Did they ever publish the lifespan of cassette deck heads? I understand it depends on quality of heads a tapes used, as well as maintenance. Is really too much of a concern if you have a permalloy head or an amorphous head( I have both d6c) but to my ears they seem great. I am just an average Joe that likes listening to music. Cheers Kiwinut
Some manufacturers did publish lifespan of cassette heads, think I have seen it in the past but can't remember where. If I was to see a spec, would expect it to be around a couple of thousand hours (1000-3000h depending on type). But question is what do they understand by "lifespan". One can define the lifespan as being when the high frequency response drops by a couple of dB, but at that point the head is still perfectly usable. It can also be when there's a groove of a certain depth on the head, but again the head might still be usable. Not to mention most heads can be lapped at least once, which will prolong their lifespan significantly. In practice, the quality of the head and tapes used will play a more significant role than the number of hours. For example, read this some time ago: https://www.tapeheads.net/threads/sony-cdits-destroyed-my-heads.60430/ As for permalloy yes it's true that it typically wears quicker, but seen plenty of worn amorphous ones also. On the D6C, the 35711 one typically has pittings on it when there's wear. Even the early pointy one can develop pittings, but it's less common. Shouldn't be much of a concern for the most part, even for permalloy heads. Just use good quality tapes and enjoy it.
