Hi guys, If you haven't seen the news recently, the guys at NAC have finally released their brand new tape, called FerroMaster C456. I've posted here the news that they were working on releasing a brand new tape nowadays. Not just a cassette shell (with the same tape), but a brand new magnetic tape. In fact, they've said nothing about the shell. The new tape is called FerroMaster C456 and it's the result of two-year investment in research that finally got real. The National Audio Company is manufacturing it in Springfield, Missouri. As NAC say, it's a "ultra-high performance Type I oxide delivers the highest signal-to-noise ratio (head room) ever achieved by a ferric cassette tape", which is quite a bold statement, specially remembering the best of the best type I tapes like the TDK AR-X, SONY HF-ES or Maxell XL-IS. We'll see if that's true or not. Another good news is that there will be an european distributor so we won't have to pay intercontinental shipping like before. The european distributor is Musicbox, in italy. Surprisingly, at this moment I cannot see any reference for this new tape in their website, but you can buy them at Cassettecomeback.com (actually here). What surprises me is that statement from Cassette comeback: "As for the tape, well, you need a deck with manual calibration facilities, these need lots of negative bias and level." While there's not a direct relation between bias and the quality of the tape, usually high quality tapes need high bias and low quality need low bias. So, how is this possible that this tape has the "highest signal-to-noise ratio (head room) ever achieved by a ferric cassette tape" and "need lots of negative bias and level"? Only real testing will show us the answer. So I ordered several tapes and will start testing them soon. Also, Tony villa (head of Cassette Comeback) says that: "They don't come from NAC with cases, J-Cards or labels and EVERY shell is scratched (they came like that from NAC) so we've supplied some labels, a home made J-Card and a case. We're not charging for them, so don't complain if they're not perfect ". Won't be a perfect excuse for that "ultra-high performance" tape to sell it into new, high quality shells that don't come scratched from factory? Hmmm. Well, more news in the future. Published in my blog here.
I have a brief review, with the caveat that 1) I don’t own a manual bias calibration deck and 2) my wmd6c occasionally misbehaves. I bought the tape from cassette comeback as a test because I wanted to compare to the decent RTM Fox. I was surprised at the visual inspection. There are clear lines along the tape and the shell is marked, so clearly this isn’t the final release. The tape itself, recording from a turntable and basic amplifier to the d6c seems bright and responsive, but only in line with what I expect from a type 1. I have some very slight occasional low level on the right side. As the playback progresses the drops settle down and it seems perfectly fine, again for a type 1 but nothing to write home about. I will use this for walkmans, car etc. I suspect this batch will be improved upon as time moves forward. Price wise, this tape performs nicely but I can get a type 2 for the same price... Edit- additionally I recorded some music to a Bush type 1 late last night and the Bush (90p from most places) sounds better. So, I can’t imagine NAC will release this as is, or perhaps I got a really bad one.
Hmm, sounds like bad news. I'll receive mines probably early next morning, so let's see. But I don't have high expectations...
