Maxell XLII-S or TDK SA-X blank cassette?

Keith Ant · 08-03-2003, 07:20 PM

Which does everyone think is the best blank cassette tape TDK SA-X or Maxell XLII-S.I have a chance to buy a bulk amount of either for the same price on the internet but no one in my area carrys either so i cant test each one against the other on my new deck.So if you had to pick one or the other to spend your money on which one would it be Maxell XLII-S or TDK SA-X?Thanks for all your opinnions..Peace.Keith.

Jagan Seshadri · 08-03-2003, 10:27 PM

http://www.recordingwebsite.com/archives/3/28760.html

Rich Malloy · 08-03-2003, 10:29 PM

It's been awhile, but I used to use blank cassette tapes extensively. While both are probably the two best brands of chrome tape readily available, I used the XLII-S. Maxells were kinda the coin-of-the-realm in the tape-trading community, so that probably had as much to do with it as anything. As I recall, I thought the casing was sturdier and the mechanism quieter on the Maxells (when I was using them anyway, and only the XLII-S, not the regular XLII). As for sound quality, I never attempted any serious comparison, but I was always satisfied with both brands.

Dennis Nicholls · 08-03-2003, 10:47 PM

Man I thought I just dropped through a time warp.....

Jon_Welker · 08-03-2003, 11:30 PM

Yeah, same here. I did very extensive recording on an '80's Technics system from CD to tape (back in the '80's) and used a variety of tapes. I remember using Maxell's the most. If I was doing something for myself, always used the higher grade Maxell's (XLII-S). Always envisioned myself as the cat in their ads sitting in front of 2 speakers being blown away by sound. Oh, to be young again...

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Kevin Farley · 08-03-2003, 11:55 PM

I don't know how they are now (they varied in quality over the years) but when I was working in recording professionally, we tested sa vs. sa-x and found the sa's to actually sound better, more musical than the sa-x's.

As I have observed that batches changed over the years, all bets are off now; I'd say get a few of each and test them out yourself; Maxell's sounded a bit slicker and shinier, with more extension, while TDK's seemed more balanced with better midrange. Personal preference, and YMMV.

Cassettes were cool, non? I'm probably going to get back into them as I plan to start dj'ing more...

Let us know what you learn, I'd like to know.

Thanks!

Seth_L · 08-03-2003, 11:56 PM

I liked the SA-X better myself. YMMV

08-04-2003, 10:23 AM

I too spent a lot of time dubbing CD's to tape (had no CD player in the car then).

I think the key is to optimize your deck for the tape. The two decks I have owned (both Aiwa three head machines) had a bias adjustment that you could use to match the machine to the tape.

Lacking that, I guess you could look in the manual if you have it. They normally will list tapes that the machine was calibrated with.

Having said all that, I think they both cab produce pretty good results.

BGL

Lee Scoggins · 08-04-2003, 10:37 AM

Wow!

Visions of Nakamichi Dragon decks...

Nightmares of the sonics of early CDs transfered to tape...

Good god man! Purchase thee a Plextor CD burner!!!

Rob Gillespie · 08-04-2003, 02:41 PM

This takes me back a few years.

I always used to use TDK SA (not SA-X). They were the most neutral tapes I ever found. SA-X always seemed to add a little bit of bass.

John Geelan · 08-05-2003, 01:57 AM

Maxell XLII-S's for me!

Ted Lee · 08-05-2003, 03:26 PM

Picture it now. it's late on a school-night. Ted is furiously sweating in his tiny bedroom, trying to finish (yet another) PERFECT MIX TAPE to try to impress his friends. Luckily, he had just gone to LA over the weekend and was able to hit a few of his favorite record stores. Browsing the 12" remix bin, he finds lots of cool stuff that nobody in his small town would normally get a chance to hear. He smiles to himself as he figures out where the end of the tape is so that he can do a nice fade out....

ahh...the good ol' days of cassettes! man, i burned more then my share of midnight candles making tapes for myself and my friends.

uhh...what was the question?

oh yeah....

personally, i liked the build quality of the maxells. they were sorta heavy and felt really solid. i got the impression i heard less wobble from those cases.

however, i ultimately ended up using tdk's. why? because tdk sent me a "calibration cd" which was supposed to allow me to optimize the bias on my nakamichi tape deck for specific tdk brand-lines. did it work? who knows? but i sure bought into it.

damn tdk marketers.

btw - does anyone remember buying those 10-pack bricks and getting a free cassette case? man, i must have had twenty of those dang cases....