There’s sort of a barn find in my hands now called »Pioneer CT-333«. Seems to run quite nicely, at its age. It features Dolby B and C, Metal and Dolby HX Pro.
Any brand/make of today music cassettes you would recommend for this unit?
Thanks!
When you say "music cassettes" do you mean commercial pre-recorded cassettes... or commercial
blank cassettes for recording?
AFAIK, there are currently no particularly good blank cassettes being produced.
On the other hand, even very vintage Maxell UD XL-II and TDK SA chrome-equivalent cassettes have held up very well and will still make a good recording. I used both and
slightly prefer TDK.
Well-recorded (i.e., amateur) tapes on these media that have been stored reasonably carefully (no direct sun, high humidity, or dirt) should still sound pretty good, too.
The TDK metal tapes (type MA, if memory serves) were good (requiring a metal tape capable deck for recording, of course) but are extremely expensive today whether used or "NOS" (new old stock, i.e., sealed, never used tapes). I know nothing of Maxell's or other brands' metal tape formulations, unfortunately.
There are some companies edging back towards good-quality blank cassette tape production, but I don't keep abreast of that "industry" at all.
EDIT: I do see this company, which seems to have three tape formulations including a chrome-equivalent ("Type II" bias) tape:
Audio cassette tapes. NAC manufactures and sells blank cassette tapes. Cassette duplication for music releases and books on tape. Magnetic tape manufacture both type 1 and type 2.
www.nationalaudiocompany.com