MAXELL XLII 110-minute Audio Cassette Tape (4 Pack) (Discontinued by Manufacturer)

Tapes were sealed as new.

While not absolutely the best in the world, this is a very good tape IF you know what you are doing and have a decent deck like TEAC V-5000 or Nakamichi Dragon. Or some other three-head deck with manual calibration for BIAS and signal levels. Do not buy this tape for a bottom of the market deck that has no tape calibration. Those decks are calibrated from the factory for Type I tape. This Type II formula will not sound correctly on them. Get a Type I formula instead.Maxell XLII is no longer in production. Last one was manufactured decades ago. Only New Old Stock is available, so we (tapeheads) can get what we can get. The picture shows a pack of four, however you may receive 4 separate tapes instead of a four-pack. The jewel cases may or may not get damaged during shipping. Amazon sends them out in cheapo envelopes. The condition of individual cassettes may vary due to the storage/shipping conditions.Today, only two companies make Type II tapes. ATR Magetics and National Audio Company. (Though it could be the ATR sells NAC tape in ATR branded cassette). Both are US based. However, their tape does not come anywhere close to the old formulas. Tascam recently announced a new Type II tape formulated for Tascam Portostudio. Well, the jury is out on how it will perform. Today, in January 2022, only the New Old Stock is your best bet for quality Type II tape.

...because I still prefer to record onto cassette tapes instead of recordable CD's. Why do I prefer this method over the very modern recordable CD's? Let me count the ways:1) Long-Lasting - I still have tapes that I've made back in the 1970's and they sound every bit as good today as they did back then.2) Durability - Re-read number one...how many people can say anything even close to that about their CD's that are only a couple years old? My tapes have been on vacations, to the beach, at bonfires, through extremes in the weather...and continue to play perfectly.3) Quality - I will put my homemade cassettes against any CD and I will defy anyone to hear the difference. Now, I'm not talking playback on your home system, I mean in car or portable blaster systems. Even my very modern teenagers are impressed with the sound quality (and I rarely impress them with anything!).4) I have literally thousands of homemade tapes. You'll have to put me in bedlam first before I re-record them all onto a CD.Now, mind you, do not think I am anti-cd - I am a very big fan of CD's, and use them to make my countless various artists tapes. I also rarely play my homemade tapes on my home stereo. They are pretty much strictly for the car.I have found these Maxell High-Bias tapes to be the best of the best - the longest lasting quality blank cassette tapes out there. That's why I continue to purchase them over others available.

I have bought second market cassette tapes before because they are hard to find, but some of them had recording issues probably because of age. These worked fine but the price was a little high.

Always liked the sound of Maxell tapes and these are the same that I remembered

People who use/need cassette tapes are becoming few and far between, which is why the manufacturer has discontinued production.The Maxell XLII is a high quality cassette tape. While the price is a little high, due to limited supply, these are my preferred tapes.

Chromium dioxide tapes work and sound great. I forgot how good quality these tapes actually were back in the day.

I'm by no means a hifi expert, but these are my preferred blank tape, though I use TDK's as well. Definitely recommended.

Great product I’m going to buy more