Thread: Is this true?

This came to mind with some of the R2R threads. Back in the 80's when Hi Fi VHS came out it was said to be as good as R2R on sound quality. I had VHS and even recorded a tape or two from TT for myself. I've never heard the hi fi VHS on a good system though not even on anything I've had in recent years.

Anyone ever heard the formats together to say if this is remotely true or marketing garbage?

I have listened to both formats and my R2R tape deck was significantly better. VHS I believe could have gained some ground on R2R once the players themselves improved and if the tape speeds could have matched 7.5 and 15 IPS.

I have an old Sony SLV-575uc VCR (2nd to TOTL) that my oldest brother purchased brand new many many moons ago. It has adjustable recording level and VU meters as well, like a regular cassette deck or RTR.

Anyway, I have some tapes that I made years ago on Maxell and TDK tapes at "Standard Speed" which is 1-1/4" per second. With a 2-ch hifi rotary audio head, 20Hz - 20kHz frequency response, 90dB+ dynamic range and 0.005 wow & flutter, the LP's and CD's that I recorded on those tapes sounded every bit as good as the sources. Not to mention there were very little if any tape hiss, mostly thanks to that rotary head.

I should pull that unit out along with those tapes and see how they stand on my current system. If they're anything like all of those old cassettes that I have, they should still sound just as good as the original vinyl and CD's, if the tapes aren't messed up or the VCR is in need of a little TLC, which it probably is. Last time I used it was probably 10 years ago.

I got rid of my cassettes and player over 20 years ago. When I began getting into higher end gear they just didn't sound nearly as good as my CDP or Rega TT at the time. Most of them were albums recorded from LP. If they were recorded from the Rega and tape heads properly aligned things may have been different.

If I could find that old VHS tape it would be interesting to see how it sounds today. I can't remember which turntable I used for recording though. I still have a stereo Panasonic VHS player but not the Hi Fi Hatachi used for recording.