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Tape Test Review: 1986 Maxell XLII-S

Performed this review by request.

Todays tape test will feature a well known tape that has been talked about at length. But up until now has not been subjected to a formal evaluation in a controlled setting with specific parameters. I have concluded this test just within minutes of beginning this write up. Some of the findings were quite surprising. Read on!

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TAPE INFORMATION

Brand: Maxell
Model: XLII-S (Type II/ High Bias-Cr02 equivalent)
Year: 1986
Length: C-90

This tape is from the peak years of the cassette era. And it represented the high level Type II tape from one of the worlds premier tape manufacturers. This tape was marketed as a top shelf in its class. The version for this writeup was introduced in 1986. It represented a reformulation from its previous version in 1985 and was revised again in 1988.

TAPE DESCRIPTION

The outer packaging and design of this tape needs no introduction. If you are reading this report, you have almost certainly seen this tape many times over. It was the mid-late 80's design that Maxell used for its top of the line tapes (including the XLI-S ferric and MX metal companions for this tape.). The basic design and font styles were later expanded-albeit without the arching lines-to the the UDX-II and XLII respective low and mid level Type II's during the same time.



Upon opening the tape, one gets a basic but attractive J-card with brief tape description and checkerboard pattern for writing notes etc on one side and adequately spaced track lines on the other. The 19 track lines should be sufficient for documentiong any type of compilation apart from a collection of very short selections. Also enclosed is a set of title stickers. You get two for each side (four total). They are adequate in size, but why they were printed with fine pinstripe lines is anyones guess. This can be used for making sure you write straight (assuming astigmatism) or it can be a minor annoyance. To me, it seemed rather pointless, but this is a very minor detail overall.



The cassette tape itself was the first (of only two) incarnations of what was called the "SSPA" (Super Silent Phase Accuracy) cassette mechanism. It's a heavy duty plastic, almost like a resin in terms of look and feel and the weight is slightly above average for a cassette. Tape wind is smooth and precise, with no jamming, rattling, or other noise anomalies to note. The sight window is large and sufficient for viewing tape status elapsed/remaining. The shape bears a vague resemblence to a "fat letter H". However, on this particular tape, the grade of plastic used was apparently of poor quality and almost all of these tapes suffer from fogged plastic in varying degrees. Normally this isn't a problem., but in deck wells that have limited sight or lighting, this may slightly impair your view. And finally, the center hubs are precision molded and are black in color with a white colored outer ring. The notches that attach the leader to the hubs are also white. This provides an easy visual cue as to tape and tape hub movement.



All Maxell tapes up to this point and for several years beyond featured their self-termed 4-function leader. Information on this can also be found on the J-card as mentioned above. It's an opaque, white colored leader. It has directional arrows as well as side (A or B) printed on it. Also printed was a cue line. Of note is that the cue lines were all printed in different colors, corresponding to the length of the tape (i.e. red for a C-60, blue for a C-90, and so on).

The tape itself was smooth and polished but did appear to have a few very fine scratches in the oxide coating for the first few layers. Although this can potentially be a problem were it to run the entire length of the tape, that was not the case with this specimen and the problem is no worse than a minor annoyance at the ends of the tape. The tape color itself was a deep brown with perhaps a hint of maroon to it. Visually, it resembled more of a traditional ferric than it did a cobalt doped.



TESTING METHODOLOGY

When performing any type of sound based tests, it is important to take two things into account: OBjective and SUBjective. The former includes using straight, neutral test tones at various levels and noting how the test subject responds. In the case of the latter, it is using actual recorded source [musical] material that encompasses a variety of styles and intensities in an effort to mimic how the tapes might be used in the real world. It should also be noted that the differences in mono tone (test signal) versus music (multiple tones and frequencies overlayed with each other) can produce significantly different results even when all other parameters are identical.

So for the OBJECTIVE testing, I brought out the Stereophile Test CD. I used the following tones in my experiments:

Pink Noise
1Khz Warble tone
100 htz tone
50 htz tone



For all four tests, I made two test recordings, noting where 1) they would sound as neutral as possible at a given bias setting at 0dB gain input, and 2) at what threshold would the tape saturate into total harmonic distortion. During the initial recording phase, I would adjust the bias while using the decks live, off-the-tape monitoring function until I arrived at what I thought was the most neutral and natural sound. And during the second phase, I would continue to increase the gain input (again using the monitoring function) until the tape would fail as a result of signal overload.


For the SUBJECTIVE phase of the test, I used three musical recordings that I feel represent a good cross section of most of what I like to listen to that also happen to encompass a broad cross section of intensity and depth.

The choices were my standard test songs:

1. "Renaissance Man" By The Ocean Blue, chosen because of it's emphasis on strong electric guitars, percussion, and bass lines.

2. "Fable" by Robert Miles, chosen for its heavy electronic beat, etheral sounding backing synthesizers, upper range keyboard chords, and high pitched female vocals.

3. "Learning To Fly", by Tom Petty, chosen for the clarity of its multiple accoustic guitar overdubs and strong midrange vocals.

To hear a brief snippet of each of the test songs, please view/listen to the video I made of them here.

TESTING DECK

This test was performed on a Denon DN-790R three-head cassette deck using Dolby B type noise reduction.




FINDINGS FOR TEST TONES

Upon commencing the battery of tests and evaluations at the various settings, one thing immediately grabbed my attention: although I was feeding in a perfectly balanced stereo signal, there was recording/playback mismatch between the channels. Right was tracking about one to two dB below left. This isn't necessarily a problem in and of itself as I was able to compensate for it by overcorrecting the right in. After all, that's what it's there for. But as the test results later proved, it may have been symptomatic of other issues.



PINK NOISE The pesky channel offset (which was recurring through every single phase of the test) notwithstanding, it tracked cleanly and nicely, producing a faithful reporoduction of the sound up to and below -3dB on the gain. Best sound was achieved with the bias at the -1% setting. From there to about +5, it was marginal, and above that, it collapsed into complete distortion.

1 Khtz Tone Sounded best with the bias at neutral to maybe -½ pct. This was a hard sound to capture in true form to the source. But after some manipulation, it held best with the gain set to only around -3 to -4 dB. Any higher, and the sharpness and clarity would begin to fade as though it was a multigenerational copy. And above +4dB, the sound could only be described as hollowed out.

100 Htz Tone I could not accurately capture this tone at any combination of bias or gain. I was absolutely stymied by this one. But I just could not capture a clean, true to form sound. Running up the scale on gain at all levels of bias, and the playback almost sounded like the source tone had a pitch control on it and the sound was modulating through a full octave of sound. Of all possible bias/gain settings, the best (or least bad) setting was a neutral bias and a dead 0dB on the meters.

50 Htz Tone It tracked reasonably well up to about -2dB with a bias setting of +1%. But above that and the playback sound was almost "clipped", for want of a better description. With this low of a frequency, a good set of ears can discern the individual sound peaks and troughs as the cycle modulates. With input above +4, it was almost as if every second or third trough was removed from the recording, producing a dull and poorly defined sound.







FINDINGS FOR MUSICAL SELECTIONS

#1: Sounded best with the bias at -1% with a sustained gain of 0dB with peaks to +3. The midlevel and some of the higfher frequencies played back with crystal clear clarity when set at these levels. But as soon as the heavy bass, drums, and electric guitar kicked in, the recording fell apart as the meters jumped into the red and every beat would distort at the peak and trailoff. The only way to restore a decent sound was to substantially lower the gain but the improvement in the low frequencies came at the expense of the highs and as such, no high fidelity recording of this song is possible with this tape.

#2: The light female vocals, high note keyboards, and airy synthesizers recorded flawlessly with bias set at -2% and the gain set between 0 and +3. However, as soon as the main bass electronic beat came in, the recording met the same fate as above song #1. However, because it's not as intense, I didn't need to cut down the gain as much as I did with #1 to maintain a decent recording.

#3: With the absence of a well defined low end on this selection, it was the best performer of all. With the bias set at between neutral to maybe down slightly to not quite 1% and the peaks not exceeding +2, it was an almost flawless recording. And as expected, any higher, and the recording began to suffer.

CONCLUSIONS

In a word, disappointing. Although I have used this tape extensively in the past, it was mainly for casual as opposed to critical listening. I do not recall any serious deficiencies with those tapes. But it's also been a few years since I've used one. For a tape that carries high expectations and having been a top of the line for its type, it is a serious underperformer. It's strengths are its construction and durability as well as its clarity and ability to hold mid and high frequency sounds such as soprano vocals, keyboards and accoustics. For base noise and hiss, it is a very quiet tape with almost none noted during the testing save for during the pink noise test. It's weaknesses are that it does not handle low frequency sounds very well nor can you push the gain very far "into the red"-if at all. When using a top shelf tape, one thinks that they could do so being held back only by the limitations of the DECK and not the tape. Sadly, that is not the case here. These shortcomings aside, this IS still a good tape that can under the right conditions yield some fantastic recordings. You just can't think Carte Blanche to do as you please because it can also be a very disappointing tape as well. If your musical tastes take you in the direction of non-live soft sources such as vocals, accoustic guitars, pianos, or etheral sounding synthesizers, this is a fantastic tape that you will be pleased with providing you don't push it too hard. On the other hand, if you like listening to a high energy rock group with heavy drums and buzzing electric guitars, you are strongly advised to find an alternate choice tape. Because this one will not live up to its promised potential. Not unless you are willing to record at only half to two-thirds strength.

Thanks for reading.

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