Sound quality

I have been making a lot of tapes to listen to with my Walkman lately. I have Tidal and can download music on my phone and it sounds "perfect" but it's missing something. When I record the same music to tape, from the same source, it seems improved somehow. I realize that the wow and flutter are non-existent on the digital version as is tape hiss. I guess I am lucky as my aging eardrums no longer pick up the frequencies associated with hiss but I can still hear wow and flutter well. Despite all the drawbacks, I prefer listening to the tapes over listening to the original streams or cd's. It doesn't seem to make as much difference with speakers as with headphones. The tapes are just less fatigueing than the digital source even though they are recordings of the digital source. Maybe the hiss helps smooth out or fill in the sound somehow. As I said earlier, I can't actually hear the hiss so I don't know if that would make any difference to me. All that I am sure of is that I can listen to tapes for hours at a time through headphones but I usually don't get that immersed in the digital version of the same music. What are Y'alls opinions on the subject?
Thanks a lot!
Gene

 

In a nutshell yes. I struggle with it. Trying to understand how. I had read about this phenomena for a few years and wanted to experience it myself. Now I get to hear it too. I tried some old TDK MA-R tapes and there was even more wonderful resonance. Maybe some kind of Nakamichi house sound going on too. I don't know. I just describe it as resonance. Easily heard with headphones. Especially with a great amp.

 

I have been thinking a lot about the issue and here is what I have come up with. Digital music has no background noise therefore it has no noise floor. If you are listening to digital music through speakers, the natural environment creates it's own noise floor. Listening with headphones eliminates most of this natural background noise. The lack of background noise makes the music stand out more creating listening fatigue. When digital music is recorded on tape, background noise is introduced creating a new noise floor. We are not used to listening to anything without some kind of background noise and tape hiss fills the void. Tape hiss replaces the ambient sound that is blocked out by the headphones thus lowers the fatigue associated with digital recordings.
That's my theory but it's definitely open to arguments to the contrary.

 

Yes adding back in a noise floor could be it in some cases.

Somewhat off topic - and about digital listening - sometimes it can be great and not fatiguing if:

There is certainly a good serving of surreal ambient electronic music out there... which when listened to from a great source DAC / AMP ... through Open Back headphones... has a "holographic air effect". Incredible stuff that has been known to induce laughter and grins in this listener from the sheer marvel and awe of it There were periods of weeks when I couldn't wait to listen again that night. In the pitch black room the inky velvet enhanced everything and my ears come alive. It's an odyssey and trip to other-where. Fascinating. Then the awe fades away over a few days as the brain adapts and gets used to the music. The magic is gone. But in a year or two I can go back and experience it all over again once the synaptic circuits have broken down their resistance. Something like this perhaps. Delerium and their 1994 Semantic Spaces contains a few tracks that have been driving me crazy since 97' when I discovered it. Unique sound and unlike any other ambient I have found yet. Probably an acquired taste.

 

Having listened to half a track I have just ordered a copy. However, if you like that I am sure you would also like Enigma MCMXC.

Back to the original subject the whole "Valve / Tube sound" is based on the pleasant colouration they add. I recently read how Ed Van Halen used to deliberately run his tube amps at a lower than specified voltage to get more colouration.

 

Agree - the tape deck is a useful 'effects loop' for a more relaxing and pleasing sound
Some recordings on TDK D or Sony HF just sound great to my ears... Recorded from digital, usually 320 mp3

 

I am not sure, you can say this about all tapes and decks.
Make a recording from a good source / original on to a good cassette on a Nakamichi CR-7, you will find that the CR-7 is so transparent that you are capturing the source, as the CR-7 leaves little to no fingerprint of its own.

I am not the only one that hears this, Tony from Cassette Comeback says the same thing. Have a look here, if you just want to go to the part he is talking about the CR-7 jump to 9 minutes and 20 seconds.

 

I just had to return and refute that strongly as I can't stand Enigma

In regards Delerium Sementic Spaces, one amusing discogs review referred to it as "This one's strictly for soundtracking New Age apothecaries and middle aged yoga sessions." Their inferior later albums crossed over into this territory and are hardly worthy of mention. But Sementic Spaces has half a dozen tracks that drive me crazy!

Try their other side project Synaesthesia – Desideratum (1995).
Also their earlier Spheres (1994) and Spheres II (1994) contain a few monstrous tracks that are legendary in my opinion.

Unrelated to them is Orb - Orbus Terrarum (1995) which is often referenced as an ambient masterpiece.

Banco De Gaia - Maya (1994) is one of my favorites.
Banco De Gaia - Last Train to Lhasa (1995) has a coupe of great pieces too.

 

That’s a great explanation. And exactly how I feel about cassettes.
Digital is quite sterile.
Cheers Kiwinut

 

Mmmm. Well let's not write off ALL digital sources as sterile. I've recently discovered the Walkman D7 DAT recorder and after a cap replacement it records analog sources like nothing else I have in the collection. There is something added to my new vinyl recordings when digitised on the D7. You can still hear those perfect imperfections from the source but there's a clarity and channel separation enhancement that is noticeable.

 

Completely disagree, I have heard analogue that sounds sterile. To just blanket say all digital are sterile is silly, it’s a silly as saying all analogue are warm and all digital are cold, we all know this is not remotely true.

 

I think sound quality is something subjective and mostly up to individual taste more than anything else.
Objective improvements (lower noise, THD) in a audio signal chain don't produce subjective improvements for all people.

Another aspect which many miss is how a certain piece of music is mastered. Vinyl for example is mastered differently, having more dynamic range than music on streaming services or CD.
CD itself used to have high dynamic range in its initial days, before the loudness wars.
This is the reason why many say vinyl sounds bettter than digital, althoguh they are both made from the same (digital) recording.

As far as digital being "harsh", especially given the mentioned big difference with headphones compared to speakers, it's to be kept in mind the colouration of the headphones play a big role too.
For example, if one uses a pair of bright headphones (with peaks in the frequnecy response around 5-8kHz area) they can indeed be very fatiguing especially if listening at louder volumes.
In contrast, when listening to a casette that has poorer treble response and a decent amount of noise, the same music will seem softer and more enjoyable on the same pair of headphones.

For me (unlike many) it's about obtaining the maximum performance this medium can offer.
Hence why I like Dolby NR (with proper calibration) especially on music with quiter passages where details would normally be buried in the noise.

 

Interesting discussion! I have moved to almost exclusively listen to cassette. In the beginning I thought it was down to nostalgia that made me prefer tapes but I’ve come to the conclusion it is the sound signature of tape/walkman. I mostly listen to DC2 and DD9 using chrome/metal tapes with Dolby C recording. I prefer the sound of DC2 (with replaced caps) but I concluded that the DD9 sounds more neutral. There is a nice moderate bass bump on the DC2 that makes wonders for 80s music. I find tapes much less fatiguing and making me turn the volume up instead of down as I often do when listening to the original lossless digital recording. I understand that it’s not because tape is better, you could basically. achieve the same sound signature with proper mixing and mastering.