WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MAXELL XLII AND MAXELL XLII-S TAPE?
Both tapes are Type II tape. The XLII-S is constructed with a heavier heat-resistant plastic case (the tape casing is heavier, not the hard plastic case the entire cassette is stored in). The XLII-S tape also has a slightly wider frequency band than the XLII tape; about 2-4 db at both the high and low ends. Based on this, therefore, a trader wanting to ensure the highest quality trades would make tapes on XLII-S tapes when the music source is of comparable frequency ranges as the tape can hold. For example, when recording from digital technology to analog, some tapers will use XLII-S tape to preserve the wider frequency band delivered by DAT or CD. If the source is an analog XLII tape, however, the tape already contains the best frequency band achievable and an XLII tape is okay to use. You should be aware, however, that this practice is not widely known, accepted, or practiced. If you make CD dupes on XLII-S tape, you should probably expect to be disappointed at not receiving an XLII-
