Customer Reviews
There is "Maxell" and there are the rest! 
2007-07-23
As the author of the Jefferson Airplane book "Take Me To A Circus Tent" and a former radio disc-jockey, I am often asked to write and or discuss various music supplies and recordings from the 60's and 70's.
I have used thousands of Maxell cassette tapes over the years and the quality has been superlative.
The Maxell XL2 is high bias, also known as chrome, position 2, and CRo2. They are specifically engineered for music. If you are recording rock, jazz, or classical the quality will surpass your expectations.
Maxell's reputation for tapes was solidified as far back as the 1970's when the majority of the sound crews would use Maxell at the mixing board for playback after a live performance.
In order to get the best result it is imperative the tape deck you use has clean heads all the time. Failure to keep dirt away from the internal parts will result in sub-par recordings even with first class tapes.
If you are recording voice only, look for the normal bias, position 1 tapes by Maxell.
Try to avoid using tapes over 100 minutes you will have less headaches with breakage. The 110 and 120 minutes are thinner and will tear fairly often.
Enjoy the music and be well,
Craig Fenton
Author of the Jefferson Airplane book "Take Me To A Circus Tent"
Good tapes 2007-01-09
I`m a musician and I record almost everyday . These tapes is an excelent way to check my self. Very clean recordings and excelent playback.Good tapes
Fine tape, poor mechanism 
2008-06-28
I have had consistently poor experience with Maxell XLii 90 High Bias audio tape. I have two high-end cassette recorders. The mechanisms in these tapes are problems in both recorders. They do not roll as freely as they should and put so much drag on the tape recorder mechanism that the tape recorder stops.On some of the cassettes, I can hear the reels rubbing against the sides of the cassette shell. This has happened on three different 5-packs, purchased at two different stores. Perhaps these cassettes work better on lower-end equipment. I have absolutely no problems using TDK SA90 cassettes on either of these cassette decks. The portion of the tape that does get recorded sounds great.
Best tape 2008-06-26
For about $3 per tape (including shipping charge), this 5-pack is perfect for the audiophile looking for near CD quality sound. I use a Sherwood cassette recorder with Dolby S and automatic detection of the High Bias type tape. Recording a local FM radio station rock music at the proper level gives exact reproduction of sound. I tested it after using Maxell UD and the difference is dramatic! The XLII is so clear and the casssette shell and tape are very sturdy. You should record at a level that shows into the red all the time, not just at the loudest parts. This allows the High Bias tape to absorb any slight distortion and the Dolby lets you record at the higher level. Any slight background tape hiss is eliminated.
XLII 90 HIGH BIAS AUTO CASSETTE TAPE 5 PACK 2008-06-18
A GIFT THAT WAS REQUESTED BY MY BROTHER..SAID THESE ARE GETTING HARDER AND HARDER TO FIND...SO IF U ARE IN NEED HERE IS THE PLACE TO BUY THEM..GREAT PRODUCT.
fine high bias 90 minute cassette tape--with just a slight drawback or two 
2008-04-30
Maxell manufactures excellent "Xlii high bias" 90 minute cassette tapes for all purpose general recording. As long as you have the right kind of equipment, these tapes record the sounds of record albums, radio shows, CD-Rs, people talking and more. These tapes have 90 minutes worth of blank recording tapes on them so there are 45 blank minutes for recording on each side. Record lectures, music, conversations, piano playing and more--whatever you want! The tape playback will work well in any basic tape deck including the one in your car.
The tapes are extremely well made in that they DO allow you hours upon hours of listening enjoyment because you can record over them many times; and they take up very little room so they're easy to carry around with you.
If you pay the current Amazon price of $13.77 for the five-pack you spend roughly $2.75 per tape. Some people will find that to be too expensive while others will want these blank cassette tapes anyway, not minding having to pay the price.
Unfortunately, these tapes still cannot produce 100% the same quality recording reproduction as a digitalized copy would give you. This means that if, hypothetically, you were to copy a CD-R onto another CD-R instead of a Maxell cassette tape, the quality of the sound on the CD-R copy would be at least somewhat sharper and clearer with less background noise than these Maxell cassette tapes will give you. Moreover, cassette tapes can break if not handled with care. They can also break if used a few too many times, too. Therefore, I recommend that any important recorded material should be copied onto another blank tape and then keep that second tape in a safe place to use as a backup. These shortcomings frustrate me and therefore I will have to take off one star to make this a four star review.
The tapes have small pieces of plastic on the narrow top of each cassette which you can punch out easily so that accidental recording over an existing recording is impossible. If you do wish to record over an original recording then you can merely place a small amount of regular tape over the hole. The cassette tape is now ready to record a fresh recording. I also agree with the gentleman who suggests that you clean the heads of the tape deck before using these cassette tapes to maximize the quality of the recording.
Overall, Maxell Xlii high bias cassette tapes makes a great choice when you want reliable cassette tapes to record music, the radio, people talking or anything you wish to record. I have used this brand for decades and I cannot think of any major complaints. I highly recommend Maxell normal bias 90 minute cassette tapes for you to use when you need to record something onto a tape.
The Best For The Job. 2007-12-24
Now I'm noticing in the day & age of cd formats & mp3 downloading that finding good cassettes in just your average store here in michigan is hard to find now, so i was glad to be able to go through amazon to get what i needed,& me being into the quality of the maxell cassettes since the mid 80's i just can't use any other tape, mainly due to me still working pretty regular with a four track recorder which requries a high bias tape for the best sound, so even though some may feel like i'm in the stone age for still using cassettes but what i'm able achieve sound wise through equalizers & the four track is still cutting edge thanks to good tapes that can handle the pressure.
