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The world of cassette tape is weird. You can still buy new Maxell UR60/90 type 1 tape but the tape you get in Europe or the US is made in China or Thailand or such and is packaged in red wrappers. The same UR60 if you buy it in Japan is in purple wrappers and in different shells (screws versus glued) and is manufactured in Indonesia and apparently much better quality

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I recently started using RTM C90 type I cassettes for recording mix tapes for my kids on my Denon deck. Quite like them. No need for Dolby C and +5 dB are easily possible. All the NOS tapes I have used sounded awful. I guess this is due to chemical degradation over time (IANAC)

I think Type I tape has a fairly low ceiling, my old TDK AR-X were as good as they got, and I can’t imagine these Maxells are any good these days regardless of where they come from. Any other tips?

I buy NOS chrome tapes on eBay. They sound pretty darn good.

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