at 420hz but that’s another dimension….if sound
What about songs written after the invention of CDs?
@@Curi0u50neanalog is garbage digital is better cd is better
I will always love CDs but the music seems more louder on the cassette tape compared to the CD.
The cassettes in general sounded better, the Michael Jackson Thriller was one exception, for a few reasons. A remastered version of the CD was used, and the old CBS/Columbia tapes were not as good as Warners or Capitol (on average), especially in the 80s when that one was made. Many of the others you played were made later, and used Dolby or something similar. The Jackson tape sounds poor compared to the CD.
The Thriller cassette was the oldest cassette by far. It was a solid white/yellowish color.. I think newer cassettes were clear. Thanks for watching!
Daniel Rettberg Peter Absolutely right. CBS Sony were one of the last major record companies to switch to clear cassette shells. Late 80s.
@@casperguylkn cds are superior to cassette tapes in every way the sound on cds are amazing cds have far better sound and more dynamic range and cds sounds louder and fuller the sound that cds can put out blows cassette tapes out of the water cds have far stronger bass and better fidelity and better resolution cds sound super loud and super fuller cds sound so loud and super duper dynamic and cds have crystal clear audio cassettes just cant compare to the sound that cds can bring out its just no comparison cds sound crystal clear and cds sound amazingly loud cds win this one i love cds so much cds all the way!!
I think your player is not good enough for playing CD format.
Get the Sony CFDS70. CD player sounds great and records tapes perfectly.
If u expect a CD to sound great and have peak sound quality then it needs to be played in a decent- high end system. A tape doesn't need anything high end to sound great because of the era in time it was invented
CD's nutz
It could really just be the DAC in your boombox that makes the CD recordings lose their richness... but to be fair, the second cassette sounded a bit more compressed than the CD.
When cds first came out I hated them.now I realize now it’s the dacs that make all the difference.
ITS defenetly the ceap digital to analoge Converter. And the cheap speakers amp and so on
13:33 "We hope this video didn't waste your time..." Now that's a charmingly humble way to sign off. (Thank you for the video!)
I was born in 87 ! So I remember all of that listening to cassettes cds! I remember recording off cds makings mix cassette tapes for my dad! Lol I’m grateful to have lived through the 90s experiencing those memories 🙏🏽! Kids these days have no clue man 😂! But I can say streaming Bluetooth is awesome! I’ve every single album song right in my hand Spotify premium! 🤘🏾! I am thinking about buying a record player! Incredible sound of a record is peaceful 👌🏾! Great video man
I was born around same year and I still feel young. And I be recording music from Deezer hifi streaming onto cassettes from the old Tascam 112 I found a while back, just so I can listen to music whenever I decide to cruise around in my 1988 Honda Accord
A I D A H A R 2 1 0 nice ! Good oh days ! We getting old 😂😂😂jk not yet
I’m 18, and yet I still record to cassette and 10” reels
@@RobloxGuestNews wow 🤟🏽💪🏽
So if you have Spotify premium, do you get to keep the music, like forever?
wow, such a huge difference in quality, tape definitely!
CD's took some of the soul out of a song. It was too clean, too clinical. Almost sterile. It's hard to explain.
Jay B
.... i agree i hate CD's. i still love vinyl records, 8 track tapes and cassettes way more than CD's to this day.
I think I know just what you mean, tapes have a different aesthetic about them that you may prefer sometimes over a CD. I know I do at times.
When the first era of CD's that Albums were converted over to CD's during the mid 1980's to early 1990's period the sound quality of the Albums were weak and crappy. The left side speaker was missing or the right side speaker was missing. i noticed that a lot with Sly & The Family Stone Greatest Hits CD on CBS records. The sound was weak compared to the power that the vinyl record, 8 track tape and cassette of the album.
When the re-issue CD of the Sly & The Family Stone Greatest Hits album from 1970 a decade later was released the sound was way better. Much like the original vinyl record, 8 track tape and cassette sounded. i have felt at first when CD's came out that vinyl album sound wasn't properly converted to the earlier era CD's during the mid 1980's to early 1990's. The CD re-issues albums sound were a lot better although to get a much better sounding CD to buy you have to pay a lot more money.
I totally know what your talking about .
Nothing beats analogue.Its more real flavour
CDs are actually a better listening experience because the CD has better sound quality. It lacks the static of a casstte, and has a louder bass. CDs are also more reliable and easier to use. CDs can also be ripped onto a computer. Cassettes have a shorter lifespan and will need to be replaced. CDs are also much cheaper than casstte tapes and are far more common. CDs are simply a better format in every way.
Analogue is trash digital is better
And that from a ferric pre-recorded cassette, they weren't the best of quality either, things get better once you go onto Chrome and Metal :o)
After watching many videos here on UA-cam showing ferric cassettes recorded on premium equipment, I've become convinced that they can sound nearly as good as chrome and metal cassettes.
Yes, But I like Master HD audio from Blu-ray Film
@@jimkata77
True. Even UR90s sound great on the right deck. Also this cheap boombox is not representative of real Hi-Fi cassette sound. You can clearly hear the tape hiss, which wouldn't be audible on a deck with Dolby, proper curcuitry and proper head. Also Led Zeppelin IV is a great album but really not known for great recording quality. Still I think the CD clearly sounded better in this demo.
Ferric (type I ((0) as some call them ... can indeed sound incredible on a quality deck ... (older ones early to mid 80s units ... some even older extremely high cost units in the 70s ... this debate will never ever end ... to sum things in a nut shell... it is in how the master is produced ... sound engineers are human ... even though trained to hear specific sounds they are still human ... the intended medium is specifically mastered for it ... vinyl has the RIAA curve added prior to cutting the master lacquer it is in some cases compressed... and over all volume raised way above the noise floor of vinyl... same with cassette (too a lesser degree though) .... CDs can POTENTIALLY be as the original recording was because the dynamic range of CD (that is the softest to the loudest portions) vinyl or cassette DOES NOT have that kind of dynamic range... so the softer sounds are recorded louder and the louder portions are recorded at lower levels to stay within the dynamic range of vinyl and cassette... what has made modern CDs absolute garbage to listen to is the MASSIVE BRICK WALLING ... the drums are louder in some but they are bricked in order to bring the softer portions to much higher levels... as and example imagine a woofer being restricted from it's full (inward and outward) movement ... the result is like mountains with the peaks cut off ... the result is incomplete sounds waves .... a lot I MEAN A LOT of people say that's the reason cassette/ vinyl sounds better... It can NOT be brick walled as in the way digital processing can be ... there in which is the problem so many say ANALOG (vinyl) ANALOG (tape formats) ANALOG sounds the best (to some sure ... to others NOPE ... to sum up ... what sounds the best is strictly to the listener
Yes Indeed, recorded on a quality deck and calibrated, a good ferric tape can sound amazing, which was my point in my initial comment, good Chrome tapes and metal tapes refine the sound further.
Great video, randomly found this but I'm glad I did.
At first, I noticed the difference between the two and the cassette definitely sounded better. But then I tried for a second listen and increased the volume on my tiny amplifier. I noticed some small differences but the biggest one was volume. The CDs had a softer, more equalized sound between all instruments, as if it had been compressed. While the cassette had a brighter and deep sound, as if it had a higher dynamic range. But the differences diminish as you increase the volume. Overall, I think both formats are about the same in audio fidelity, but the CD offers the ability to be remixed with ease, which is a big plus for audio engineers. Sure some sounds are more pronounced when the cassette plays, but that is most likely from the studio's arbitrary mixing. However, I am probably wrong and I would have to listen to both in person to hear the differences accurately.
Cassette is like making home made bread.....cd is like. Factory bread. quickly made.
Fawful agrees with you completely, I always record to either Cassette tape, or if I’m in a good mood then 10” reels
@@RobloxGuestNews CDs are superior to cassettes
The cassette feels deeper and more dynamic
What you're feeling is hiss bliss.
cds feel deeper and more dynamic
@@Mariofans-gn1lu The cassette feels deeper and more dynamic
@@buddhawasright nope cds are better they match bluray discs and cassette are trash just like vhs 90s-2000s is better lol cds feel deeper and more dyamic
@@Judyhopps-1iqCds are shrill and brittle. Just like your mullet.
9:30-9:44 some cassette players (like in my car) have a skip button that looks for the track on your cassette that you want. It can fast forward and rewind.
When I was younger, my mom's car had that same function.. It was similar to a skip button on a CD player, right? You'd press the button and the cassette player would fast forward or rewind to whatever song you picked.. A pretty convenient function for an otherwise inconvenient piece of music technology lol. Thanks for watching!
Daniel Rettberg Peter Yes it is just like a skip button for a CD.
Im thinking about getting a 2002 jeep when I get older with the 2002 stereo! CASSETTES WILL LIVE ON FOREVER!!!
The only problem with using that function is it causes EXTREME head wear ... imagine dragging a car with its brakes locked... those tires won't last very long ... same thing with those music search functions on later cassette machines... the head is what makes the cassette machine work ... take it away and you now have a box of electronic parts ... a warn head will make AWFUL recordings and playback will suffer somewhat as well
oh my god...i cant believe that with each somg played..on cassette.the sound was way more louder and..ambiatic..spaciois, and fuller..hmm..im so blown away
I grew up with Vinyl and Casettes and in my later CD. With tape you can hear the grain and feel the crunch and punch, there's texture in the air and it's of more presence. This is an observation I made when I was only 14 because I was trying to decide on carrying a Casette Walkman or a portable CD player for listening to music.
OMG! Cassette is more better sound.Cassette sound is more natural.
it's same line a lossless...
Цар Никола
The samples are mathematically reconstructed into a clean sound wave by the DAC, basically giving you the same soundwave.
1984 is one album that sounds great on cassette.
It's not the same as lossless. in fact when writing something on a cassette very much sound is lost!
The only cassete i own is 1984 by van halen. I have the CD As well. i found the casette at a thrift store and i much perfer the sound of the casette
that allan holdsworth cassette sounds wider than the cd. i love it
Bro, I am so happy that someone pointed that out lol. Awesome.. Thanks for watching!
It's almost as if the tape has more dB and punchier, the cd has more open mix on instruments and feels less of a presence of the everything going on, tape is more tight towards the center and on the boombox it really comes out great.
The cassette has more loudness and background noise. The CD sounds cleaner but has less bass. Maybe these are different masters? On some songs i prefered the cassette, on ther the CD, cant really decide...
Same experience for me. Some music just don't sound good on cassettes, and some don't sound good on CDs (cassettes usually have it much worse thanks to modern music; anyhow, I find that CD is a more analytical medium than a musical one). In this respect I find that vinyl record is more versatile than cassettes and CDs. I'm not a fan of the form factor but I have to hand it to vinyl for both its musicality and detail.
They're both good in their own ways. Thankfully they still make CD and Cassette portable radios so you can always own both.
I prefer the cassette....but you must have a good quality cassette
Cassettes sounds better than CD.It provides more texture.Maybe CD sounds clearer but tapes will let you experience nostalgia.
Texture is the key word, I think.. There's a certain warmth and fullness to a cassette. I like it.. Thanks for watching!
Cassette's bass is appealling 😊😊
I know what you mean
with headphones on cassette sounded better than cd.
I have e.m .i brand hindi movies song cassette .it is 38 years old and playing like new.
I recently got some cassettes and a cassette player. what a warm natural sound. I grew up with them but moved onto cds with no problem in the 90s due to the fact people were copying albums easily at the time and they were more generally a convenient format. I still like cd but tape seems to excel at the types of music I oike now. specifically stereo sounds and reverb can soumd incredible. The instruments sound more natural.
Lets expand this conversation into all the phases of dolby noise reduction
The volume differences added to the bias.
The cassette sounds warmer but in some passages it can sounds 'too crowded'. There are many problems with cassete: quality deterioration, loss of high frequency, often happend in Sony Chrome tapes, sounds became slight dull.
CD sounds cleaner but sometimes too clean so it loses the warmness of good analogue.
The El Cassette was thought to be a better one but failed....
I remember that in process of producing cassete, they *have to compress* the dynamic around ca. 40 dB. Dolby DBX didn't succeed provide better sound due to the absent of compatible equipment, while Dolby B made the dull sound and no studio issued pre recorded ones with Dolby C. It was so messy, so we mistly ended up listening w/o any Dolby.
The CD takes only the digitalizing the former analogue material, but listening old cd with todays equipment makes it sound thin and shrill.
Well, both CD and Cassette are good in their own character.... *if only cassete has FEWER issues*
In the early days of CD's, artists and producers didn't know how to take advantage of the CD'S capabilities. As a result, most of the early CD albums were just the cassette track with an added layer of diminished quality because of the conversion. This, combined with how you are seemingly recording the speakers with a microphone, leads me to conclude that this is an unfair test.
TheGoofster 123 definitely yes! Totally unfair
Basically the same masters were used they mastered for cassette... with the hiss levels extremely low because it was professional reel to reel machines ... also they weren't brick walled in early CD production
There's a reason why cassettes became increasingly obsolete in the 90's. They were not that great. I rarely had cassette tapes chewed by machines but drop outs were more common. Cassettes can have the potential to sound great but that comes with a cost. Tape type and proper deck. Cassettes require a lot more maintenance. Cleaning heads regularly. CDs are much better. Now recently I started listening to cassettes and bought a Pioneer nr deck for digitizing. I couldn't believe how good they sound but I still think cd is the much better medium. On a side note some CDs are starting to form cd rot. Nothing last forever but vinyl is doing a damn good job of holding up.
Maby by production of cheap inferior products to wean us away from cassettes, a bit like how 4g is rubbish now because they want folk to upgrade to 5g.
A few things to factor in : that Led Zeppelin tape was recorded using Dolby B noise reduction. That boom box does not have Dolby noise reduction. That makes the tape have more emphasis on the treble and more hiss than it should. Basically we are not hearing the tape the way it was intended to be heard.
I'm sorry to say that also a boombox like that has a 💩tape mechanism. This will greatly affect the sound quality as far as background hiss and wow and flutter.
Some high quality metal and Cro2 tapes have specs that are comparable to CDs if recorded and played back on a proper tape deck.
Another thing to consider is how the original music was mastered in the studio. Was it on open reel tape or done digitally on a computer. Music like Zeppelin was mastered on open reel tape and this gives it that classic tape sound from the 60's and 70's.
Imo, analog tape has warmth and depth. Digital CDs have sonic clarity and virtually no distortion. They both have their pros and cons.
I like CDs for their clarity. I like tape for its warmth and almost alive sound. I basically bought CDs to have the best quality available as a master. Then I would make mix tapes on cassettes and open reel tape for my listening pleasure. I am still an doing this today in 2024
Edit : just wanted to say that anyone still using tape and CDs in 2024 is good in my book 🍻.
Totally agree.💯
cassettes sound deeper, there's a lot of "air" between the instruments. vocals sound bolder. that's because it's an analog recording. when you're listening to something digital you are listening 'bits' of information. maybe you don't actually note it, but your brain does. is like watching a movie on actual film. looks good but your brain is being cheated.
Çerastes so you are an engineer? I know it is converted back to analog but the fucking source is digital and that's bullshit, not sound.
+rd6060: Yes, I'm an audio engineer and whatever you seem to know about digital is simply incorrect. Digital signal is an accurate calculation from the analog signal. It's exactly the same as long as proper settings are used to satisfy the bandwidth requirements. I highly suggest you check out a video called _"D/A and A/D | Digital Show and Tell"_ here on UA-cam by Monty Montgomery.
Çerastes But if you don't hear the difference all your skills are shit and you're deaf.
Yes it does get converted back to analog but it loses some of the sound in the process.
It’s the same thing because. Once you pass the audio to format to UA-cam it’s already digital.
I just love my cassettes they hit different when you throw one into your Walkman and start jamming
are you all for real??? are you comparing the quality of tape vs CD from a video on youtube of a guy playing music on a portable stereo???
It's one stupid video. At least put it into a decent setup with a line into the pc.
It's pretty obvious when it's the cassette without even listening to it: you can see that the "play" key is pressed.
It appears no one realizes that they're listening to this on UA-cam, delivered fully digitally. 😆
I think they’re decently aware, best way to actually test this is to grab a cassette (player too) and a cd (player of course as well and give em a go
LOL. And giving opinions like audio engineers.
Reel to reel is the purest form of audio seeing it mirrors the original master tapes that recordings are preserved on. Cassettes are a close 2nd because they are effectively "mini" reels.
As a format, i think cd is better in any aspect, but format is not the problem, the real concern is the content, the music, and how was adapted to the format strenghts. Sadly the vinyl/cassette native format music was horribly transfered to cd, with some exceptions, off course. Thanks for the video.
Thanks for watching! Some CDs sound better than others.. It's interesting because I'll listen to a used CD from the early 90s (I have a few), and then I'll listen to the audio on UA-cam or iTunes and I'll go "Wow, that sounds totally different.."
A good example would be Slash's self-titled solo album from 2010. He recorded that album completely analog, and you can tell.. It sounds very open and warm. It sounds awesome.. But still.. It was converted to digital. Vinyl is back for sure, but only to those who "know".. I have a guitar student who's 15 and she listens to vinyl. She "gets it"..
Cassette sounds more warm and natural. ''It's a well known fact
among audio engineers that the quality of tapes can't be reached using the standard used
in the digital domain. 44,1Khz/16bit has been set as a standard for CDs because it was
the best compromise between quality and affordability but, actually, is not even close to
the quality of the tapes (not only professional tapes, also the MC like those in your
video). To have the same quality as tapes we should use at least 192khz/32bit which is
actually the minimum requirement in professional studios nowadays; the problem is that
in the end of the music production everything must come down to 44.1/16bit in order to
be distributed on CDs (in case of digital distribution things are even worse); so, while it's
somewhat possible for the audio engineers to emulate the quality of tapes in the
recording/editing stage, the final listener will never be able to have the best audio
experience. Old cassettes offers a more accurate rapresentation of the audio material,
they have a wider dynamic range and there are also some benefits which are hard to
emulate in the digital world, for example the natural and gentle saturation caused by the
physic characteristics of the materials used to manifacture the tapes. In general terms
(using a less technical language) music on cassettes sounds "more airy and powerful",
more "real". Concerning audio quality we are going, unluckily, on the opposite
direction...
''
Lakshmi Tejasvi I agree that's why in my recording studio I mix everything onto a 8 track Yamaha tape recorder I moved from digital to tape now my music sounds sooo much better
Hey, let's all be friends. It's only music after all..
@Lakshmi Tejasvi Everything you wrote is wrong. Cassettes sound dark and muddy , have much less detail, much less dynamics they lack high frequencies, have very bad S/N ratio and even lack low extension.... You want good analog sound go with vinyl....
Cassettes have physical limitations, and where used only as a convenient compromise to the far superior Reel to Reel.
If you listen to CDs through a cheap player or a cheap soundcard, only then cassettes sound better. compare them in the very best Deck vs a good enough dac and the difference id night and day. CDs on the right equipment sound much better even than vinyl.
If you want a better sound go with hi-res PCM or DSD going back to cassettes is devolution....
It's like saying CRT TVs have better picture than 4k... It's insane....
Well it’s six years later and phone speakers have clearly advanced. Even on my phone speaker I can hear subtle differences. CD gives you a cleaner tone. Cassettes have some tape hiss but they also have a warmer, fuller tone.
Both are far superior to MP3s and streaming!
I still make cassette tapes to this day and I still make CDs to
CDs nuts
personally, i prefer CDs. for some reason, tapes always just sound kind of tinny or metallic for some reason but CDs just sound clean and crisp.
Cassettes are so much better in high frequencies. CD's sound like they squeeze everything into the mids which makes it muddy sounding.
I always disliked the squeaky-clean & boring sound of CDs. I also think that they are too vulnerable to getting scratched. I'm quite glad to see the back of them.
dont matter it 2023 dont give shit about 80s
I disagree. The CD has the best sound quality you can get. It’s also much cheaper and if you buy CDs from reputable brand names you will never scratch them. The plastic case protects the disc from damage. A CD can literally be played a 1000x and still retain its perfect sound quality. That’s what makes it better than casstte tapes and other formats. It’s more durable and has a better sound quality. That’s why CDs are better!
Cassette just has something nice to it :)
yeah but cds are the way better format cds is the best format ever cds has much more dynamic range and cds have more sound quality then tapes
Cds just has something nice to it :)
Much more prefer the anolog sound of a cassette tape. Its warm and inviting. I like to pick music from Spotify. Then i will record what i have selected on my tape recorder. Cassette tapes sound is so pleasing to me.
No Digital is better its sounds better on music analog on music is trash sound Quality cd sound is better then a tape sound
Digital has a much nicer sound
Metal tape + Dolby S = beautiful sound
✨
What about Double-Coat Cobalt + Dolby C?
The cassette has a nice tone because of the distortion it introduces. Really makes the vocals push through and sound a lot warmer in these examples. The CDs are much cleaner sounding though and through a high fidelity system you would notice how much detail is retained which is lost in those tapes, perhaps due to their age.
Everyone here who says the cassette sound better is full of bullshit. You are listening to it through the degradation of youtube which in itself sounds worse then a cd. By no means should you be able to hear anything that is better on the cassette.
Yep, fucking stupid hipsters that have no idea how anything works.
If you use ferric tapes, claims of "sounds better than cd" or "better than vinyl" are severely invalid. If you can't hear any difference, please donate your eardrums to the next available deaf person.
Lol 😂😆😂
cassettes are better to me
There’s like almost an added reverb on the cassette and like a dirtiness that isn’t on cd’s
Cassetes forever!!!!!
Cassette sounds amazing... (I only listen to music on my phone with some decent Iem's. but Cassette deffinitely won here in my opinion. it just has a more... live feel. hard to describe, but clarity, separation. warmth. as you said)
It's because tape recording captures the continuous waveforms whereas digital recording samples the sound in very small increments. There is information being left out in digital recording. You don't really notice it because the sample rate is so high but an analog recording contains all the information and with quality equipment you will notice the difference.
@@johnlambert-yu6rl Makes sense.
Well it depends...
A cassette can gradually deteriorate over time just like any analog tape.
Old CDs are also prone to CD rot...
So if u bought a new CD and a new cassette then I'm predicting the CD will sound great in any player,
But u would need a high quality tape player plus nr,
So in the end it's kind of a win win
I like both personally
cd rot ? ever it's gonna be is if it's CD-R pirated one. I have CD's which are ~15 years old, still plays great and are without any damages. Also I have casettes and vhs. Those vhs have bit damage, but casettes are different beast in analogue. My parents had some of vhs in basement so yep, they got rot there
With cassettes, it’s all about the condition of the tape and the equipment. Similar to vinyl.
No cassettes and Vinyls are trash
Cds are better It's got the microsoft computer and microsoft xbox all over it .
Nothing sounds better than the best cassette tape with best caseette player. Others seem flat compared to it's depth. Also read an article which showed cassettes are of much quality than CDs.
What about tape reels?
I've never heard a tape reel, but I've held one in my hands. They look really cool, and they have a decent weight to them. I can imagine they sound just as good, maybe even better.
Of course CD. That's why we dropped the tapes. Because of superior sound quality.
If you concentrate on the other sounds at the beginning, ending and in
between you might feel uncomfortable, but that's not the sound we
intended to listen then why bother about it. If you rather wait for the
actual tunes and songs you want to listen, you shall find that there is
no natural sound like that of the cassette's in any other format. Unlike
today's digital formats which sound so flat, cassettess sounded very
real, layered, dynamic, broad with greath depth and geunine surrounding
effect with noartificial feel. It felt the artist actually was playing
much nearer to you, beside to you.
Actually when a Cassette is properly aligned. Dolby Noise Reduction should not do anything as far as brightness, and so on. Dolby Noise reduction's effectiveness is tied directly to any non linearities, in record bias, and equalization. Even head alignment not correct could affect Dolby tracking. In extreme cases pumping and breathing effects are encountered. Dolby Noise reduction is a compressor expander process. So when working correctly, the signal to noise of a Dolby encoded tape is very compelling. Allot like the fat sound of analog due to the additional odd order harmonics that tape will deliver. Your perception of that warm sound. I had many tape machines, but I love digital for many reasons. Convenience, no alignment of bias or Eq. etc. Please be careful about vinyl. Most came from tape masters. My favorite mastering machine would be the Ampex ATR-100 1/2 inch reel to reel at 15 inches per second. So really if you claim purity, vinyl is NOT it. It is the Master Tape. It will be superior to vinyl anytime. A pain to get Master tapes no doubt. Also vinyl is not without its headaches either. Maintenance is high. Turntable setup critical. There is allot more involved here. I love music, and have been involved with electronics and music for 40 plus years.
cd has a obviously more clear sounds while cassette feels a bit more warm
No
@@ninjaskater6327 uhh explain your point please
Cassette definitely won that one man
Here Cassette just sounds more loudly than CD
Doansai Playground I noticed that as well.Not a true comparison.Especially on this piece of junk CD tape combo.Lets do it properly on a good HIFI with good speakers.I think most people are being fooled here,loud means better.LOL,
@@guy1900763 totally agree. cheap junk can make a cassette sound like crap imo, but when you use a proper hi end cassette deck the difference is insane. its like night and day.
RE: finding songs in middle of tape: There WERE some cassette decks that had a 'music search' feature that would locate breaks in music and stop at those locations.
My yamaha deck has that feature.
A metal tape in a good deck with Dolby S can sound almost as good as a cd but in general cassettes are inferior to cd in every way but I love cassettes though
Audio quality in a care is almost irrelevant due to road noise and other uncontrolled sounds. Not many cars have proper sound isolation so tape, 8 track, CD, they will likely all sound the same since there are 50-60db's of noise masking your audio system already.
Very obvious, Tape sounds better and very nice to the ear. The CD it hurts my ear.
what? no way cds sounds amazing and better then tapes and cds have more dynamic range and sounds more clean and cds are wayy better then tapes
That’s not even true cassettes are always static and CDs are actually louder with more bass. This is due to the better quality of the digital CD format compared to the outdated casstte. CDs are better. Facts are facts.
No cds are better it has the xbox one console
In my opinion, cd is really good. Cassette is a mixed bag though. Retail cassettes can sound like garbage, but prerecorded cassettes recorded from the radio or a vinyl record can sometimes be indistinguishable from where it was recorded depending on equipment, tape brand, etc.
Man, cassettes kicked the cd's ass!
in your dreams cds are kicked the tape as!
cds are the best sounding format ever and it blows cassette tapes to oblivion it sounds a lot better and has more dynamic range and has more detail
How so? CD has better sound, quality is longer lasting, CDs are louder. CDs also are cheaper, easier to use, and more widely available. CDs are also easier to rip onto a computer then casstte tapes.
The problem with analog media is that the more you use vinyl and tape records the more they lose sound quality.
CD quality has the capability of reproducing EVERY sound the human ear can detect.
I get that some people enjoy all that Ritual like taking the vinyl out of it´s cover, cleaning it and listening from begining to end the entire record (also with the Audio cassette) and I have nothing against it, but that doesn´t mean that they sound better, they may sound different, but NOT BETTER.
I'm 43 and grew up with both Analog and Digital technologies, and I prefer Digital.
Considering I am listing to this on a tube system that puts out 600 watts and weighs more than you or me I say lp and cassette much better than cd hands down
Sure you can say that ... but I'm sure glad you pay your electric bill ... tubes USE AN INCREDIBLE AMOUNT OF ELECTRICITY and that's just for the heaters ... then a step up transformer is used to increase voltages to 600 or higher ... so for me I'll stick with my transistorized stuff
I should also note that the cassette player sounds much more natural, and has a better, more naturalized balanced of melody and base, and "average" pitched notes. The electric and acoustic notes both sound better on cassette.
This is because cassette is analog, and CD is digital. Analog is not as compressed as digital.
I still prefer the digital CD. A lot cleaner.
SomeGuy my objective with audio is fidelity. I hate background noise and horrible phase issues. If you consider cassete better it's just because you have emotional thing on it.
SomeGuy I prefer a horse because it's slower than a car.
GamingDude800 I have. Still sounds like shit. Plaqued with hiss, drop-outs, and the high frequencies just aren't there.
Mr Krabs no you haven't listened yet to a cassette on a good sounding cassette player that's for sure trust me on that cause if you did you wouldn't have said that !!
Cds are better
I hear people complaining that CDs are sterile and flat all the time. The truth is the CD had the misfortune of being the format in use during the loudness wars. It doesn’t really matter nowadays, both are dead mediums, despite the occasional resurgence of obsolete formats. The majority of people consume music through streaming.
It's about the music, not the medium (unless the quality is really dreadful, of course).
You're half-right. It IS all about the music, which means the medium is extremely important. The whole goal of recorded music is to reproduced the sound as faithfully as possible, which means analog is the better format almost always.
It doesn't matter if your burger tastes like shit, because it's a burger.
That's basically what you just said.
Tapes with Dolby B Noise reduction enhance the high frequencies so when you turn on Dolby on a capable stereo it doesn't sound muddy because it drops those high frequencies back down to a normal range. Look up Dolby Noise reduction videos on youtube. It makes it appear to sound more detailed, but in reality its just an artificially boost to the EQ that you could just mimic with a treble knob using a CD.
CDs actually have more frequency response. Tapes can only go down to about 50hz where as CDs can go down to 20hz.
there are different types of cassettes.
They both sound the same to me tbh. In my opinion CD's have better sound quality than pre recorded tape. However, the Sony CFDS70 has a REALLY good tape recorder on it, so I often like to record my CD's onto blank tapes and play them in my new Jensen portable cassette player. They sound great.
mp3 gets so much hate from people who have no knowledge of the format. Just because your 60kbps mp3 that you downloaded from a torrent site sounds like shit it doesn't mean the format itself is bad. Personally I am more inclined to buy cds and ocasionally vinyl because I like authentic physical copies of my purchases, but i don't hate on mp3 just because i want to sound like a hipster.
I agree. In the Steve Jobs biography by Walter Isaacson, it is mentioned that mp3s on download sites were/are very low quality compared to the CD quality. So iTunes allowed you to download/purchase music with a "good conscience", AND you get a very high quality version of the song(s). Thanks for watching!
I agree. In the Steve Jobs biography by Walter Isaacson, it is mentioned that mp3s on download sites were/are very low quality compared to the CD quality. So iTunes allowed you to download/purchase music with a "good conscience", AND you get a very high quality version of the song(s). Thanks for watching!
I agree. In the Steve Jobs biography by Walter Isaacson, it is mentioned that mp3s on download sites were/are very low quality compared to the CD quality. So iTunes allowed you to download/purchase music with a "good conscience", AND you get a very high quality version of the song(s). Thanks for watching!
Tom Will today we have AAC. and it's very good to rip digital CD
it's not a hipster thing, mp3 is horrible, it destroys the signal, it's even worse than cassette.
it doesn't just compress or encode, it removes information, a 4 minutes song on wav 44khz 16 bits takes like 40 or 50mb, mp3 makes it take 4mb!!!.
flac is better, it compresses without removing anything, the result will always be the same as the original cd.
that being said, I prefer vinyl, I like physical media and I like vinyl more than cd.
A lot of these bands have many different types of remasters and therefore several different mixes of the song. Without confirmation that they’re all the same masters just imparted one different formats of audio, there’s no way to tell if you either like one format because it’s tape/cd or if it’s just because it’s either the original/remastered mix.
CD wins. Really, kids, we're not kidding. Tapes can sound nice under ideal conditions, but they're extremely fragile, fall apart very easily and suffer from pitch and low-frequency distortions. CD is superior on all measurements. That said, it's fun to create a mix tape and there's an ease to recording to a tape deck that modern technology makes rather difficult (big media wants you to consume, not record and share anymore). Anyway, great video, thanks for sharing!
wtf, i've been collecting Tape since the 80's and None of these ever broke. Neither did my Stereo eat up my Cassette. CD's on the other hand, break with only one little Scratch on them
Ganonxx same here
Actually, cd are very fragile, the cassette tape is allot more durable. It’s dust proof,very durable, and it’s very hard to touch the tape film with your hands. I’ve broken many, many disk and I’ve never broken a cassette, I’ve actually driven over one for fun. Allot more people Also prefer the warmer tone of a cassette.
CDs are much more fragile + more expensive. I see them as a pure scam, theyre so fragile. If u take care of tapes, theyre ok. Not so with CDs. One scratch or some dust can compromise.
So does my dad. The only cassettes that really show signs of wear are ones that my dad probably bought from the discount stores (Audiogold, Certron, Sakura, and other off-brand productions). He recorded mostly from his turntable to a Sansui SC-2000 and with a circa 1979 TDK D series, the results surpassed CD quality for the most part (it was very dependent on the source, obviously then-new albums sounded better than my dad's well worn childhood 45s of early rock).
I used this video see if I should buy a cassette player or CD Player. From this video the casette seems to sound way better so thanks!
se per fare il confronto usi quel ciospo di radio-registratore , tutto può suonare meglio del cd !
Cassettes have more background noise, stretch, melt in the heat, can get "eaten" by the player, and are more difficult to select a specific track. I don't think they can reproduce they same range of frequencies as a CD (vinyl can't either). Really, the only benefit over a CD is that you can take a cassette out of one device and put it in another and it will resume exactly where you left off. Oh, and you can record on them multiple times.
not on a cheapo boombox. Get a quality hifi deck
In fact, the problem of the later tape mechanism is that the parameter of wowflutter cannot meet the standard.
Its funny how people favor tapes...they just don't sound better. I'm sorry but if you spend the same amount of money on a cd setup that you would on a high quality tape setup, the tape will sound at it's very, very best at par with digital. On the topic of which format is more fun to use...that's subjective and you could argue in terms of the cassette the same way people do with vinyl and so on. Digital is as close you can get to reality, has zero noise output, a greater dynamic range and the ability to be played and copied countless times without any loss of quality. People argue that analog has warmer sound...well have I got a solution for you: turn down the treble, crank up the bass and raise the volume..there's your warm. I know it goes deeper than that but if you're into distortion and all that jazz then by all means do what you want to do but when it comes down to longevity and sound quality, cds just come out on top. I can't tell you how many BASF tapes I have that squeal and sound muffled because of chemical degradation meanwhile all my old cds sound nearly perfect--the only imperfections introduced by either early digital mastering or the analog systems used to originally record the album but that's another topic.
I understand your reasoning.. We all have different opinions and viewpoints. That being said, when it comes to convenience and practicality, I would choose a CD over a cassette.. This video is based off of my own experience of playing a cassette one day and noticing that it possessed a certain "richness" that was pleasing to my ears. It appears that other people in this comment section seem to agree. I think the main theme is that a tape can sound "surprisingly good" compared to a CD. Are cassettes obsolete? I think so, yes. I read an article a few years ago that mentioned how young millennials think mp3s sound better than vinyl (analog). To me, I wouldn't consider that a "fact", merely an opinion. CDs do sound good, don't get me wrong, but vinyl is my preferred method of listening to music. There's a reason why it made a "comeback." At the end of the day, everything is personal preference. Thanks for watching!
I agree 100%. I heard somewhere, that CDs are recorded with a flat equilization curve. If you want warmth from your music, you can use a graphic equalizer to tailor the sound to your liking. With a good EQ, you can make even badly mastered CDs sound good.
digital is not closer to reality!!! real sound is not digital, it's analogue!.
that being said, I don't like cassette, it never was a good format for serious listening. it was like mp3 is now, a crappy low quality format that's convenient.
cd is better than cassette, and vinyl is better than both.
To My Ears The Cassette sounds better. and also I agree with you too. I;d prefer Cassettes.
I find that to be understandable. Both compact disks and cassettes have their flaws. The sound is dependent on the condition and quality of the material. So your opinion will most definitely not be disputed. I would even say you're right.
Cassettes are good for keeping the sound of the 8-bit era. And CD's have their own quality of sound which sounds very crisp and nice. Overall, I think both have their own pros and cons.
cassete blew the cd out of the water
I don't consider pops and clicks produced by damaged vinyl records or damaged needles as being part of the music or as something to preserve in music playback. That's one of the big reasons we went away from vinyl to a touchless format like the CD. CDs will be perfect forever as long as the handler does not get careless and damage the CD or as long as the CD player's laser arm does not drastically break and come in contact with a CD. I have owned CDs since 1983 and have never had a CD player go bad in any way and have never scratched a CD. All my CDs play as good as the day I bought them in 1983.
Casette Everyday! The mass people today do not hnow how true hifi music sound. Mp3 and digital formats kill the essence of music. Today the only things that rival with cassette and vynil is a FLAC 24bit.
Simple CD audio is a worst compressed format and the video show the difference. Cassette play a full spectrum mith more fluid and expansive high, more prominant mids, and more puchy base. :) The CD plays a hanged spectrum and a confused music!
I hope in a cassette return on the market!
Stefano B
Cassettes are mastered better than CDs.
A CD mastered with tons of dynamic range would beat everything.
Stefano B i am not agree, if you have an excellent hifi Audio System you Will notice the diference, actually i have vinyl, tape, cd and minidisc player and a hi-res DAC too, some CD's Sounds better than Vinyl, just Depend of your audio System and the way that the cd, Vinyl, tape was recorded.
I have a hifi stereo Pioneer stereo system from the early 90's and it has a CD player a Cassette Player an 8 Track player a turntable and an AM/FM tuner between all of those the best all around sound goes to vinyl the best bass goes to Cassette the warmest sound goes to 8 track and the cleanest sound to CD radio frequencies are just garbage hahah
I agree with most of what you said, cd is crap, mp3 is even worse, flac is good. but I disagree with the cassette part. cassette is horrible!!.
vinyl is still the best format for good quality sound.
cassette can sound ok if you have a great deck and use metal or chrome, but normal cassettes on regular players sound awful.
You should hear a high quality 3 head cassette deck with dbx noise reduction.dbx reduces tape hiss by 30 db and extends dynamic range to 110 db.
Cassette
cds is better
Cassettes sucks
Cds are better
Well... in your exact setup, the cassettes played louder and had more pronounced treble. Easily correctable with some EQ. Also, the reason for that added treble on the cassettes is likely related to noise reduction - it's very likely that your cassettes were recorded with some type of Dolby NR on them, but your little boombox probably does not have a Dolby circuit and plays them raw. The way Dolby NR works is basically compressing the dynamics, with additional more aggressive boost in the high frequencies on recording; on playback, it's the reverse - muffling the highs and expanding the dynamics. Dolby-encoded tapes sound somewhat acceptable without Dolby enabled on playback, but the end result is what you hear - an overly trebly sound.
Also note the additional hiss the cassettes have, and that you're presenting it to us over UA-cam which is digital sound with pretty similar characteristics to a CD (44.1 or 48 kHz, with lossy compression that CDs don't have). And we're hearing the difference nonetheless. What does that mean? You can easily post-process your CDs to sound just like your cassettes. Or even faithfully reproduce the results the accurate way by transferring them onto cassettes with Dolby enabled on recording and disabled on playback. Not much the other way round - you can get close, but you won't get rid of all the hiss (it'd become less audible with Dolby, though). And it's very hard to make a cassette sound indistinguishable from a CD - at the very least, it's not possible with this kind of equipment.
The bottom line? CDs are, objectively speaking, far superior in technical terms - to both cassettes and even vinyl. From an objective, engineering standpoint, all home analogue formats are inferior, less faithful ways of reproducing the original signal.
So why may tapes and vinyl sound subjectively better (and there's nothing wrong with it)? Two main reasons, actually - one is mastering. Records and tapes may come from different masters than what you have on CDs. Old CD releases may have crude, far from perfect digital mastering, while new ones often have brick-walled dynamics as a result of the so-called "loudness war". All that may mean that it's hard to find a well-mastered CD, even though that's not a flaw of the format itself. The second reason is personal preference - while a well-mastered CD will always be more faithful reproduction than tape or vinyl, the particular colouration it gives may actually sound subjectively more pleasant to the ear. There's nothing wrong with it and if listening to cassettes make you enjoy music more - it's perfectly fine. But it's rather dubious to call one format superior because of personal preferences rather than objectively measurable qualities.