Recent content by Billy Budapest

Something that I find amusing—by the late 80’s, premium normal position tapes (think TDK AR-X, Maxell XLI-S, etc.) exceeded the performance of many Type II tapes and were more or less comparable to metal tapes. Gamma ferric oxide is still produced in bulk today for use in many industries and...

I don’t think the technology is “long gone.” It’s documented in engineering papers and service manuals. There is no need to reinvent the wheel. To restart manufacturing would be the expensive part. I agree with what you said about it probably being prohibitively expensive. I am not sure...

The quick reference card actually recommends using the optical out to lower leakage currents and noise. The DSP still works.

Yes—he is very responsive to his customers and to members of the public at large. Plus, he seems like a really nice guy both in the email exchanges I have had with him and in the videos he has posted.

Yes. I thought this went without saying.

The hardware deserves professional looking software, commensurate with the quality of the product.

1). That icon is commonly called a “hamburger” and I have no clue why you do not know that. 2). It does not ordinarily signify the presence of a “sub-menu.” Rather, it is a control for a slide-out menu. See here for your own edification...

No, just something more professional looking and without buried functions—which in the case of the Test item are bizarrely hidden behind a hamburger icon. Plus, the gear icon which is supposed to be to access settings instead accesses an about menu. It’s pretty much a mess. Usable? Yes. But...

I’ve messed around with it and hopefully at some point he is able to improve the gui. The hardware deserves software commensurate with its caliber. It’s usable, but the hardware deserves better.

In other words, what I said above.

It’s ugly. For the nested settings, it’s confusing.

The BX-300 is arguably Nak’s best “basic” deck but serviced ones are fetching a *ridiculous* $1,000 on eBay, whereas you can get a serviced/restored BX-1, -2, -100, -125, or -150 for $200 or less if you look around. LX-3 and LX-5 are also good choices but are priced much higher than the BX...

That’s simply not true. I’m solid Gen-X (born in 1972) and as a result, have many cassettes from the 80’s and 90’s. Many of these are from small local bands and college bands thst do not have music available in any digital form, online or otherwise. That’s also not to mention mix tapes I made...

The founders of the company left Mark Levinson and appear to have hired the same industrial designer, to boot!