I went with the WAR, bought it about 6 months ago and so far it has been reliable. For me the deciding factor between these two was the bluetooth. At the time of purchase I figured that's just a nice thing to have rather than buying an adapter if I ever wanted to use bluetooth. (and I like the look of the WAR more, but the FiiO is also good looking) Over the last 6 months I've found I use that bluetooth feature much more than I had expected. While I don't use any cassette player as a daily driver, I do find myself carrying the WAR around with me from time to time. I connect it to my Jeep's stereo, I've used it camping with a portable speaker, I hooked it up to the stereo at my local cigar lounge... Overall I'm happy that I went with the WAR, I think having the bluetooth built in has made playing cassettes in more places easier and so I'm listening to it more than I probably would have otherwise.
Not sure the case with magnetic fastening is such a great idea. It's fine for regular use but all it takes is misspacing a tape or the case one time and oops. :)
Well unfortunately both of these Walkman we are rewind and Fiio are not gonna cut it though but I’m going for tascam/Teac cassette deck which it is high end though but I know it didn’t support metal type tape to record but substitute the noise reduction. To make a mixtape.
Ow please, buy a good second hand machine. Those teacs are the same mech and head as these walkmans but then solenoid driven. They are very poor, terrible W&F (at the same level as these walkmans), bad pinchrollers, tape shredders and heads that wear out in a few hundred hours. I tried it, it was with big leap the worst full deck I ever had/tried. The whole mechanism is available for 15 dollar on chinese websites
Ow please, buy a good second hand machine. Those teacs are the same mech and head as these walkmans but then solenoid driven. They are very poor, terrible W&F (at the same level as these walkmans), bad pinchrollers, tape shredders and heads that wear out in a few hundred hours. I tried it, it was with big leap the worst full deck I ever had/tried. The whole mechanism is available for 15 dollar on chinese websites
I own the Fiio, and I do really like it. I still have a full size tape deck installed with my stereo system (along with an Akai reel-to-reel)... but I digress. Because I have just shy of 500 cassettes, I wanted to have a portable player again. Hence, the purchase of the Fiio. I did however like the idea of a cordless headphone solution, but rather than the larger (and more expensive) We Are Rewind, I was able to source a BT broadcast adapter on Amazon for less then $20. Does what I need it to do, and I'm pretty happy with the gear.
I've been super happy with the special edition green WAR I purchased from Retrospekt! I mostly use it via the aux in on my car stereo on trips, and it sounds absolutely fantastic. However, I do really like having the bluetooth functionality on it as well. Additionally, I bought the belt clip for my WAR unit, and I also greatly enjoy using that for when I'm out and about or am going for a walk and wanting to listen to it just like being out with an old school Walkman.
Very limited music to really compare, W&F is not kind for piano either :) but I would say the WAR sounds quite a bit better. Wider and fuller in sound, the FIIO sound a bit closed and off in tone. Noise lower although This has probably not much to do with the headphone amp (it's not even loaded with a real headphone impedance but the high impedance of the recorder) but more with the equalization of the playback amp directly after the head. FIIO is known to be a bit funky in that part, remember measurements on the tapeheads forum that it drops hard below 100hz.
I only have the we are rewind player and I love it. Using bluetooth out, it seemlessly connects to my stereo set and sounds very good. Another thing I like about it is the pot at the back to set the speed (which I already did once after a break-in period).
Hello my friend, I’m here to tell you that the audio in Spanish works very well and is well translated, I loved it I live here in the United States but it’s still nice I heard things in Spanish thank you for that.
I got the FIIO earlier in the year. Sounds great lined into the car stereo and using an external headphone amp, but I found it doesn't play nicely with modern headphones that have the TRRS plugs on them, which is the only letdown with it. Mine is red, which I thought I'd like at the time (and I do, don't get me wrong) but the play buttons are often colour matched with the front cover, and I have to keep reminding myself it's OK to press the red button to play a tape on it! Perhaps FIIO might want to revisit that one. Other than those things, fantastically capable player!
it should have a small good sounding built in speaker and auto reverse so it plays both sides and fits in shirt pocket. when that happens I will buy 2...lol
They both played warbly. I will stick with tape decks. That did not look like a stereo tape head, but a mono rec/play head. I like your channel. Merry Christmas!
Honestly, I'd go for a vintage Aiwa or Sony. Both these are new, sure, but the transport mechanism is the same used on novelty "walkmans" in the the 90s, very cheap yet reliable but pretty far from a quality product. Get a decent one from mid 90 and change its belts, plenty of tutorials for so many models here on YT. Merry Christmas!
It's not only about the belts, a lot of things can go wrong and WILL eventually go wrong with vintage decks/walkmans. They weren't really made to stand more than 10 years without needing any reparation.
I have all my cassettes. Most are things I copied off of the radio. I have my old cassette players. But the only "Walkman" style, is a GPX. But it's mono. Even with headphones. I would like a good stereo "Walkman" like player, new. I am wondering how those measure up. Sound, and wow and flutter. Interesting! Wait. Magnetic case? Isn't that bad for cassettes? Or you just don't keep a cassette in the player when storing it in the case?
Had the We Are Rewind player and It was anything but quality, sounded awful, was heavy and unusable due to it's size. The recordings were unlistenable so I have to say go vintage. Change the belts and other stuff like that and it will serve you much better. I bought a cheap late 80s Sharp and refurbished Onkyo deck for a little more than the We Are Rewind thing and it was much much much better and higher quality. As for the Fiio I wouldn't trust it either. Sadly vintage is the only way to listen to tapes in quality.
Do modern producers even really have the capacity to develop something as sleek and streamlined as Sony’s products were at their height? At least at their current price point?
I've thought about this..... I think all of the tooling is long gone and the designs are under lock and key at Sony, Panasonic, etc. So I think these new companies are having to reinvent the wheel with off the shelf components.
Got both of them and they´re pretty dissapointing tbh. The price is too high. Before they hit the market, you could get something like a Sony WM EX 670 for 50 bucks, invest 20 bucks into a new belt and new pinch rollers, maybe get a new gumstick battery and charger, and still be cheaper than a WAR. But ultimatively have the superior tape player with dolby B, auto reverse, soft touch controls, a rechargeable AND replacable battery, 20+ hours runtime and an actual decent tape head and amplifier, which is far ahead of the WAR or Fiio. I stacked up on these before they started to ask 200+ bucks for one of them.
@@Recordology Well the aiwa in the video is one of the more basic machines. That´s not a big surprise. When it comes to tape decks, they always made cheap and low quality machines, but unfortunately it´s the cheap ones that survived till this day. I was shocked when i had a first try with my Denon DRM 800 HiFi tape deck. It´s unbelievable how good tapes can sound. Unfortunately the Fiio or WAR won´t even get close to that experience. But the WAR and Fiio are going into the direct direction and i think they did quite a good job with what they had to work with. But a Sony WM EX 6XX is truly peak of tape technology, offering a decent sound quality in a super slim package with exteme miniaturizing of components and still offers all bells and whistles and is extremely power efficient too.
That Aiwa destroys the other two in its sleep! Peace.
If it makes me feel better I'm going to buy a Sony Walkman for Christmas.
And then it breaks and the part isn't made anymore.
I went with the WAR, bought it about 6 months ago and so far it has been reliable. For me the deciding factor between these two was the bluetooth. At the time of purchase I figured that's just a nice thing to have rather than buying an adapter if I ever wanted to use bluetooth. (and I like the look of the WAR more, but the FiiO is also good looking) Over the last 6 months I've found I use that bluetooth feature much more than I had expected. While I don't use any cassette player as a daily driver, I do find myself carrying the WAR around with me from time to time. I connect it to my Jeep's stereo, I've used it camping with a portable speaker, I hooked it up to the stereo at my local cigar lounge... Overall I'm happy that I went with the WAR, I think having the bluetooth built in has made playing cassettes in more places easier and so I'm listening to it more than I probably would have otherwise.
now i have a cassette player...ho.ho.ho.☃☃☃
Ha!!!!!! Merry Christmas
I understood that reference.
Not sure the case with magnetic fastening is such a great idea. It's fine for regular use but all it takes is misspacing a tape or the case one time and oops. :)
Well unfortunately both of these Walkman we are rewind and Fiio are not gonna cut it though but I’m going for tascam/Teac cassette deck which it is high end though but I know it didn’t support metal type tape to record but substitute the noise reduction. To make a mixtape.
Ow please, buy a good second hand machine. Those teacs are the same mech and head as these walkmans but then solenoid driven.
They are very poor, terrible W&F (at the same level as these walkmans), bad pinchrollers, tape shredders and heads that wear out in a few hundred hours.
I tried it, it was with big leap the worst full deck I ever had/tried. The whole mechanism is available for 15 dollar on chinese websites
Ow please, buy a good second hand machine. Those teacs are the same mech and head as these walkmans but then solenoid driven.
They are very poor, terrible W&F (at the same level as these walkmans), bad pinchrollers, tape shredders and heads that wear out in a few hundred hours.
I tried it, it was with big leap the worst full deck I ever had/tried. The whole mechanism is available for 15 dollar on chinese websites
Doesn't the magnet closure on the FiiO case affect the sound? You don't want a magnetic charge on the head.
Why are they so thick? Why are the buttons so big?
I own the Fiio, and I do really like it. I still have a full size tape deck installed with my stereo system (along with an Akai reel-to-reel)... but I digress. Because I have just shy of 500 cassettes, I wanted to have a portable player again. Hence, the purchase of the Fiio. I did however like the idea of a cordless headphone solution, but rather than the larger (and more expensive) We Are Rewind, I was able to source a BT broadcast adapter on Amazon for less then $20. Does what I need it to do, and I'm pretty happy with the gear.
Got my wife the FiiO for Christmas. She loves it.
I have a couple of FiiO digital players, where the music is stored on micro SD cards, and they sound stunning.
I have also, they could buy more dynamic. The sound signature of a lot of the fiio players is quite flat. Great quality sure.
The fiio seemed like it has less hiss but the orange one was nice also with sound.
thanks for this man, got the FiiO Transparent 😁 I'm excited
Hope you enjoy it!
I've been super happy with the special edition green WAR I purchased from Retrospekt! I mostly use it via the aux in on my car stereo on trips, and it sounds absolutely fantastic. However, I do really like having the bluetooth functionality on it as well. Additionally, I bought the belt clip for my WAR unit, and I also greatly enjoy using that for when I'm out and about or am going for a walk and wanting to listen to it just like being out with an old school Walkman.
Very limited music to really compare, W&F is not kind for piano either :)
but I would say the WAR sounds quite a bit better. Wider and fuller in sound, the FIIO sound a bit closed and off in tone. Noise lower although
This has probably not much to do with the headphone amp (it's not even loaded with a real headphone impedance but the high impedance of the recorder) but more with the equalization of the playback amp directly after the head.
FIIO is known to be a bit funky in that part, remember measurements on the tapeheads forum that it drops hard below 100hz.
I only have the we are rewind player and I love it. Using bluetooth out, it seemlessly connects to my stereo set and sounds very good. Another thing I like about it is the pot at the back to set the speed (which I already did once after a break-in period).
Great video - I have both also and prefer the Fiio. I also have the Fiio TT13 turntable - can't wait for you to review that!
I prefer the look of the FIIO. That Harry Connick album is awesome, BTW.
The Fiio seems to have less wow and flutter than the WAR.
Hello my friend, I’m here to tell you that the audio in Spanish works very well and is well translated, I loved it I live here in the United States but it’s still nice I heard things in Spanish thank you for that.
That’s really great to hear that it worked out!
I got the FIIO earlier in the year. Sounds great lined into the car stereo and using an external headphone amp, but I found it doesn't play nicely with modern headphones that have the TRRS plugs on them, which is the only letdown with it.
Mine is red, which I thought I'd like at the time (and I do, don't get me wrong) but the play buttons are often colour matched with the front cover, and I have to keep reminding myself it's OK to press the red button to play a tape on it! Perhaps FIIO might want to revisit that one. Other than those things, fantastically capable player!
it should have a small good sounding built in speaker and auto reverse so it plays both sides and fits in shirt pocket. when that happens I will buy 2...lol
They both played warbly. I will stick with tape decks.
That did not look like a stereo tape head, but a mono rec/play head.
I like your channel. Merry Christmas!
Merry Christmas my friend!
Honestly, I'd go for a vintage Aiwa or Sony. Both these are new, sure, but the transport mechanism is the same used on novelty "walkmans" in the the 90s, very cheap yet reliable but pretty far from a quality product. Get a decent one from mid 90 and change its belts, plenty of tutorials for so many models here on YT. Merry Christmas!
It's not only about the belts, a lot of things can go wrong and WILL eventually go wrong with vintage decks/walkmans. They weren't really made to stand more than 10 years without needing any reparation.
What. WAR😂
I have all my cassettes. Most are things I copied off of the radio. I have my old cassette players. But the only "Walkman" style, is a GPX. But it's mono. Even with headphones. I would like a good stereo "Walkman" like player, new. I am wondering how those measure up. Sound, and wow and flutter. Interesting!
Wait. Magnetic case? Isn't that bad for cassettes? Or you just don't keep a cassette in the player when storing it in the case?
Had the We Are Rewind player and It was anything but quality, sounded awful, was heavy and unusable due to it's size. The recordings were unlistenable so I have to say go vintage. Change the belts and other stuff like that and it will serve you much better. I bought a cheap late 80s Sharp and refurbished Onkyo deck for a little more than the We Are Rewind thing and it was much much much better and higher quality. As for the Fiio I wouldn't trust it either. Sadly vintage is the only way to listen to tapes in quality.
Do modern producers even really have the capacity to develop something as sleek and streamlined as Sony’s products were at their height? At least at their current price point?
I've thought about this..... I think all of the tooling is long gone and the designs are under lock and key at Sony, Panasonic, etc. So I think these new companies are having to reinvent the wheel with off the shelf components.
Yes but it would cost them a lot more. The buying market simply isn't there.
Got both of them and they´re pretty dissapointing tbh.
The price is too high.
Before they hit the market, you could get something like a Sony WM EX 670 for 50 bucks, invest 20 bucks into a new belt and new pinch rollers, maybe get a new gumstick battery and charger, and still be cheaper than a WAR.
But ultimatively have the superior tape player with dolby B, auto reverse, soft touch controls, a rechargeable AND replacable battery, 20+ hours runtime and an actual decent tape head and amplifier, which is far ahead of the WAR or Fiio.
I stacked up on these before they started to ask 200+ bucks for one of them.
Interesting! I thought they both sounded better than the Aiwa I used in the video...
@@Recordology Well the aiwa in the video is one of the more basic machines.
That´s not a big surprise.
When it comes to tape decks, they always made cheap and low quality machines, but unfortunately it´s the cheap ones that survived till this day.
I was shocked when i had a first try with my Denon DRM 800 HiFi tape deck.
It´s unbelievable how good tapes can sound. Unfortunately the Fiio or WAR won´t even get close to that experience.
But the WAR and Fiio are going into the direct direction and i think they did quite a good job with what they had to work with.
But a Sony WM EX 6XX is truly peak of tape technology, offering a decent sound quality in a super slim package with exteme miniaturizing of components and still offers all bells and whistles and is extremely power efficient too.
Here in Italy a month ago I mange to get old stock unboxed Philips walkman
NOOOO.....I CAN'T FALL BACK DOWN THE CASSETTE TAPE RABBITT HOLE..... 😂those are nice looking & sounding little players.
Cashowdown!!!!!
Fiio plays better and the we are rewind is Great for recording