Hi Tony, I just wanted to let you know how much your tireless effort, and knowledge, is appreciated by all of us who are trying to keep the high end cassette tape culture alive! You are doing a great job of teaching those people who are interested in learning about the rewards and satisfaction of using this medium, and we all Thank You!! Lary
I have CD Power in 110min and they are amazing, imaging is very holographic and the bass isn’t thinned out, quality control was maintained to the very end, kudos to TDK
I remember the Sony CD cassettes being wildly popular back in the 90s. I never really got into CDs at the time because they were twice as much money and so I used a lot of cassettes and would borrow a friend's CD and record them on one of those cassettes. I started doing the same thing when MP3s came along by recording them out to cassette.
This hobby is full of surprises. If it stops being fun, you’re probably dead or you just don’t like this hobby. The only problem I have run into is price overload. Unfortunately for me, that’s just life in the real world. This hobby for me is fun! I say live a little! No one is guaranteed tomorrow! You need some fun in your life
The Powers were competent cassettes, but I actually preferred the CDing's to them. The CD Bass, however, I wouldn't wish those on my worst enemy. I got two two-packs of them off of eBay, and only one of the four tapes was actually usable. The others had severe railroading issues, and the sound on the only usable one wasn't all that impressive. The CDing II's were quite good. I used them quite a bit when I was stationed in Japan, and they were an acceptable substitute for the SA. Supposedly it was based off of their SF/SD line, which was essentially the previous generation's SA formulation.
I think by the mid 1990's cassette marketing and quality had become 'dumbed down' in favour of the then new minidisc format, with the label designs & shells becoming more gimmicky, also the other thing I noticed ( due to working in the plastics industry ) was the quality & appearance of the moulded shells & cases was not as good as the older ones. Also you metioned the pancakes being cut during manufacturing, it would be Interesting to see a video on cassette manufacture & assembly.
Thanks for all your effort you put into these videos tony, I'm getting back into cassettes and learning lots from them. Will also be ordering from your site soon 👍
I have one of the TDK CDing II cassettes and it’s a 110-minute tape from the late 1990’s. I remember “CD Power” which is a high bias cassette, and “CD Bass” which is a normal bias cassette.
Lol, I was just listening to a TDK CDing type II that I've recorded about 2 year ago and I was quite impressed by the sound and stability of the tape. :)
Thank you Tony for the next video you share with us. My CDing 2 is still unpacked. Maybe I will try them after this material. For now, after buying a new deck (new ... pfffff, 31yo at last), I recorded several cassettes from various producers. SONY MetalMaster is out of competition, but in the end, this cassette was made at all for this purpose. In the second place, I'd put That's VX. I am delighted with its quality. I was not disappointed at Fuji K2. It is definitely an excellent, though not very popular, medium. I am glad that I have several more of these tapes left. I was pleasantly surprised by the budget Maxell UDII-CD. Great quality of recordings, in packaging with dubious aesthetic qualities. It seems to me that inside the extremely ugly, transparent shell is still sitting the same tape as in my favorite UDII-CD (those where the shell is olive-gray color with a small window). I had quite a nice experience while recording on SKC QX. Initially I was tedious with a bit of BIAS and Level settings, but after the calibration the tape recorded well (there was a slight loss of high tones at the cost of medium tones). I'm completely disappointed with Maxell UR, but it's probably what Tony has told me about lately: the latest cassettes can use a Chinese, shitty tape, not the decent one from SKC. It's time to look for more recordings to tape (this is the hardest part). I will not keep the cassettes closed. Cassettes are wonderful when you can record something on them, even if you can touch them. Packed in foil and closed somewhere in the closet, they cease to have any value for me. That's why I record and every such process gives me incredible satisfaction.
All good picks. Get yourself a premium streaming subscription, then got can discover new music but ultimately you'll have more music than your can record...and the quality IS good enough.
I remember when i was very young my parents teached me how to record on these. They always brought the cding 2s still got a few of em now. Only for memories hahaha. But i remember when i use to record kylie minouge and madonnas on to the cding 2 it was better because they were digitally remastered cds meaning they sounded better and clearer and bassier and louder. With the old mirror front cds they were recorded on low volumes back then. But my mum and dad brought the remastered ones and i remember we got really good outstanding repsonce out of em. They really did sound like the cd. I remember i use to ask my mum saying is this a tape or cd and shed say its the tape and id be like omg it sounds like the cd. But i always used to use the cding 2 and cd power. Were both my best fav cassettes in heart !
I have had inconsistent level balance with these. Back in the day I had a basic JVC 2 Head deck, and remember the first time I tried onr at the start of the tape everything was going great, until getting to the end of side a and then the levels shifted completely out of balance. Such a shame as the diunf was pretty dam good. Great comparison. Keep these great videos coming
In the Japanese market most of these tapes were aimed at teenagers to rent\borrow CDs (which are pretty expensive in Japan) and copy them. This was a price sensitive market that would probably be using cheap bookshelf systems or boomboxes, so consistent quality was not super important. In the 90's and early 2000's grey market CDIng tapes from Asia were pretty easy to find in the electronics stores in downtown Toronto. They were fairly cheap (I think the Canadian private copying tax was not paid on them) and had interesting designs on the wrappers. I still have a few sealed ones (with gimmicky stickers and translucent blue shells).
Exactly the same in the UK. I took regular trips to the local library for years, renting albums and making "backups", ahem. I think we all did it when we were penniless students - hence the reason why the tapes were always Memorex, CDing or Bush/BBC and the like.
I think you got it spot on there, while the fundemental raw material was good each tape had a different fault, not much use when recording a live broadcast! and somehow they lost the music when they were ok, just didn't swing and get your foot tapping. Somehow when you had a good one they were in a technical sense good, flat frequency response and extended but irritating to listen to.
That would be a really sneaky way to get SA-X back into the market. I think they had actually dropped SA-X a couple years before CD Power showed up. And at a crazy good price too! Personally, I think it's probably lesser SA or SD (SF for everyone else), and the CD Bass is probably AR or DS-X, whatever formulation would be below AD (which I think they dropped alongside SA-X).
Recorded men at work business as usual on the CDing 2 over last weekend & have yet to play it but like you said in the day they were top value and from what I remember didn't sound like a chrome
Those newer TDK cassettes are hard to open when you want to repair it and it doesn't have screws to gain access so I had figured out how to open the cassette without damaging it by carefully lifting it from the front side with a small flat screw
I keep an X-Acto knife handy for dealing with those. It also comes in handy if you ever have to splice tape (I actually bought a splicing block). Since I started getting back into tape, all my old cassette repair skills are starting to come back.
It's just a fact that in the 90's that most people bought blank tape for recording CD's for the car, boombox or walkman. Is there any information on the package where these tapes were made? I recall that TDK had a plant in the USA during this time. It's just strange TDK cut corners for the UK version and not the USA.
Yes, because car's cassete players were more practical then CD changers. Information about origin is in the barcode , first digits indicates country of origin.
CD 2 has always soudid a bit whatsit , worse on low end decks . CD 1 sounded batter . Lets hope they start selling tapes back in the supermarkets as they did . The sales would defiantly sale that way then everyone will know they have come back ! I have passed on this channel in comments to certain individuals who have no idea they are making tapes again . They need to be "seen " in the shops .
@@CassetteComeback Well ithats something , they are better than these crap Poundland duck tape , the Oxide is not ground fine enough , sound bitty . Yeah I tried them too . This is the only way I can get tapes . Maxell soun good on Class A amps , nothing is filtered out
@@CassetteComeback I spotted the vid after I got the Duck Tape . The case is the best part of it . Poundland is getting worse with there Quality in electrics
The US version of the CD TDK HBII in 110 min versions have jammed on me. Other then that they did sound good and I can get em loose I don't recommend the longer version.
its ok I got the 60 minutes and 90 minutes of these instead :) edit: btw the 46 and 74 50 60 and 90 minute versions are good too unlike 100 or 120 minutes versions.
Thanks for the heads up, I'm watching this precisely because I picked up an unopened 110 cassette today for $1 at the record store. I shall beware! I also scored the same as a 90 minute version. Do you know if they have the same issue?
I noticed later versions of TDK and Maxell the tape was made very thin so in my experience it didn't really matter what time length you chose it was all made from the super thin stuff they used in the 110 minute cassettes... (train track city from my experience) I will say other than the occasional drop outs what managed to record sound really good... but the super thin tape just didn't hold up well in my experience... at least in the decks I had anyway
The good news: “You have 10 unopened and 2 opened CDPower tapes.” (YES!) The bad news: “They’re 110’s” (D’OH!) From what I recall in the 90’s, these did sound pretty amazing and were one of my main tapes back then. Thanks for the heads up on the 110s though. The two that I had opened had stuff on them before I bulk erased them. I’ll keep a listen for how they sound after re-recording on them since I can’t say for sure how many times they’ve already been recorded on.
Resorting to rewatch old content during my corona imprisonment. Thought-provoking stuff Tony. Who or what is a purist? Am I tape snob? Can anyone afford to be so didactic or prescriptive in a world were the big boys are no longer churning out 'quality' tapes and so we are left to seek an ever decreasing number of them or an alternative? My gut feeling is I might be an impurist, in an imperfect world, open-minded enough to try said alternatives. Thanks to you Tony, I've rekindled my appreciation of ferric. What's a little hiss between friends, or tracks for that matter?
I've said it before and I'll say it again, the best investment you can make is in your deck. I record on ferric more than any other type. They are the most "cassette" sounding cassettes. Hiss reminds me it's a cassette and a great deck can make a decent ferric sound better than I would have believed in my youth.
Picked up a TDK! CDing-II 70 today. Pretty cool! 😎 It has a really unique jewel case. It opens like a car door. Not like the hatch but like the driver side. Sweet!
As usual a great video, I guess I was lucky with the CDing II as I've found it to be pretty good! and unlucky with CD Power as i wasnt as impressed as with CDing II
I have a few CD Power 110 and was unimpressed with the performance. Drop outs on a just opened tape, recorded on my Dragon. I was turned off and quit buying the CD Power tapes. I did recently acquire some CD Power 90s in a lot. I am looking forward to recording on them after seeing this terrific video. I do not know how the CD Power 110 tapes I had were stored, but the other types of tapes in that lot were fine. This was 2013 when I made those recordings.
110 the tape is different and thinner. Should really never go above 90 min. I always had good results with cd power. We had Cding here in the states but as I recall they were cheap never good compared to the XL-II and CD Power.
@@RB-xm3ed yes I typically never buy tapes over 90 minutes, but those were in a lot I bought. I’m in the states and don’t remember the CDing as well in stores, but I might have bought some. I got the names mixed up often with CDit and CD in the name of a tape during that period.
I have some of those CDing II's, they sound decent enough and mine didn't have any sound issues at first but the two I used suffer very badly from railroading (lines forming on the tape), after just 10-15 plays there is a very clear line down the middle of one of them making the left channel go way down at times and the other didn't fare much better. So they aren't the best for me, but I did like the sound of the ones I used when they worked properly. Shame but there are plenty of other tapes to use.
Umm , I remember my TDK CDing 2's ( the previous generation) , mostly for dropouts. I wasn't using a great deck back in the day. Hopefully i'll get a decent deck soon as and can try them again as well as 3 of the same Gen to see if it was a one off. I'd much rather use any tape tape even a poor ferric as long as it doesn't drop out.
just today I received as a gift 5 of these but of 54 min each, made in Europe(Luxembourg) and I test the recording on my Revox B215, my opinion is they are good if the calibration is done by such a machine. Very pleased if the source is good, almost as the source without using Dolby at all. In fact they are very cheap( 5 euro/each)
Hi Tony, great video, as always! However, I have a hard time believing the CD Power was the 'lesser cuts' of the SA-X. The CD Power appeared just as the SA-X was gone (if vintagecassettes com is to be believed - I'm not from the US, no personal recollection here). So no need anymore to separate 'better' and 'lesser' cuts. OTOH, the CD Power might have been using leftover SA-X tape. But TDK might as well have bought pancakes from a 3rd party (Fuji?), as was increasingly common at the end of the cassette era. BTW, in my experience all TDK 1988+ Type 2 tapes suffered badly from railroading, the SA in particular. The last TDK and Imation iterations of the SA were actually also pretty bad wrt 'curly edges' from my experience.
Any of them tapes are good enough. Back in the day I didn’t assume 2 tapes are the same quality, even if they were the same brand and model. So I treated them accordingly. That’s why you have the bias, rec lvl and balance pots on your deck: to make them sound as close to the source as possible. Don’t try to apply presets for tapes, treat them as if they were unique! The 3rd head is happy to assist you to do just that.
Us two headers were just out of luck with some types LOL I sure as heck wasn't going to BIAS every single type of tape I wanted to try out ... most if not all decks can be BIASED but as folks have worked with decks know it was a single or possibly two calibration pots somewhere on the circuit board... not made to be used as the volume control on your stereo amplifier... a blue moon (re)calibration thing LOL
Just an observation. I picked up a few Memorex CD2 High Bias blanks after watching this. And wouldn't you know it, the ones I got smell like a box of crayons. All I can say is I am excited to give them a go.
I'm actually recording on a late edition TDK CDing II as I type this, that I bought from Tapeline and I can honestly say they sound fantastic. I agree that the shells don't look as nice as say for example the Maxell XLII, (which I also have a box of) or the Sony UX, (which I also have some of), but the sound reproduction is really good. I think that the source material makes a difference though. Some songs/ albums, (in my opinion) seem to sound better on specific tapes etc. I'm very happy with the results so far though. :-) **edit** I'm now on my 3rd cassette and this one has some slight dropouts in places, whereas the previous 2 didn't, so I guess there are good and bad cassettes of the TDK CDing 2 out there and it's a lottery which you get.
@@CassetteComeback Yeah, I'm starting to see why. In fact, even the first 2 don't sound good when played back in my Walkman. Strange though, they sounded great during recording, when listening through the tape monitor. I'm now going to have to re-record the lot on Sony UX tapes I guess. Anyway, thanks for the vid and reply.
hi! bdw - one of the best - tdk cd-bass 120 - hard to believe how it keeps level! thin tape in 120'ies... no distortion! and the tape is for sure from ad-s tdk series - transparent cherry color - still type one . cheers! tony
Hi Tony their is another problem with the 110 minute version of this cassette. Due to thinner tape it is prone to coming off the hub assembly when rewinding the cassette.
I have several CD power cassette. I found that they only sound good on some decks. I feel that it is important to have a deck that can be calibrated if one uses these.
One thing I missed, Tony, was whether or not the two tapes tested are still in production or not. TDK still making the CD Power? Doesn't seem to be loads of them on eBay. Thanks for the test!
No idea. They look like a CDIng 2 but in a blue shell. I don't like those either. They were possibly the successor, but there were so many CDIng 2 floating around that it seemed they were on sale at the same time?
TheDeeplyCynical: No idea where they fit in, but I've used some of the Super-D tapes, and they've performed brilliantly! Loads of clear high's, no drop-outs, and that's peaking at around +3-ish on my recorder (Teac AD-850), and no distortion either... TDK D's, and Maxell UR's work well, but I have to record no louder than '0' to keep them clean, but there is a noticeable tape-hiss... The TDK Super-D fixes those issues for me!. Mine is a modern CD/Cassette deck with no Dolby, or noise reduction. I have a lovely old 3-head Yamaha that is awaiting some repairs - just got to find the time to do it..... but for now, I think that Super-D tape is going to be a good tape to use for general purpose, reasonable quality recordings... :-)
I remember I had problems with CDing2 too, with drop outs and channel inconsistencies. My cassette deck was a pretty good 3 head Denon deck and other blanks worked better, so I assumed my deck was fine. False economy unfortunately.
So what is tramlining? I opened a new TDK D yesterday and it had no left channel on the b side at all, there was a faint line going along the length of the tape.
Over here, the CDing II was mostly sold in supermarkets at a time when the Compact Cassette was already in decline due to competing formats like MD or CDR. Any electronics/audio store with a reputation did not seriously sell or advertise these IIRC. With justification - as your lecture proves.
Hi Tony, firstly thanks so much for taking the time to make these videos, I’ve been learning a lot from them. I bought a 10 pack of limited edition coloured CDing 2 90s. I opened 4 tapes and can only use 1. They ok at start but as they go on they start to slow and flutter and railroad something terrible. I took them apart and cleaned the plastic guides and rollers with contact cleaner. It only worked on 1. I’m recording on a Pioneer CT-676 using the auto BLE system. I’m not going to open the others, is there anything I can do with them? I’ve had far better results and no problems at all from URs and D90s on it as well as SA 90s.
Just out of curiosity , do you have any of those blue and white 60 min compact cassette? i don't remember what brand they are made in, but those was white cassette shells, and a blue and white label on it, and it say Compact Cassette with white font. probably not the best describing , but so far thats my best my memory can tell.
Not a fan of any tapes that say CD on them. Probably since it just points to the end of cassette and the fun. Lucky they made a zillion billion tapes and we can still find the ones from the good ol days. I just picked up 8 Maxell UD's from circa 1975.
I agree. I'm sure it was the best marketing for a dying product, but I hate to see cassettes sold as a format that's only relevant as a make-shift way to play your CDs somewhere else.
Actually, we had a Jumbo roll then slitted into Pacakes then cut in to a cookie or winding tape. ....if I can see the lot numbering on the side I can tell the manufactured date.
Thank you for your video. I had been using TDK SA from the 80s to the end of the 90s. I still have so many tapes with good music and interviews which can‘t get to find on streaming platforms. So what I want to ask you, which tape or cassette deck should I borrow to digitize my old treasures? Thanks for an answer. Keep up the good work. Stay safe. Stay healthy. The human malware is still around.
@@CassetteComeback Again, I reiterate, You truly are a tastemaker I'm sure in the finer things in Life, obviously with cassette decks although, I must say, I'm a bit partial to the TDK SA-X formulation myself, less drop outs.
That is USUALLY an issue with metal tape not so much on type II ... however to answer your question playing one that was recorded well ... it will extremely well being played back (of course provided the tape is not super thin like 120 minute tapes ... and as long as the tape machine doesn't damage the tape itself ... if you are having trouble with complete type II erasure you may have a dirty erase head (or perhaps a permanent magnet type) the cassette machines with those type erase heads aren't made to record type II tape only type 1
$&@#! I forgot Tony's warning and just bought a case of 110's. And I've always avoided thin tape. I hope it's the same formulation & performance, before rerecording🤞
I have 3 of them that I bought in a huge lot with SA-X’s and Maxell XLll’s. I just used a CD Power just last week to make a mixtape of songs from the 2000’s. I loved the results so much, that I just bought another 3 more from the US. Paid $54.00 for them, which imo isn’t a bad price for tapes that basically perform like an SA-X!
That CDing 2 really is a mixed bag indeed. Good tapemateria and the screwed case is a plug. But the case itself looks pretty boring and bland… I never really liked clear plastic cases (unless it's a reel to reel design cassette). Welded cases suck because they are such a pain in the butt to fix. Once you cracked them open they only hold together with scotch tape :( And that looks just bad… This is why i liked the later TDK Super CDing series that came in a slightly different SA & SA-X case like the last generation of the SA60 and SA90 tapes. Over here in Germany you could get these Super CDing often in tripple packs at Aldi for next to nothing. Too bad i missed the chance to stockpile some batches of these. They sounded even great when i recorded some Vinyls to them.
@@CassetteComeback Oh i always kinda suspected that somehow because they really sounded very alike with literally zero difference. Thanks for clarifying that :D
Hello, I am looking for this kind of TDK cassette. Today I found the TDK SA 90 Super CDing. The cassettes are even screwed and not only glued. They almost look like the TDK CD Power Type 2 Cassettes. Are the cassettes identical? Kind regards, Ronny
I remember plenty of 3x packs of them... for 0.99 € !!! = 0.33 € pro 1 cassette !!! Plentiful available at any german / austrian LIDL supermarket chain back in 2004... now on eBay 20x the price = over 20 € which is almost 25$ - for 3 cassettes !!! EXCLUDING shipping costs!!! SMH
The source is a little bit more clear in sound. But then again, you are using the phones output for recording the sound to the video. Better to use a line out on the amp if possible. That gives a more accurate comparison. besides that; your deck fluctuates a bit when setting the level and bias. I have an Kenwood KX-1100G cassettedeck and does not do that. Is your pinch roller stil ok? Looks like the tape is not on the same spot on the head all the time.
I have a recently serviced Dragon that also fluctuates a bit when calibrating, even with Type 4. Perhaps the LEDs on your Kenwood aren't sensitive enough to register it.
Interesting discussion, Tony, thanks! I saw these on your website: www.cassettecomeback.com/products/tdk-sa-1997-us?variant=10892318769209. Wonder how they compare to the two cassettes you tested here. The shell screws are gone on these too and felt pad arrangement and inlay cards also seem of scaled down quality. Would you say they are as stable and good sounding as the CD Power SA90 or even the best SA iterations from the 80s and early 90s? What type of tape is in the 1997 US, you reckon?
CD POWAAAAAAA. Because apparently North America ALWAYS needs the same shit everyone else gets, only with a different title or design. Otherwise they would not buy it for not feeling special enough xD Take the Mega Drive for example.
The Mega Drive was a copyright issue I believe. Like in the UK Starfox was called Starwing as there was a Sinclair Spectrum game already called Starfox.
@@CassetteComeback Yeah but come on.... have you seen the US SuperNintendo? D: there's absolutely no excuse for that. Or calling the Mega CD the Sega CD. Or the PCEngine the TurbografX.
those tdk cding2 tapes are just horrible....most i owned wouldn't bias up at all....tossed all of them last year...oh yeah the tape became grainy looking and with alot of horizontal lining on the tape...utter garbage...
Hi Tony, I just wanted to let you know how much your tireless effort, and knowledge, is appreciated by all of us who are trying to keep the high end cassette tape culture alive! You are doing a great job of teaching those people who are interested in learning about the rewards and satisfaction of using this medium, and we all Thank You!! Lary
When was watching Goardians of Galaxy, noticed that TDK CDingII from 2001) Its slightly wrong tape for 1988))
I have CD Power in 110min and they are amazing, imaging is very holographic and the bass isn’t thinned out, quality control was maintained to the very end, kudos to TDK
I remember the Sony CD cassettes being wildly popular back in the 90s. I never really got into CDs at the time because they were twice as much money and so I used a lot of cassettes and would borrow a friend's CD and record them on one of those cassettes. I started doing the same thing when MP3s came along by recording them out to cassette.
Just like me, I "borrowed" most of my music collection, that's why I remember cassettes so fondly.
hmmm, i want to see one of these "pancake cutting" videos now
This hobby is full of surprises. If it stops being fun, you’re probably dead or you just don’t like this hobby. The only problem I have run into is price overload. Unfortunately for me, that’s just life in the real world. This hobby for me is fun! I say live a little! No one is guaranteed tomorrow! You need some fun in your life
In addition to the CD Power, we Americans also got a tape called CD Bass.
I better buy a few TDK CD Power 90s some day.....
Thanks for the video!
The Powers were competent cassettes, but I actually preferred the CDing's to them. The CD Bass, however, I wouldn't wish those on my worst enemy. I got two two-packs of them off of eBay, and only one of the four tapes was actually usable. The others had severe railroading issues, and the sound on the only usable one wasn't all that impressive.
The CDing II's were quite good. I used them quite a bit when I was stationed in Japan, and they were an acceptable substitute for the SA. Supposedly it was based off of their SF/SD line, which was essentially the previous generation's SA formulation.
I think by the mid 1990's cassette marketing and quality had become 'dumbed down' in favour of the then new minidisc format, with the label designs & shells becoming more gimmicky, also the other thing I noticed ( due to working in the plastics industry ) was the quality & appearance of the moulded shells & cases was not as good as the older ones.
Also you metioned the pancakes being cut during manufacturing, it would be Interesting to see a video on cassette manufacture & assembly.
Yeah, I'm waiting for NAC to release one. They go to every news outlet going with their "story" but there's no videos of their new tape production...
My first 100 minute cassette was a TDK CDIng 2, and I remember that it sounded quite good.
Thanks for all your effort you put into these videos tony, I'm getting back into cassettes and learning lots from them. Will also be ordering from your site soon 👍
I have one of the TDK CDing II cassettes and it’s a 110-minute tape from the late 1990’s. I remember “CD Power” which is a high bias cassette, and “CD Bass” which is a normal bias cassette.
I used to buy a lot of the CD Power tapes, but only the 90 min version. I liked them quite a bit!
Lol, I was just listening to a TDK CDing type II that I've recorded about 2 year ago and I was quite impressed by the sound and stability of the tape. :)
You might have good an irregular one...that sounds 💯 😀
Thank you Tony for the next video you share with us.
My CDing 2 is still unpacked. Maybe I will try them after this material. For now, after buying a new deck (new ... pfffff, 31yo at last), I recorded several cassettes from various producers.
SONY MetalMaster is out of competition, but in the end, this cassette was made at all for this purpose.
In the second place, I'd put That's VX. I am delighted with its quality.
I was not disappointed at Fuji K2. It is definitely an excellent, though not very popular, medium. I am glad that I have several more of these tapes left.
I was pleasantly surprised by the budget Maxell UDII-CD. Great quality of recordings, in packaging with dubious aesthetic qualities. It seems to me that inside the extremely ugly, transparent shell is still sitting the same tape as in my favorite UDII-CD (those where the shell is olive-gray color with a small window).
I had quite a nice experience while recording on SKC QX. Initially I was tedious with a bit of BIAS and Level settings, but after the calibration the tape recorded well (there was a slight loss of high tones at the cost of medium tones).
I'm completely disappointed with Maxell UR, but it's probably what Tony has told me about lately: the latest cassettes can use a Chinese, shitty tape, not the decent one from SKC.
It's time to look for more recordings to tape (this is the hardest part). I will not keep the cassettes closed. Cassettes are wonderful when you can record something on them, even if you can touch them. Packed in foil and closed somewhere in the closet, they cease to have any value for me. That's why I record and every such process gives me incredible satisfaction.
All good picks. Get yourself a premium streaming subscription, then got can discover new music but ultimately you'll have more music than your can record...and the quality IS good enough.
I remember when i was very young my parents teached me how to record on these. They always brought the cding 2s still got a few of em now. Only for memories hahaha. But i remember when i use to record kylie minouge and madonnas on to the cding 2 it was better because they were digitally remastered cds meaning they sounded better and clearer and bassier and louder. With the old mirror front cds they were recorded on low volumes back then. But my mum and dad brought the remastered ones and i remember we got really good outstanding repsonce out of em. They really did sound like the cd. I remember i use to ask my mum saying is this a tape or cd and shed say its the tape and id be like omg it sounds like the cd. But i always used to use the cding 2 and cd power. Were both my best fav cassettes in heart !
I have had inconsistent level balance with these. Back in the day I had a basic JVC 2 Head deck, and remember the first time I tried onr at the start of the tape everything was going great, until getting to the end of side a and then the levels shifted completely out of balance. Such a shame as the diunf was pretty dam good. Great comparison. Keep these great videos coming
Yeah, if I'd done the video with the tape wound to near the end, it probably would have gone "wobbly". I just find them too unreliable.
I used the CD Power tapes around late 99 early 2000s...never really had a problem out of them
Very good Tony. Once again - thank you! These videos take time & effort. I appreciate what you do.
was waiting for this for a while
Hope it lived up to expectations 😃
In the Japanese market most of these tapes were aimed at teenagers to rent\borrow CDs (which are pretty expensive in Japan) and copy them. This was a price sensitive market that would probably be using cheap bookshelf systems or boomboxes, so consistent quality was not super important.
In the 90's and early 2000's grey market CDIng tapes from Asia were pretty easy to find in the electronics stores in downtown Toronto. They were fairly cheap (I think the Canadian private copying tax was not paid on them) and had interesting designs on the wrappers. I still have a few sealed ones (with gimmicky stickers and translucent blue shells).
Exactly the same in the UK. I took regular trips to the local library for years, renting albums and making "backups", ahem. I think we all did it when we were penniless students - hence the reason why the tapes were always Memorex, CDing or Bush/BBC and the like.
I think you got it spot on there, while the fundemental raw material was good each tape had a different fault, not much use when recording a live broadcast! and somehow they lost the music when they were ok, just didn't swing and get your foot tapping. Somehow when you had a good one they were in a technical sense good, flat frequency response and extended but irritating to listen to.
The CD Power seems to perform like an SA-X. There is certainly a similarity in the shells. The US had the better tape! We had the bin-ends...
It could be that too, but yeah, it performs like an SA-X to me.
That would be a really sneaky way to get SA-X back into the market. I think they had actually dropped SA-X a couple years before CD Power showed up. And at a crazy good price too!
Personally, I think it's probably lesser SA or SD (SF for everyone else), and the CD Bass is probably AR or DS-X, whatever formulation would be below AD (which I think they dropped alongside SA-X).
Recorded men at work business as usual on the CDing 2 over last weekend & have yet to play it but like you said in the day they were top value and from what I remember didn't sound like a chrome
Those newer TDK cassettes are hard to open when you want to repair it and it doesn't have screws to gain access so I had figured out how to open the cassette without damaging it by carefully lifting it from the front side with a small flat screw
I keep an X-Acto knife handy for dealing with those. It also comes in handy if you ever have to splice tape (I actually bought a splicing block). Since I started getting back into tape, all my old cassette repair skills are starting to come back.
It's just a fact that in the 90's that most people bought blank tape for recording CD's for the car, boombox or walkman. Is there any information on the package where these tapes were made? I recall that TDK had a plant in the USA during this time. It's just strange TDK cut corners for the UK version and not the USA.
Yes, because car's cassete players were more practical then CD changers. Information about origin is in the barcode , first digits indicates country of origin.
CD 2 has always soudid a bit whatsit , worse on low end decks . CD 1 sounded batter .
Lets hope they start selling tapes back in the supermarkets as they did .
The sales would defiantly sale that way then everyone will know they have come back !
I have passed on this channel in comments to certain individuals who have no idea they are making tapes again .
They need to be "seen " in the shops .
In the UK you can buy new Cassettes in Big supermarkets. They're only Maxwell Ur, but they're there.
@@CassetteComeback Well ithats something , they are better than these crap Poundland duck tape , the Oxide is not ground fine enough , sound bitty .
Yeah I tried them too .
This is the only way I can get tapes .
Maxell soun good on Class A amps , nothing is filtered out
Tesco Extra and Wilkinsons have the Maxell UR on the shelf around here. I did a video on the Poundland cassettes, they're crap.
@@CassetteComeback I spotted the vid after I got the Duck Tape .
The case is the best part of it .
Poundland is getting worse with there Quality in electrics
The US version of the CD TDK HBII in 110 min versions have jammed on me. Other then that they did sound good and I can get em loose I don't recommend the longer version.
its ok I got the 60 minutes and 90 minutes of these instead :)
edit: btw the 46 and 74 50 60 and 90 minute versions are good too unlike 100 or 120 minutes versions.
Thanks for the heads up, I'm watching this precisely because I picked up an unopened 110 cassette today for $1 at the record store. I shall beware!
I also scored the same as a 90 minute version. Do you know if they have the same issue?
I noticed later versions of TDK and Maxell the tape was made very thin so in my experience it didn't really matter what time length you chose it was all made from the super thin stuff they used in the 110 minute cassettes... (train track city from my experience) I will say other than the occasional drop outs what managed to record sound really good... but the super thin tape just didn't hold up well in my experience... at least in the decks I had anyway
The good news: “You have 10 unopened and 2 opened CDPower tapes.” (YES!)
The bad news: “They’re 110’s” (D’OH!)
From what I recall in the 90’s, these did sound pretty amazing and were one of my main tapes back then. Thanks for the heads up on the 110s though. The two that I had opened had stuff on them before I bulk erased them. I’ll keep a listen for how they sound after re-recording on them since I can’t say for sure how many times they’ve already been recorded on.
I might have just been unlucky with the 110s, but they did sound good at first.
@@CassetteComeback What was your re-recording issue? Dropouts or channel level problems? I'll keep an ear out.
Resorting to rewatch old content during my corona imprisonment. Thought-provoking stuff Tony. Who or what is a purist? Am I tape snob? Can anyone afford to be so didactic or prescriptive in a world were the big boys are no longer churning out 'quality' tapes and so we are left to seek an ever decreasing number of them or an alternative? My gut feeling is I might be an impurist, in an imperfect world, open-minded enough to try said alternatives. Thanks to you Tony, I've rekindled my appreciation of ferric. What's a little hiss between friends, or tracks for that matter?
I've said it before and I'll say it again, the best investment you can make is in your deck. I record on ferric more than any other type. They are the most "cassette" sounding cassettes. Hiss reminds me it's a cassette and a great deck can make a decent ferric sound better than I would have believed in my youth.
Picked up a TDK! CDing-II 70 today. Pretty cool! 😎 It has a really unique jewel case. It opens like a car door. Not like the hatch but like the driver side. Sweet!
As usual a great video, I guess I was lucky with the CDing II as I've found it to be pretty good! and unlucky with CD Power as i wasnt as impressed as with CDing II
That's why it's an interesting hobby. All SD cards sound the same 😁
@@CassetteComeback very true !
I have a few CD Power 110 and was unimpressed with the performance. Drop outs on a just opened tape, recorded on my Dragon. I was turned off and quit buying the CD Power tapes. I did recently acquire some CD Power 90s in a lot. I am looking forward to recording on them after seeing this terrific video.
I do not know how the CD Power 110 tapes I had were stored, but the other types of tapes in that lot were fine. This was 2013 when I made those recordings.
110 the tape is different and thinner. Should really never go above 90 min. I always had good results with cd power. We had Cding here in the states but as I recall they were cheap never good compared to the XL-II and CD Power.
@@RB-xm3ed yes I typically never buy tapes over 90 minutes, but those were in a lot I bought. I’m in the states and don’t remember the CDing as well in stores, but I might have bought some. I got the names mixed up often with CDit and CD in the name of a tape during that period.
I only use tdk sa or above. When I was younger, I used cding2
I have some of those CDing II's, they sound decent enough and mine didn't have any sound issues at first but the two I used suffer very badly from railroading (lines forming on the tape), after just 10-15 plays there is a very clear line down the middle of one of them making the left channel go way down at times and the other didn't fare much better. So they aren't the best for me, but I did like the sound of the ones I used when they worked properly. Shame but there are plenty of other tapes to use.
That's it. When they're good, they're good but I've had more bad than good of them.
Umm , I remember my TDK CDing 2's ( the previous generation) , mostly for dropouts. I wasn't using a great deck back in the day. Hopefully i'll get a decent deck soon as and can try them again as well as 3 of the same Gen to see if it was a one off. I'd much rather use any tape tape even a poor ferric as long as it doesn't drop out.
I like my TDK SuperCDing from back then NOS and used.
Yeah, they're basically SA rebranded so Lidl could sell them cheap without annoying TDK dealers.
just today I received as a gift 5 of these but of 54 min each, made in Europe(Luxembourg) and I test the recording on my Revox B215, my opinion is they are good if the calibration is done by such a machine. Very pleased if the source is good, almost as the source without using Dolby at all. In fact they are very cheap( 5 euro/each)
Hi Tony, great video, as always! However, I have a hard time believing the CD Power was the 'lesser cuts' of the SA-X. The CD Power appeared just as the SA-X was gone (if vintagecassettes com is to be believed - I'm not from the US, no personal recollection here). So no need anymore to separate 'better' and 'lesser' cuts. OTOH, the CD Power might have been using leftover SA-X tape. But TDK might as well have bought pancakes from a 3rd party (Fuji?), as was increasingly common at the end of the cassette era.
BTW, in my experience all TDK 1988+ Type 2 tapes suffered badly from railroading, the SA in particular. The last TDK and Imation iterations of the SA were actually also pretty bad wrt 'curly edges' from my experience.
Any of them tapes are good enough. Back in the day I didn’t assume 2 tapes are the same quality, even if they were the same brand and model. So I treated them accordingly. That’s why you have the bias, rec lvl and balance pots on your deck: to make them sound as close to the source as possible. Don’t try to apply presets for tapes, treat them as if they were unique! The 3rd head is happy to assist you to do just that.
Agreed, you need a head deck to make the most out of recording.
Us two headers were just out of luck with some types LOL I sure as heck wasn't going to BIAS every single type of tape I wanted to try out ... most if not all decks can be BIASED but as folks have worked with decks know it was a single or possibly two calibration pots somewhere on the circuit board... not made to be used as the volume control on your stereo amplifier... a blue moon (re)calibration thing LOL
Just an observation. I picked up a few Memorex CD2 High Bias blanks after watching this. And wouldn't you know it, the ones I got smell like a box of crayons. All I can say is I am excited to give them a go.
SKC pure chrome. I love them.
I'm actually recording on a late edition TDK CDing II as I type this, that I bought from Tapeline and I can honestly say they sound fantastic. I agree that the shells don't look as nice as say for example the Maxell XLII, (which I also have a box of) or the Sony UX, (which I also have some of), but the sound reproduction is really good. I think that the source material makes a difference though. Some songs/ albums, (in my opinion) seem to sound better on specific tapes etc. I'm very happy with the results so far though. :-)
**edit** I'm now on my 3rd cassette and this one has some slight dropouts in places, whereas the previous 2 didn't, so I guess there are good and bad cassettes of the TDK CDing 2 out there and it's a lottery which you get.
That's my main issue with them, the inconsistency.
@@CassetteComeback Yeah, I'm starting to see why. In fact, even the first 2 don't sound good when played back in my Walkman. Strange though, they sounded great during recording, when listening through the tape monitor. I'm now going to have to re-record the lot on Sony UX tapes I guess. Anyway, thanks for the vid and reply.
Thanks for the helpful closeups!
I stopped using my phone and got a proper camcorder 😆
hi!
bdw - one of the best - tdk cd-bass 120 - hard to believe how it keeps level! thin tape in 120'ies... no distortion! and the tape is for sure from ad-s tdk series - transparent cherry color - still type one .
cheers!
tony
Interesting comments on wow and flutter, I have the same issue on my single capstan Denon DRM 700 with a brand new CDing 2 cassette.
The CDing2 crearly have so many "drops" and "cuts". Thanks for the video
Hi Tony their is another problem with the 110 minute version of this cassette. Due to thinner tape it is prone to coming off the hub assembly when rewinding the cassette.
It will be interesting to compare super cding2 from EU market and CDPower from US market.
the CD POWER is such a sleeper. I have dozens of these.
I can tell that the CD power was better than the CDing 2 all the way around!!!
I'm doing a full record on it now. Sounds superb.
@@CassetteComeback I can imagine that it does sound really great!!!
I have several CD power cassette. I found that they only sound good on some decks. I feel that it is important to have a deck that can be calibrated if one uses these.
That's the case with most cassettes, unless it's an SA.
One thing I missed, Tony, was whether or not the two tapes tested are still in production or not. TDK still making the CD Power? Doesn't seem to be loads of them on eBay. Thanks for the test!
They are last of line. TDK haven't made cassettes for a long time now.
@@CassetteComeback Thanks Tony. Not the news I wanted to hear. Appreciate your videos. Recognise they take serious time and effort. Thank you.
Where did the "Super-D" fit into TDK's type II range? I bought a load from Boots back in the early Noughties.
No idea. They look like a CDIng 2 but in a blue shell. I don't like those either. They were possibly the successor, but there were so many CDIng 2 floating around that it seemed they were on sale at the same time?
TheDeeplyCynical: No idea where they fit in, but I've used some of the Super-D tapes, and they've performed brilliantly! Loads of clear high's, no drop-outs, and that's peaking at around +3-ish on my recorder (Teac AD-850), and no distortion either... TDK D's, and Maxell UR's work well, but I have to record no louder than '0' to keep them clean, but there is a noticeable tape-hiss... The TDK Super-D fixes those issues for me!. Mine is a modern CD/Cassette deck with no Dolby, or noise reduction.
I have a lovely old 3-head Yamaha that is awaiting some repairs - just got to find the time to do it..... but for now, I think that Super-D tape is going to be a good tape to use for general purpose, reasonable quality recordings... :-)
I remember I had problems with CDing2 too, with drop outs and channel inconsistencies. My cassette deck was a pretty good 3 head Denon deck and other blanks worked better, so I assumed my deck was fine. False economy unfortunately.
That's it. Yet some swear by them. I was beginning to think that I was just unlucky with the ones I got...
It sounded like crap on my Onyko TA-2020 while other quality blanks worked much better.
So what is tramlining? I opened a new TDK D yesterday and it had no left channel on the b side at all, there was a faint line going along the length of the tape.
Over here, the CDing II was mostly sold in supermarkets at a time when the Compact Cassette was already in decline due to competing formats like MD or CDR. Any electronics/audio store with a reputation did not seriously sell or advertise these IIRC. With justification - as your lecture proves.
Yeah, only ever saw these in multipacks, usually in a "bin"
Interesting. I've just fired up a CDing II I've been given, calibrated perfectly and sounds great. They must be very inconsistent.
Hi Tony, firstly thanks so much for taking the time to make these videos, I’ve been learning a lot from them. I bought a 10 pack of limited edition coloured CDing 2 90s. I opened 4 tapes and can only use 1. They ok at start but as they go on they start to slow and flutter and railroad something terrible. I took them apart and cleaned the plastic guides and rollers with contact cleaner. It only worked on 1. I’m recording on a Pioneer CT-676 using the auto BLE system. I’m not going to open the others, is there anything I can do with them? I’ve had far better results and no problems at all from URs and D90s on it as well as SA 90s.
No, that's why I don't like the cding 2. They're to fragile / inconsistent.
CDing was discontinued by the time of the Imation takeover.
Just out of curiosity , do you have any of those blue and white 60 min compact cassette?
i don't remember what brand they are made in, but those was white cassette shells, and a blue and white label on it, and it say Compact Cassette with white font.
probably not the best describing , but so far thats my best my memory can tell.
That could be many different cassettes.
@@CassetteComeback If im manage to find a google search that shows it, i will add the info
Not a fan of any tapes that say CD on them. Probably since it just points to the end of cassette and the fun. Lucky they made a zillion billion tapes and we can still find the ones from the good ol days. I just picked up 8 Maxell UD's from circa 1975.
I agree. I'm sure it was the best marketing for a dying product, but I hate to see cassettes sold as a format that's only relevant as a make-shift way to play your CDs somewhere else.
Reminds me of when they started putting "MP3" on the packaging for the CD-R 🙃
Actually, we had a Jumbo roll then slitted into Pacakes then cut in to a cookie or winding tape. ....if I can see the lot numbering on the side I can tell the manufactured date.
Thank you for your video. I had been using TDK SA from the 80s to the end of the 90s. I still have so many tapes with good music and interviews which can‘t get to find on streaming platforms. So what I want to ask you, which tape or cassette deck should I borrow to digitize my old treasures? Thanks for an answer. Keep up the good work. Stay safe. Stay healthy. The human malware is still around.
Any from a recognisable brand that has been serviced and work correctly.
how and where could i get a TDK CDing2 46 at,or just one of those cassettes
If they're both crome, what is the difference between CDing2 and SA tapes.
What I don't understand is why would the inner part of a magnetic tape pancake be better than the outer part?
I like the cding 2 not had an issue using them
Tis that a Nak or Tandenberg you have above your deck? Love your taste in Decks
It's a Nak Dragon. I'd buy a Tandberg...except I need both of my kidneys 😀
@@CassetteComeback Again, I reiterate, You truly are a tastemaker I'm sure in the finer things in Life, obviously with cassette decks although, I must say, I'm a bit partial to the TDK SA-X formulation myself, less drop outs.
Hey Boss, so the CD POWER 110 doesn't like to be re-recorded... How would it do with one record, and many plays? THX
That is USUALLY an issue with metal tape not so much on type II ... however to answer your question playing one that was recorded well ... it will extremely well being played back (of course provided the tape is not super thin like 120 minute tapes ... and as long as the tape machine doesn't damage the tape itself ... if you are having trouble with complete type II erasure you may have a dirty erase head (or perhaps a permanent magnet type) the cassette machines with those type erase heads aren't made to record type II tape only type 1
Back in Spain I bought a 60 minutes variant of CDing 2. It claimed to be a Type II cassette, yet the record quality was terrible.
The main thought I have is that they're "inconsistent". Some people claim they've had nothing but good results with them...
@@CassetteComeback Maybe luck wasn't on our side then :-( Still, the US variant of CDPower sounds surprisingly good. Great video as always!
Thanks again fir enlightening ❤️👍
$&@#! I forgot Tony's warning and just bought a case of 110's. And I've always avoided thin tape. I hope it's the same formulation & performance, before rerecording🤞
I have 3 of them that I bought in a huge lot with SA-X’s and Maxell XLll’s. I just used a CD Power just last week to make a mixtape of songs from the 2000’s. I loved the results so much, that I just bought another 3 more from the US. Paid $54.00 for them, which imo isn’t a bad price for tapes that basically perform like an SA-X!
I have CD Power chrome 💿Luxembourg just jammed the mechanism inside on the new Sony deck 😭😭😭😭
Нужно было еще тестировать CDing-II для японского рынка.
That CDing 2 really is a mixed bag indeed. Good tapemateria and the screwed case is a plug. But the case itself looks pretty boring and bland… I never really liked clear plastic cases (unless it's a reel to reel design cassette). Welded cases suck because they are such a pain in the butt to fix. Once you cracked them open they only hold together with scotch tape :( And that looks just bad… This is why i liked the later TDK Super CDing series that came in a slightly different SA & SA-X case like the last generation of the SA60 and SA90 tapes. Over here in Germany you could get these Super CDing often in tripple packs at Aldi for next to nothing. Too bad i missed the chance to stockpile some batches of these. They sounded even great when i recorded some Vinyls to them.
They were basically SA under a different name, so they could be sold cheap without annoying audio dealers who sold SA.
@@CassetteComeback Oh i always kinda suspected that somehow because they really sounded very alike with literally zero difference. Thanks for clarifying that :D
3 CDing II and CD Power Type 2 Cassettes on this sound?
Hello, I am looking for this kind of TDK cassette. Today I found the TDK SA 90 Super CDing. The cassettes are even screwed and not only glued. They almost look like the TDK CD Power Type 2 Cassettes. Are the cassettes identical? Kind regards, Ronny
Super CDing are rebranded last generation TDK SA
Thank you :-)
Thanks
Tony, what do you think of the CD-Bass (Type-I)
Never tried one. USA only.
I remember plenty of 3x packs of them... for 0.99 € !!! = 0.33 € pro 1 cassette !!! Plentiful available at any german / austrian LIDL supermarket chain back in 2004... now on eBay 20x the price = over 20 € which is almost 25$ - for 3 cassettes !!! EXCLUDING shipping costs!!! SMH
If there's somewhere cheaper you can get them, get them there...
do you have tdk cding i ?
Yes, but they're hard to find. Very good though, I believe there is AD tape in them from my testing.
TDK Cd-Power in europe is Super Cding 2.
It's not. The Super Cding, is an SA rebranded so they can sell them cheaply in Aldi.
The source is a little bit more clear in sound. But then again, you are using the phones output for recording the sound to the video. Better to use a line out on the amp if possible. That gives a more accurate comparison.
besides that; your deck fluctuates a bit when setting the level and bias. I have an Kenwood KX-1100G cassettedeck and does not do that. Is your pinch roller stil ok? Looks like the tape is not on the same spot on the head all the time.
I have a recently serviced Dragon that also fluctuates a bit when calibrating, even with Type 4. Perhaps the LEDs on your Kenwood aren't sensitive enough to register it.
Interesting discussion, Tony, thanks! I saw these on your website: www.cassettecomeback.com/products/tdk-sa-1997-us?variant=10892318769209. Wonder how they compare to the two cassettes you tested here. The shell screws are gone on these too and felt pad arrangement and inlay cards also seem of scaled down quality. Would you say they are as stable and good sounding as the CD Power SA90 or even the best SA iterations from the 80s and early 90s? What type of tape is in the 1997 US, you reckon?
Are you using a leather chair as a backdrop? If so you have quite a boney arse! lol!
😂 I am, I have high production values. Yeah, boney arse as I'm built like a greased racing snake...a 16 stone greased racing snake 😁
The leather chair "bums me out"
Cool cool! Russian sub?
Great video! I wish you hadn't done it! ;)
CD POWAAAAAAA. Because apparently North America ALWAYS needs the same shit everyone else gets, only with a different title or design. Otherwise they would not buy it for not feeling special enough xD Take the Mega Drive for example.
The Mega Drive was a copyright issue I believe. Like in the UK Starfox was called Starwing as there was a Sinclair Spectrum game already called Starfox.
@@CassetteComeback Yeah but come on.... have you seen the US SuperNintendo? D: there's absolutely no excuse for that. Or calling the Mega CD the Sega CD. Or the PCEngine the TurbografX.
Cding sounds better to me
What!
those tdk cding2 tapes are just horrible....most i owned wouldn't bias up at all....tossed all of them last year...oh yeah the tape became grainy looking and with alot of horizontal lining on the tape...utter garbage...