Tape adapter sounds really bad compared to cds in my car...?

Question

I got a tape adapter for my zen vision M and I use it in my '96 mercedes, and the sound quality is HORRIBLE. Seriously, there is so much bass it's ridiculous. I tried to listen to sublime and couldn't even hear any other instruments except the bass, and the bass was all muddy and crappy sounding too. Zeppelin sounded alright, but again, not enough treble and mids, and wayyyyy to much bass, and not half as good as the CDs I've been using in my car. The cassette adapter I bought was $10-15 and I got it from best buy.

Does anyone know what the problem is? I use CDs all the time and they have amazing sound quality in my car, so I don't think it's the settings...

Do you think maybe I got a crappy/defective cassette adapter? I really want to be able to use one of these things but sound quality is what I care about most when it comes to this kind of stuff.

Answer 1

I think tape adapters in general are bad. Friend has one, we've used in in different cars, sounds bad in every car.

I have a Mercedes thats a couple years newer than yours, and I use an FM transmitter that hooks up to my Ipod. I can't say it's the best compared to CD quality, but it usually works well (occasionally, you have to change the channel to get better reception).

So I'd recommend trying an FM transmitter instead, they're not that expensive.

Good luck!

Answer 2

You will never find a tape adapter that's worth a c**p.  The reason being, the adapter makes no direct contact with the tape player's pick up head, it just gets close.  Fidelity goes out the window, due to non contact and mis-alignment.  

I would suggest trying to find an OEM interface for your car, which will give you an 1/8" mini headphone jack to plug into.  Don't know which type of Mercedes you have, but try these folks:  www.peripheralelectronics.com

Answer 3

well the reson why cd's were invented was to increase the sound quality compared to tapes and to be able to skip songs in no time

you probably won't find any casset adaptors that'll have any great sound quality

maybe you should stick to playing compact discs

mercedes and tapes don't really match