Don’t Call It a Comeback: Cassettes Have Sounded Lousy for Years (And Still Do!)

For kids who came of age in the 1980s, the 2020s are proving to be the best decade for music since their teens. Synth pop is back. Michael Bolton is back. Even cassettes—the sometimes-dysfunctional format pushed aside by the CD—have made a comeback. But while there’s no denying the visceral thrill of ’80s-style synthesizers or the seductiveness of the decade’s most soulful balladeer, the renewed interest in cassettes has left audio experts puzzled and record-store owners scrambling to figure out a format that some people are too young to remember.

It can be tough for tape-curious shoppers, too. It’s hard to find a quality cassette player today. But if you want to get into cassettes and are ready to suffer the relatively lousy audio quality, we have advice on how to find serviceable players and tapes.

Considering the cassette’s fragility and relatively low sound quality, the obvious reason for its resurgence is its retro kitsch. Cassettes were the most popular audio format of the ’80s. For a lot of kids in the 1980s, a Walkman was as essential as a Swatch watch and a can of styling mousse. Fast-forward to the present day, and even a kid from the 2020s might be cassette-curious, thanks to Guardians of the Galaxy (video).

But there are other cultural reasons for the cassette’s resurgence. In the ’80s, people made mixtapes—usually collections of their favorite tunes by an artist or within a genre—that they often shared with friends and crushes. Some folks still have those tapes, buried deep in a box in the basement, and they might want to relive the joy of hearing Soft Cell’s “Tainted Love” mashed up against Michael Jackson’s “Beat It” or Van Halen’s “Panama.” Or perhaps their kids want to feel the tactile thrill of playing music by slipping a physical object into a pastel-colored player full of mysterious moving parts—an experience that Spotify and YouTube can’t replicate.

Why cassettes sound worse than other audio formats

When it comes to audio, there are always those who insist that the old is better than the new, but with cassettes, that’s a tough claim to back. As I found a few years ago, when I ran a bunch of technical measurements on high-end cassette decks, cassettes couldn’t come close to the quality of CDs.

CDs can flawlessly reproduce the entire range of audio from 20 hertz (half an octave below the lowest note on piano) and 20 kHz (a frequency too high for most adults to hear). Data-compressed audio—using technologies such as AAC, MP3, and Bluetooth—delivers the same range, although with a few distortions that can subtly coarsen the sound of voices and instruments. High-quality streaming, from services such as Amazon, Apple Music, Qobuz, and Tidal, can span an even broader frequency range.

Cassettes, on the other hand, start to attenuate bass tones below about 40 Hz, so instruments with ultra-deep notes—such as grand piano, large kick drums, and synth bass—lose some of their sonic power. Cassettes often damp treble tones above about 10 kHz, which means the upper harmonics of instruments like cymbals, flutes, and violins are lost, along with some of the sense of spaciousness that makes live recordings sound live. Compared with the quality of CDs, the sound from cassettes tends to be dull and somewhat lifeless.

Vinyl records have similar limitations, although they tend to have better treble response than cassettes do. Both of these old analog formats also add a considerable amount of noise to the recording, which you can often hear as background hiss. Using a high-quality cassette deck or turntable helps, but neither of these formats can match the essentially noise-free performance of even the cheapest digital audio gear.

Still, cassettes were the way most people got their music in the ’80s, and they were good enough to seduce listeners with the sounds of Madonna, Prince, and Kenny G. In fact, some audio pros contend that tape-based formats like cassette have an appealing sonic warmth. Many plug-ins for digital audio workstations simulate the sound of tape decks for modern music producers.

Why it’s so hard to buy a quality cassette player

Unfortunately for those seeking to renew (or initiate) their relationship with the cassette, there aren’t many great options. Unlike record players, which small, boutique manufacturers can easily make, cassette decks are complicated mechanical devices that only mass production lines can make. Cheap cassette players are still being produced—you can get them at your local Best Buy or Walmart, or on Amazon. Many of these are personal cassette players designed for use with headphones, in the mold of the classic Sony Walkman. Others are larger portable players with integrated speakers, much like the boomboxes available in the ’70s and ’80s.

High-quality cassette decks don’t appear to be in production anymore, though. Our search of Amazon and Sweetwater yielded only two models: a Marantz and a Tascam. However, used cassette decks are readily available. Bargain hunters can often find decks for well under $100 at garage sales or on eBay or Craigslist. But it’s important to remember that like all mechanical devices, cassette decks wear out, and even a deck that worked fine at the garage sale may break down the next day. Considering that used models are likely to be 25 to 50 years old, finding parts for them may be difficult.

Also, the mechanisms and recording/playback heads get dirty. If enough grime builds up, it can reduce the sound quality and even suck a tape into the mechanism, which often destroys the tape. Although easy-to-use cassette head cleaners are readily available, older decks with many years of use may need a more thorough cleaning with special swabs (don’t use Q-tips or other ordinary cotton swabs, because they tend to shed fibers).

Another option is to buy a cassette deck from an audio dealer or repair shop that has serviced it and offers a guarantee. A few vintage-audio dealers offer a wide selection of decks restored to nearly new condition, although you’re likely to pay considerably more than you would at a garage sale or on Craigslist.

Where to get tapes

If you don’t have a cherished collection of old tapes to play, you can find them at garage sales, swap meets, Craigslist, and eBay. You can also find them at vintage-audio stores and online specialty stores. Some artists are now releasing material on cassette. And blank cassettes are still available for those who crave the hands-on fun of making mixtapes.

I tossed all my old cassettes at least 20 years ago, but fortunately my college pal Terry Landry never discards any music media or audio gear. I spotted a Yamaha KX-330 cassette deck (which he’d forgotten he owned) in his studio and asked him to lend it to me. He also gave me some jazz cassettes, some of which hold albums that haven’t yet made it to streaming.

Played through a pair of ELAC Debut 2.0 B6.2 bookshelf speakers (runner-up in our guide to the best surround-sound speakers for most people), the sound lacked luster, but the music didn’t. I had a lot of fun playing old classics I hadn’t heard in decades or ever—at least until the Yamaha deck started making a loud, high-pitched squeal that sounded like two hamsters fighting next to a live PA microphone. So I switched to a ByronStatics KCS-315, a $15 portable player/recorder/radio I’d picked up off Amazon, in a retro teal shade that looks like it was copied off a Duran Duran album cover.

To my amazement, it worked, and through my AKG K371 headphones, it sounded kinda okay-ish—definitely soft in the treble and mushy in the bass but still capable of playing the “international man on the go” mixtape that Terry had made circa 1983 and copied that same year for me to take on a road trip. This tape was the one that initially turned me on to some of my favorite jazz recordings, such as David Sanborn’s debut album, Stanley Turrentine’s Salt Song, and Don Cherry’s Brown Rice. I can’t say I was impressed with the sound or tantalized by the tactile experience of pushing mechanical buttons, but the chance to relive one of the best road trips of my life was certainly well worth $15.