Maxell UDII CD90 Blank Tape

The tape operates very smoothly and its formulation performs well with minimal dropouts, decent frequency response, and very little noise, especially when combined with Dolby noise reduction. I recorded it on a cheap deck without manual bias controls and was not disappointed. They literally don't make tapes like this anymore, as nearly all manufacturers currently producing tape in 2022 are using Type I ferric formulas with more noise and often more dropouts. I know of one manufacturer doing a Type II formula but the consensus seems to be that it's not at all to the same standard as this tape. The shell preforms well but looks a little boring for my taste; it's a mostly flat, barely-translucent near-black charcoal gray; if you can get a strong light on it while it's playing you might be able to make out how much tape is on each side, but otherwise it's hard to tell. But currently these are still much more affordable than Type IV metal particle tapes, which are also not made anymore and are widely considered the pinnacle of cassette tape audio quality. So probably these are just about the best compromise for making tape recordings that you could almost forget are analog.

Picture shows 2 tapes. Order is for a "TAPE," as in singular. My error for not checking it out closely, but I think this is VERY deceptive.