"Simon" wrote in message
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I'm endeavouring to "re-master" some old 4 track mix down tapes from
cassette to pc but I'm having issues with quality. There is noticeable
quality loss from hearing the tape raw (via amp through ns-10's) to
hearing it back on pc. I have tried 3 methods of transfer with less
than satisfying results.

1. straight in from tape to pc via rca ins
(sound card is the audiophile 24/96) this is a little hot cause there
is no attenuation before the card but is probably the best of the 3
methods.

Most likely serious problems would be hum or clipping. If you don't have
either, you're stylin' If you have hum, then you probably have a ground
loop, and if you have clipping, then you need to add some passive
attenuation.

If you use a wave editor like Cooledit that has a FFT-based analysis and
graphical display, you should be able to detect either problem pretty
easily.

2. I have no a/d convertor so I use the dat machine to attenuate the
signal then send out via spdif to pc (probably sounds the worst).

SPDIF output of what?

3. Same method as 1. but use a symetrix limiter to attenuate the
signal.

How transparent is the limiter as an attenuator? I favor passive attenuation
for applications like this.

Any ideas? It seems ridiculous that after dumping to pc I am now going
to have to attempt to restore the original sound of the cassette via
plug ins which I doubt will be able to do so.

Unless you have clipping or hum, then you should be able to get an excellent
transfer of the tape. It helps to properly diagnose your problem before
trying to solve it, but the evidence is not visible to the rest of us. Post
an MP3 of a slice of it, and you might get some better help.