"Turn up the signal, wipe out the noise."

December 12, 2007 5:53 PM

Please recommend current-market analog cassette decks with superior signal/noise ratios.

Like everyone in the known universe, I have several decades' worth of analog cassette tapes to digitize. Tell me about currently-available decks with the best signal-to-noise ratio so I can preserve the (relative) fidelity of the source tapes. Let's consider $500 my max price and go from there. (For what it's worth, I already have an A/D converter, so it doesn't have to have USB/FireWire capability. Standard RCA ins/outs are fine.)

posted by mykescipark to Technology (4 answers total)

Best answer: Buy a $200 Tascam 122 MKIII, Revox B215 (or B710) from ebay if you want a nice vintage deck (Nakamichi Dragon is out of your range, but a Nak CR7A is good). For new, I'd get the current version of the aforementioned Tascam, the 102 MkII.
posted by rhizome at 7:27 PM on December 12, 2007

Best answer: The old radio-world standby is the Sony D5 - I've heard some documentaries that were recorded on that thing, and they sounded fantastic. Finding one might be difficult, though, especially for less than $500.

I can vouch for that Tascam 102 MkII, though - I've dubbed a few cassettes with it, and they sound pretty darn good.
posted by god hates math at 8:22 PM on December 12, 2007

Like everyone in the known universe

Oh, just get your car stolen like the rest of us.

*sobs*
posted by pompomtom at 9:21 PM on December 12, 2007 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Thanks, rhizome!

ghm - Interestingly, you answered a question I had intended to ask, but never got around to it - i.e., finding a high-end portable analog deck for documentary purposes - so you get a Best Answer for the mind-read. :-)
posted by mykescipark at 12:31 AM on December 13, 2007