There’s absolutely nothing wrong with enjoying whatever products resonate with you. A lot of people just love picking a side and planting their stake in the ground. However. I will say that the never-ending hype surrounding “the next big thing” in Hifi can be exhausting. Especially if it objectively doesn’t present any real improvement.
@@jackjowett902 tbh, it would be preferable to have AAs and the possibility to manage rechargable AAs through the USB port. The battery will die someday and this way makes it harder to service it, with AAs you just take them out and place new ones, it's the same approach Xbox controllers use and it's the best.
@@fordesponja Rather then the ability to charge the batteries in the device, I'd rather it be avoided to keep things simple. Just make it so it can function properly with rechargeable AA batteries. Some devices have trouble handling the lower voltage of rechargeable batteries (1.2 volts for rechargeable batteries vs 1.5 volts for alkaline AAs). Instead, just purchase a set rechargeable batteries and a charger (I purchased 4 rechargeable NiMH AA batteries and a charger together in a moderately-priced pack). Then while you are using one pair of batteries you can have an extra set charging. When I used a portable CD player that used 2 AA batteries, I carried four extra charged batteries so I never had to worry about my batteries dying. I carried the extra batteries in a case that could hold four AA batteries that I put in my pocket.
@@fordesponja the xbox approach is not perfect its 2024 they still include a regular AA batteries when you can provide a rechagable AA one its freaking $500 ffs lol
Once the equipment becomes more important than the music, you've become an electrician. Tom Waits was asked his favorite format for listening to music, he replied, "wandering down Sunset blvd, and some cat comes walking towards you with a transistor radio up to his ear listening to the Shirelles". That's where it's at, man.
However, there has to be a reason for creators like CheapAudioMan. If sound quality really didn't matter at all, we wouldn't need somebody to point us toward reasonably priced music gear which can reproduce music well.
My dad's an electrician, and he doesn't know much about hifi apart from knowing some brands and whatnot. For example, he prefers Pioneer for car stereo systems. He gives Sony flack when I feel it's unwarranted. I've used a couple of Sony products and I think they're pretty solid devices.
One feature I love that Fiio has introduced is that the player memorises your last playing position. Just pick up, press play and you're right back where you left off.
@@jsc315 until now! Oh, and their old portable headphone amps used to be REALLY noisy and have shitty imbalanced pots, along with a pretty dangerous gain toggle. Not sure if they're still like that.
I just purchased a Nakamichi cassette player on EBay. Hope to own a few cassettes. The cassette era was a good part of my youth. I’ll be 70 in a couple of months. I think I earned the right to re-live a part of my youth. Rock on.
I had a Nakamichi BX125 back in the day. I loved that machine for making mix tapes. Always wanted a three head BX300, but I could never afford it. The Nackamichi hardware was always top notch.
Almost 72 years young myself. I bought a Nakamichi 700 when first released and had the good fortune to record friends' LPs straight from the wrapper (first play). In its day the quality of those recordings was exceptional and served me well until the convenience of CDs took precedence. Alas, I wish in hindsight I had kept that Nakamichi. I daresay I would enjoy the trip down memory lane from time to time now.
You didn't happen to purchase the Dragon did you? When I started my musical playback journey in the 1980s that was the deck all the servicemen wanted at the PX😁
As someone who were young in the early 1980s, cassette tapes have a special place in my heart. Because when you're an 18-year-old car-guy, where do you mostly listen to music? In your car of course, while cruising around, heading to no particular place. And if you had a decent quality player, with Type II and Dolby NR and all that, which I had, cassettes could sound really good. The main problem was that original recorded tapes never sounded very good. Not even the ones that promised on the cover to be better quality recordings (some using chrome tapes even) were very good. Mostly because all factory tapes were recorded at high speed, which will always hurt the treble. So, what did we do when we wanted a good quality recording? Well, we bought the vinyl record pluss a good quality empty chrome or metal tape (which sometimes was as expensive as the vinyl record), and then recorded tapes ourselves on good quality hifi equipment, which luckily a friend of my had. I recorded most of my tapes at his place. The result was really decent quality sound from cassette tapes. I still have most of my cassette tapes form that era in my collection, together with my vinyl records.
@@thovenpixel3740 Unfortunately not. I've become modern and mostly stream music on Tidal nowadays. And both my cassette deck and turntable need new belts at the moment. But I still have the cassettes, so the option is always there. 😄
Ah, the nostalgia trip of a cassette tape enthusiast! How quaint. Your reminiscence of cruising around in the early 1980s with your cassette collection is a lovely glimpse into a bygone era, but let’s be real: romanticizing cassette tapes is like praising the horse and buggy for its “charm” while ignoring the vast advances of the automotive age. The Illusion of Quality You seem to cling to the notion that a “decent quality player” and some fancy Type II Dolby NR magic could transform the cassette format into an audiophile’s dream. But let’s not kid ourselves: cassettes were the epitome of compromise. You may have had some fleeting moments of auditory pleasure, but they were built on a foundation of physical limitations and inherent distortion. How noble of you to wax poetic about “decent quality sound” when the reality is that cassette tapes have always been a messy compromise at best. The only thing they excelled at was portability, not fidelity. The Myth of Factory Recordings You bring up the “original recorded tapes” that never sounded very good, as if that’s a surprise to anyone with half a brain. Perhaps you should’ve realized that the mere act of cramming music onto a magnetic strip was bound to result in a subpar listening experience. The so-called “high-quality recordings” you mention are nothing more than an exercise in futility, a marketing ploy to entice those who were desperate to hold onto their beloved tapes. Spoiler alert: those tapes were never going to deliver the dynamic range and clarity that even a mid-tier CD player could muster. Your Daring Recording Technique Ah, yes, the “ingenious” solution of recording your own tapes from vinyl. How original! It’s almost as if you were the first person to discover that you could capture music in a format that was inherently flawed. You might as well have proclaimed that you discovered fire while using flint and steel. The fact that you spent time “recording tapes” at your friend’s place reveals a startling lack of awareness about how much better your vinyl could have sounded if you’d simply embraced better technology. Instead, you chose to engage in a laborious process that merely masked the shortcomings of a dying format. Bravo! The Collector’s Delusion And now, you proudly declare that you still have those cassette tapes and vinyl records in your collection. How... quaintly nostalgic. But let’s not mistake sentimentality for quality. Holding onto a relic of the past doesn’t make it valuable, and your collection is little more than a shrine to mediocrity. You’re not a pioneer of sound; you’re a keeper of outdated technology, clinging to the illusion that there’s something special about cassette tapes that modern formats simply can’t replicate. Conclusion In conclusion, while your nostalgia for cassette tapes is touching in a rather pathetic way, it’s high time to acknowledge that the format was a flawed, imperfect vessel for music that simply doesn’t hold a candle to today’s audio advancements. Your fond memories may be warm and fuzzy, but they don’t change the fact that cassettes were always a poor substitute for true sound quality. Perhaps instead of holding onto your cassette tapes, you should invest some time in understanding why they were left behind in the dust of audio history.
Final comment: anyone who thinks cassette was the worst audio format ever obviously has never heard an 8-track on a sparkomatic stereo while rolling in a '72 Nova
8-track had the potential to be the most efficient form of media. What else would let you play the right channel of one track simultaneously with the left channel of a different track. Joking aside, the 8-track of Pink Floyd's Animals does give the listener an extra guitar solo by Snowy White.
Sometimes the pleasure is in the sound your fav speakers adds to the music (they all usually add something). We use to listen to poorly recorded Velvet Underground because it was full of deliberate feedback and fuzz. Even better on an old tape. It's an atmosphere. Tape is nostalgia. Maybe the next model will be even better sounding. I love that it's portable and I have some friends with a ton of their old tapes including their own mixed tapes.
There are some people that simply can't enjoy a song. They are far more concerned about "how the equipment sounds" than simply using it to listen to music.
I agree. I have an okay system (Sony Walkman NW-A55, several pairs of headphones, a sound bar, and MediaMonkey to manage my music and listen to it on my computer) and it's good enough for me. I can pop on headphones and listen to music without a lot of muss and fuss. Used to spend a lot of time management my music, now I've reached the point where I just want to listen to my music.
Cassettes that are well recorded are much better than people might believe. They have their own charm and I for one still buy new albums released on tape from time to time. Glad to see an attempt to bring new cassette players on the market to keep the format alive. Rock on
Cassettes represent the future of analog music. We've got to get this right. That's the main reason people are complaining. The FIIO is a $50 unit. They just need to do better, that's all.
Two kinds of audiophile labels. 1) People that label themselves as audiophiles (thus usually full of crap and themselves) and 2) People that are labeled as audiophiles by other people, and usually do not wish to be because of #1.
I’m a “Musicophile”. I love music and enjoy listening to music on mid-fi gear that fits my income and budget. Firm believer in diminishing returns. I’m happy with my rig. 🎶😎
I LOVE CASSETTES! I’m 49 and grew up on tapes. Store-bought albums, mix tapes made by recording songs off the radio on my boombox, recording stuff on my parents hand held tape recorders, etc. SO cool. I bought a 90’s Sony Walkman about a year ago and I take it with me almost everywhere. People love it. I’ve started making mix tapes again for the first time in decades. Also recording full albums from streaming to tape and using my Photoshop/Graphic Design skills to make tape covers for their cases. My 13 year old daughter got into vintage audio and she makes mix tapes too! Both for her room stereo and also for her “Walkman” (we got her a Byron Statics Walkman-type portable cassette player. Is the audio great? NO! But it’s still super freakin cool. When I wear it out in public people go nuts! Almost always someone starts a conversation with me about it, which I think is pretty damn cool 😎
Man, people should lighten up…I with you, man…I was a teen of the 80s and graduated in 87…I lived on cassettes…on a boombox or a Walkman …that’s all we have…I think it’s great that you have something that brings you back to your childhood…Rock on, Dude!
I bought "correct belt" on my Aiwa HS-P7 and unfortunately the belt is not as tight as I hope and lost the "auto stop" REW and FFWD because the belt slips preventing the motor to trigger the auto stop.
Another important thing , 90% ( if not more ) of online "Audiophiles" are NOT actually Audiophiles in terms of audio gear , they just live in an online world of make believe ( living it through reviewers and testers ) 😊
A fine, important observation you make there. A situation brought about in the main by self delusion exacerbated by the sheer number of products being peddled and the largely outrageous pricing therein. The irony is that the one fuels the other. Resulting in a runaway, self sustaining Chernobyl like audio meltdown.
I am not sure that there is a properly agreed definition of the word "audiophile" and who really deserves that label. Audio enthusiast is as far as I go.
As someone too young for cassette tapes or vinyl to be my primary way of listening to music, they just kinda seem cool for a vibe, a lot of indie artists especially ones on bandcamp sell cassettes. So it'd be a cool way to support smaller artists.
Last spring I dropped $350 to have my Sony ES three head deck repaired and calibrated. I have had a great time revisiting old party tapes, road mixes etc in my collection. (And they sound great over the vintage receivers and JBL L82s in my man cave system). If I didn’t make the completely sentimental decision to drop the repair cash, I could see how this little player could accomplish the same goal of revisiting old friends for very short money. I don’t remember how many Walkman units I used up back in the day. Thanks for making this video. Listen to the music, not the equipment. Great message. I am always amused by folks who proudly say they have ripped and disposed of all physical media, then spend inordinate amounts of time trying to troubleshoot their streaming gear and data. Streaming has its place in my musical life as do Cassettes, CD’s, LP’s and live performances.
It has little to do with audiophiles, it was about pushing a bad product. Everyone is pushing that thing. If you want to enjoy cassettes, there's many cheaper, better alternatives. I've seen at least 5 other channels saying the exact same thing about this, almost if they were paid to push this, and that's it people called you out on.
Yeah, let's not unnecessarily hinder the experience if you can do it better by spending less, on older gear. It's not about cassette, it's about the specific market situation of new players. A good mechanism is definitely doable on a small budget, but the heads I doubt. The result is that everybody ends up then using the same new crappy heads anyway (and then also the mechanism...), when there are how many millions old, good players, that all it takes to save them from a landfill is a belt, and they could make the whole experience more enjoyable. There's a difference between "you're listening to the music or the gear?" and going for the worse option on purpose because it somehow adds charm. May as well record stuff on an old phone in .AMR and listen from it's internal speaker.
To be fair, nobody is making high quality cassette mechanisms these days, so the FIIO player is probably about as good as it can get for a new product.
There are better players, but for cheaper? I don't think. Not new ones, at least. If you want a better cassette player, you will have to buy a mid '80s to late '90s one, but that *will* need a refurbishment to perform close to its original specs, or often to work at all. If you can do it for yourself, then you might get yourself a good player for $100, or even half that if you are lucky. BUT not everyone is involved in repairing electronics, players like this Fiio is made for them!
To a degree, there's a point imo that markets for certain products have become inflated for the every day person thanks to those who have more money than they deserve, and then companies happy to take as much money as they can, i.e. the entire North American auto industry. Voting with your wallet is one of the only powers we have and people regularly choose to buy the dumbest stuff. With that said I see no issues with a high quality cassette player as long as it's reasonably priced. We should all value physical media and anything we can to keep it alive.
No. People hire hitmen with money. People traffic with/for money. People buy weapons/tools to rob people. Kids buy eggs to throw at houses. Wannabes flash their cash in bars. Military/government unnecessarily spending because idiot reasons instead of helping veterans. Government overspending. Politicans buying a 3rd home. Someone in 100K debt getting more from a loan shark. A lot of reasons why. A father wondering why their daughter racked up so much credit card debt. A wife whose husband is a degenerate gambler. I want to say your comment is the stupid one, but I guess I'm just being an asshole.
Not really. Because there are many that have money that are uneducated in the field of hi-fi audio and most have the mentality that the more you spend, the better the item sounds when I know FOR A FACT, that is not the case with audio equipment. Okay, sometimes it is in the case of a company like McIntosh. But with a great many companies like Bose, Bang and Olufsen, Focal, KEF, and a great many others, they want you to THINK they have a good product by the name. Whereas, when it comes down to it, their build quality (and sound quality) don't match the asking price. All of the companies I mentioned, were, at one time, good companies, but now adays, they have become troll manufacturers and then you have the distribution that adds their slice of the pie on top of it. Speakers in particular is one HUGE area of hi-fi audio in which I feel you RARELY get what you pay for in terms of very expensive models and it is why I am against spending more than $1000 for a set of speakers and THEN they have to be the size of tower speakers. I will NOT spend more than $650 on a set of bookshelf speakers...EVER! Years ago, when I first started in the hobby it was rarely heard of that a speaker system cost as much as car, and if it did, it was huge monstrous system that could generally justify the cost. But today, you have speaker systems that cost as much as house and I take one look at them and say that there is NO WAY that is worth the cost of a house. It is trolling and the companies are forcing those that really DO make a good product, to raise THEIR prices. Eventually this puts all the really good stuff out of contention for the average blue collar audio enthusiast. A prime example is Dynaco. Years ago, they were considered a top notch company that made hi-fi affordable to the masses. But nowadays, much of the Dynaco tube equipment is getting into the realm of being untouchable with prime examples of the ST-70 amplifier, NOW fetching close to $3000! So yeah, rampantly giving in to Troll manufacturer's without doing proper research and "thinking" that $10k set of speakers is good because of the price is what gives these companies the gold key to charge even more. It has been getting out of control. The other day I saw a turntable that had a price tag of $375,000. ....The cost of a house. I'm sorry, but that is getting out of hand. And to reiterate one of my frequently mentioned lines. Spending that much on a turntable (or on ANY audio item for that matter) demonstrates a degree of ineptitude that borders on the imbecilic
@WildernessMusic_GentleSerene Randy had given his age at about 48 or 49, so I would assume he is experiencing some high end roll off. I am a bit older than he is and I certainly have high end roll off on my ears. I definitely don't hear above 15k as I cannot hear the flyback transformers on CRT monitors anymore. But I hear low end very well still. When it comes to cassettes, most GOOD cassettes (Chrome) rolled off at that point anyway. Normal bias, you are lucky to push 12k. But as you pointed out, it is very hard to do side by side comparisons anymore since there is a lack of local stores like they had years ago. Overall, I have come to trust Randy when he stays in line with what his page is all about. I had bought several items based on his reviews and I was happy with those items. I do get put off when he flies off on a tangent like this, but I understand, it is just rant on nostalgia. What I find more irritating is his inclusion of expensive items, such as that ridiculous Cambridge Audio streamer which sells for $3200. To me, that is troll pricing. I am surprised he would have anything to do with such an item, especially when his page is dedicated to quality AFFORDABLE equipment. But as a whole, I like Randy and I do trust his judgement and opinions.
Snapshot of our society today. Mentality of “ if you ain’t with me, you’re agin me!” Seems people would rather look for fights than answers. Thanks for your time and efforts. Has me shopping for an old AIWA.
I Loved my big fabulous AIWA portable radio/cassette player, before it was stolen in 1983. Thankfully, I still have most of the cassettes I had back then.
But that's the point. I had an Aiwa too. To compare this piece of useless plastic with a Fiio badge to an 80's Aiwa is an insult. This video is a bad joke.
Making mix tapes for me and my friends was so fun back in the day! I still have all of them stored in my Radio Shack cassette storage boxes. I play them on my 1991 Denon 3-head cassette deck. They still sound great (to me).
Decent cassettes (CRO2 or even Metal) actually sound better than most people think, especially with a half decent cassette deck. Heck, I even really like consumer reel-to-reel at its lower speed. What I loved about cassettes and reel-to-reels weren't the stuff I bought commercially, but the mix tapes my friends would make for me, carefully curated to introduce me to things they think I'd like. And vice versa. In the days before social media, and easy digital file-shares through email or peer to peer sharing, that was such an amazing experience. So while I don't think I'd go out and buy full "albums" on cassette, I'd love to get back into the whole making mixed tapes for my friends and family thing. :)
You're exactly right - I grew up with cassettes, but it wasn't until I was an adult and picked up a Nakamichi deck from a pawn shop that I realized just how good cassettes could sound!
@@Stormpix Are one of those extremely lucky people who has a Nakamichi (Dragon was it?) deck? I remember seeing those in hi-fi shops and drooling. They were the end-game back then, haha. I have a somewhat modest Harman Kardon deck from the mid 1980s currently, and it's not bad at all. Haven't used it in a very long time mind you, but CAM has me thinking of dusting it off, cleaning the heads, and giving it a spin or two. :)
@@pervertedalchemist9944 I remember those days ... haha. You'd almost listen obsessively for any hint of leftovers from what was on it before ... especially noticeable between (new) tracks, haha. You took me firmly down memory lane with that memory.
@@WSS_the_OG Oh, I wish! :) Mine was one of their lower-end decks (CR-1A maybe?) but it was still light years ahead of everything I'd had when I was younger. It was built like a tank and everything was just so premium about it. It was a joy to use. Sold it to a friend back in the early 2000's, but now I wish I'd have kept it. :)
I kept mine too from the 70's, 80's, and 90's, and they still sound great. I don't listen to them all that often, but they are still a treat to have and now and then, I buy cassette albums and lots of sealed blank tapes from my local thrift store chains.
Good collection of cassettes! When I redid my audio setup recently, due to the death of my old Sony shelf system, I included a reconditioned/refurbished Technics cassette deck from a record store that retains a guy who remans old stereo equipment. I haven't used it much because I've been enjoying my new 5-disc CD changer and getting through my backlog of new-to-me record purchases, but I'm glad I bought the player so I can pull the old cassette collection out of the closet to use them. I know what you mean about enjoying music. I spent so much time laboring over what equipment I should buy that I wasted a lot of time I could have spent listening to music on a new setup. It makes me think about listening to my Walkman while walking around on my grandfather's farm as a kid. I used to love to do that. Later, when I got a Discman, I walked around with that on the farm. I loved the boost in audio quality, but always had issues of discs skipping because I jostled the player around too much. These days, I stream music on my phone while I go on walks. It's my own music that I ripped from my own CDs, running on my own home media server. Does it sound as good as it could through my $50 Bluetooth ear buds when it's ripped in a lossy format? Nope. But am I enjoying listening to it while I get off my butt and get some exercise? Absolutely! It's not the fidelity that counts nearly as much as the experience, as you said. Music is entertainment, and I want to enjoy it in the best way possible, but it's also about connecting with something outside of ourselves. You can do that just as easily with a $2 tape you bought at Goodwill and a crappy old cassette player as you can with a setup you spent thousands of dollars building.
I have 40 cassette decks, many of which were purchased on eBay about 20 to 25 years ago and I've scooped up others cheaply at thrift stores. Nobody in their right mind needs 40 cassette decks. Hahaha! However, they are fun and I enjoy them as well as other formats of decks. :)
@@pervertedalchemist9944, I love my Harman/Kardon cassette decks too. They sound great and have a cool design aesthetic. I bought them all gently used from eBay sellers and some of them operate with remote controls. :)
I got mine today. Is it too complicated to do the head alignment you mention at 3:28? Any chance you could show how to do it? Love this channel, btw. Good day to you sir.
Okay, I'll drop a comment. I absolutely agree with you. To each their own. I remember in the spring of '89 I took a travel adventure up to Nova Scotia (albeit without a car; love it that way). I took a ferry out of Bar Harbor, Maine to Yarmouth, Nova Scotia. Back then you could still take the steel rail out of Yarmouth to almost anywhere you wanted to go!! And what did I have with me in my backpack of humble belongings? Spare clothes, a camera with case and yes, a CASSETTE PLAYER with 4 cassettes!!! It was wonderful! In a very compact way I was able to take with me the music that ultimately would be the "soundtrack" of my trip. In fact, on the train I met someone who was curious to what I was listening to. We swapped cassettes and both got a taste of what spurred each other's musical interests (try that with a vinyl album!). Yeah, it is partly nostalgia and let's face it the 20th century is gone but then alas, if you lose your phone you'd still have your music if you had a tape player!! Thanks for the opportunity to comment. 👍😎👍
Just got my 22 yo son this cassette player. He loves it! Once a month he and his girlfriend go to a local record store and buy each other records or tapes. This is how memories are made. Thanks Randy!
I still have an listen to more than 200 cassettes that I recorded from records back in my youth. I have lots of mix tapes for many different moods or occasions. I lived through the 'Disco' era and made LOTS of club-type mixes that I actually loaned to a DJ friend of mine to play at his club while taking a break from the booth. None is at the level of quality that I am accustomed to today, but the music was great and has so many great memories attached to it. I still have a well-functioning Teac 770 cassette deck in my system to play them with. My Sony Walkman has long passed away.
On the mentality part, it’s more a symptom of the chronically online culture. It exists in every fandom, sports, music, cinema. Someone “MUST” always be wrong, and that SUCKS. I don’t know how people will ever stop.
Don’t forget politics (both world and local). The “I’m right and you’re wrong because I read/saw something that backs up my opinion and you can’t prove me wrong” attitude of all these things has become a form of mass delusion.
I remember a few years back when a client ask me to fix an 8 track player. I asked the guy why he wanted me to fix such an old device. His answer was quite simple. He own hundreds of 8 tracks tapes, some have never been available in other formats, and he still enjoy them now and again. Having fun listening even to old low-fi stuff should be a constitutional right, if not, cuff me, put me in a cell and lose the key !! Thanks Randy!
I removed the stereo from my 94 Toyota pickup and replaced it with a new old stock Blaupunkt AM/FM cassette player. I make mix tapes like I used to in the 1980s to play in my truck. I pick up prerecorded cassettes at thrift stores. I've never thought cassettes were better than anything else. It's just fun and nostalgic and it makes me happy. I've never asked anyone for permission to enjoy my music just the way I want to. They hate my choices? Oh dear. So sad.
You hit the nail on the head when you said it’s for people to enjoy music I have said for many years there is a large percentage of snobby slightly hateful gatekeepers in the audio hobby which spend more time criticising and putting other people down rather than enjoying and listening to music
When I turn on my old tube amp it sounds like throwing a switch on a high-voltage substation... But after the humming and buzz quiets down and the tubes warm up, it really sounds sweet. You can't put a price tag on nostalgia. HH Scott LK-72 amp. Thanks for the video.
Yeah. People are lame. It's exactly what you said about feeling it. The music, nostalgia, and the fun of interesting new gear. A tape player with some modern features? Pretty neat. I'm surprised Sony doesn't have a similar Walkman, because new cassettes are definitely a thing in Japan
There have also been new albums on cassettes selling decent within the last few years in America. I was surprised to see them pop up on places like Amazon, Urban Outfitters and Walmart.
Exactly this is it. I bought the red one and love it, and it looks so cool. It's heavy and well built. The mechanism is not cheap but also some Parts are not made anymore so fiio had no choice than to use that. But the sound is decent, it has no extra base, no dolby (because the chips are not made anymore) but i it's a fine player. I also have a couple of old walkmans, yes they are smaller, lighter, dolby, auto reverse, auto stop, remote etc.. but also old and need new belts. I hope the cp13 will sell a lot so they can make beter ones. It's sad that the technology is not made anymore.
I have operated a DJ business for over three decades and until six years ago my shows consisted of me playing music via three portable CD players, a cassette deck, and of course my audio mixer. The crowd loved the old school tech. The music still banged and got the crowd jumping. Since retirement, some 2 years ago, I still DJ events but I now use my MAC Book and the occasional portable CD player. I will always keep my cassettes, portable players, vinyl, and turntables within arms reach.
This is us, Gen X’ers, “Remember those days…”. Kids today won’t understand, we use to make audio tape mixes for our crushes in elementary to high school. It was our version of sharing our souls.
As someone who owned several different home cassette players over the years, I used them mainly to transfer my other music at a pretty high quality over to cassettes for listening at home and in the car. I loved playing with, high bias, metal, Dolby B, C, and even DBX. There is no doubt that cassettes played a very large roll in my love of music even to this day.
I'm usually with you, but you missed the mark. The point I think you're missing is that it has an extremely low budget mechanism in a device that is anything but. You can get the same exact mechanism in a cassette player that costs less than $20 new to this day. If you want to get into cassettes, you will get better audio out of basically any cheap 90s Walkman than you're going to get out of the best cassette player made today. Overpriced audio, man...
Give the guy a break and let him like what he like. It’s not that hard. As one of my favorite quote goes “don’t treat yourself so seriously, nobody else does”. His journey was more interesting than the product, and I’m glad that he was happy. Not for one minute did he told us to buy this whacky thing.
As a fellow cassette enthusiast, I love your review and am buying one for my 88 Trans Am whose factory tape deck no longer works. (BTW, thanks for the selfie after your talk at AXPONA!) I have purchased a great AIWA 3 head deck from ebay and tons of NOS blank tapes of the chrome and metal variety. I use my Wiim Pro to stream through my SMSL dac and record albums in their entirety, in order, onto a tape, to play in my car or wherever. Can't wait till my Fiio CP13 arrives! Thank you for all you do for the Audio (HIFi) community. Nostalgia is a good thing!!
Don't worry about it, cassettes are still cool. I am fortunate enough to have a pristine Nakamichi CR-7A and the mix tapes that I create with that deck sound amazing! Yes, you can get great sound from cassettes.
Not one of my cassettes survived. All but one of my records survived, despite moved 30 times, stuck in boxes for years, etc. but all the old cassettes were entirely unplayable years ago and long since relegated to a landfill. It’s a temporary medium at best.
In terms of troubleshooting, perhaps your cassettes didn't survive because they weren't stored properly or maybe they were inferior quality to begin with or got wrecked in the heat or cold of a car or storage space because I haven't had any of those issues and I've got cassette tapes that date back to 1978 that still sound fine and play properly. I did find that the quality of Sony cassette tapes (and Sony VHS tapes) took a nosedive in the 90's and metal tapes were hopeless for me since I could often hear the side B recording interfering with the side A recording and vice versa, but in terms of other brands of tapes like Maxell, TDK, etc, they still work flawlessly for me. I also have far better cassette decks now (Nakamichi, Harman/Kardon, Pioneer, Akai, Sony, etc.) than I had as a teenager with a Prosonic boombox (not a Panasonic) or an all-in-one Yorx stereo system, but even then, those tapes I recorded with those entry level units still play fine today some 45 or more years later.
No hatred here. It's pretty nostalgic actually and I think it has its place. Has a cool retro chic look about it. Cassettes must be really cheap now too, well second hand. I can't pass a charity shop without going in to check out the vinyl and I always see plenty of cassettes. I'm all for anything that makes music more accessible especially to younger generations. Maybe it starts someones journey into higher fidelity. I still have plenty of cassettes and a TEAC cassette seperate. Haven't played/used either in decades but I'll never get rid of them either. Still got my dad's old 8 track somewhere too.
Man I LOVE your channel! As a GenX'er I totally get the cassette player! I used to have a Walkman, made mixed tapes, and wait for the radio to play my favorite song to hit RECORD at just the right time, also rewinding the tapes with a #2 pencil! :D I'm building up a system and have taken your advice to start to look at some inexpensive, but good equipment. Thanks for all the work!
I think the primary motivation of all the naysayers is the mechanism, because from what I understand, there's really only one company making compact cassette mechanisms anywhere in the world anymore, and everyone who's making recorders and players is just buying those mechanisms and building around them, maybe tweaking the mechanism a little to suit them, but otherwise just leaving it as-is. And those mechanisms are cheap crap compared to what we were used to growing up. That said, I've still got a bunch of tapes from throughout my lifetime, and I still have a couple of Realistic / Radio Shack shoebox recorders. The older one plays and records in slightly better quality, so it's easy to tell it's an older mechanism. The newer one is dull and thinner, more midrange-forward. I can still use it and get enjoyment out of it even if the difference is clear. And I think you're right: that's what people are missing about this. Enjoy the music. Hell, we used to listen to half of this stuff on noisy-as-all-hell AM radio. If you could listen through the static to music back then, you can listen through the hiss to music now. Also, it's worth noting that this format wasn't originally intended for music, it was a dictation format. The original mechanisms and machines were tuned for the human voice, not the full audio spectrum. It took about a decade of improvements to even match the audio quality of 8-track tapes. So the slight degradation in quality today over the peak of the compact cassette's popularity isn't really that much of a consideration in the grand scheme of things.
That is why I don't expect much from any new cassette tape device these days, but that's OK. I say this as a "not a tape person" myself (I still prefer CD). New (and reasonably-priced) tape players are still going to be fun with handle, and anyone wanting to get into listening to cassette tape music will be able to enjoy it. There is a physicality to tape, even more than CD (which I like for its physicality) to cassette tapes. Anyone that is super serious into their cassette tape music will already have a refurbished older Sony/etc (but probably it will be a Sony) model, with the Dolby/etc and the Chrome/etc features, and the right sort of cassettes for them. And that's fantastic. I love seeing people still using older music format devices. Keeping them still functional, and really enjoying it. I am curious in the FiiO DM13 CD player. I am not deep into audiophile stuff, so I don't know if there are still manufacturers of CD read mechanisms that still product quality modules. I really hope that is still the case. I really want to see reviews of the DM13 to see how it stacks up.
One of my old favourite "mix tapes" is one I recorded off late night radio when I was 12 and every third or so song is interrupted by traffic accident reports. It's not a particularly great representation of the music, but I find great joy in listening to it.
As a 50 year old those cassettes bring back some memories. I hate when people think just because it's not their style it sucks. People suck. Items don't. Lol. We should like different things in life for different reasons. As a comedian once said. "If we all like the same things...We would all be fuc%ing your wife." Lol. Sorry for the language. That Cinderella album hits different. Still sounds great and even now doesn't sound cheesy like some older hair bands.
Back in the late ‘70’s & early ‘80’s, I was a road warrior that traveled all over Northern California & I carried a small Awia FM & portable cassette player with me into some pretty remote areas as my only entertainment in the evenings. I also had one tape case with about a dozen prerecorded & personal mix tapes that I taped off my LP collection. Those were my old friends & my only music sources during the week. That little Awia was a God send for me & those went with me on every field assignment with my tool box & suitcase. Now that I am long retired, many of those same tapes still get frequent use out in my garage/shop area while I am working on projects. They are all like old friends that I used to travel with & are still a very valuable source of music entertainment for me. But all of my gear is old now & that definitely includes my cassette decks, so I just might purchase one of these portable players to keep my cassette tunes playing. It doesn’t have to be the latest & the greatest technology to enable you to enjoy your old music collection.
I love the world of audio and have since the 70's. I consider myself an audio enthusiast rather than an audiophile simply because I have witnessed a lot of pretentiousness within this wonderful hobby. I've listened to 8-tracks, cassettes, R2R, vinyl, CD's and all of the modern day digital formats. I miss some of the gear that I once owned, I do. I personally don't wish to return to any of that anymore but I always say, "whatever floats your boat". If you're happy with whatever you choose then I am happy for you. It's not my place to suggest you're doing it wrong. You're not. Just enjoy listening to the music!
The problem with cassettes is that they are extremely nostalgic and they do bring back memories but unfortunately these memories aren't usually good. Hassle of head cleaning, belt repair, tape degradation, battery life would suck unless your portable device is the most expensive one. Basically, tape wasn't cheap and cheap wasn't good at all.
Randy, I’m 57 grew up with 46’s, 8 tracks, cassettes, CD’s and all the digital formats, but my heart is with the earlier ones. All this my be chalked up to nostalgia, but they had a warmth about them, I get it.
I bought a portable cassette player from Sears in 1981 and bought Ozzy Osborne Diary of a Madman cassette for my first one, it sounded amazing especially the Song " You cant kill rock and roll" the opening guitar is so pleasing to the ears. I spent my whole teenage and early adult life listening to cassettes. I have fond memories of playing cassette. Sounded great in my first car too!
I bought one and have no regrets, it is as you mentioned “fun” I wasn’t looking for it to sound like a 24 track Otari 2” - I do find cassettes from my bands or my wife’s band laying around and I can’t be bothered to search the recesses of the house for a cassette player or deck to see what is on them, this was a fun solution. Just in the same way you don’t go to see a summer blockbuster movie and expect it to compete with the best films of all time, you go to have fun. Glad you haven’t lost touch with the fun factor.
My brother works in junk removal and has been keeping the cassetes he gets, he has hundreds of them now. Great collection, his truck is from 2000 so we can cruise and pop in tapes like it is 1995 again. You are right, they are fun!
Randy, how you feel is the most important. Remember you started the channel about cheap affordable stuff “The Cheap Audioman” it’s the same feeling finding cheap stuff that brings you joy when the hunt is great value and the feeling is what the hobby about. And that’s why I still watch your channel for so many years since the start. You do you, don’t be bother by the rest. 😉
This is actually really cool. I have a handful of tapes of local bands that I used to go see in high school that aren't around any longer, never released cds, and are likely the only existing copy or one of like five in existence.
I originally wrote a comment on your introduction video to this product, you filmed it in Malaysia I think. I don't begrudge your musical enjoyment - far from it! My objection was to the cost of this cassette player when you consider the tape mechanism it holds. It's a bad mechanism, which cost Fiio not very much at all to acquire, and charging $100 for a rechargeable battery and aluminum construction just kinda strikes me as wrong. Cassette mechanisms were so amazingly capable, small, and reliable not too many years ago that this Fiio one just seems insulting, somehow. Auto-reverse, auto-stop, metal/chrome tape selection, Quartz locks for tape speed, soft-touch controls, and quite a few portable players were barely larger than the box the tape came in! I still have my Sony WM-EX1 10th Anniversary Walkman, and it still strikes me as a marvel of engineering. This Fiio just strikes me as a cynical cash-grab of nostalgia for what they're charging. If it were $40-50 I wouldn't say boo about it, OR if it was $100 but they'd managed to put a more capable tape mechanism inside. Again, my beef is with the hardware, not the format, and certainly not the enjoyment of music for its own sake. Long ago I identified my musical equipment tastes as based on looks and quirkiness, not the ne plus ultra of sound reproduction. Hence my favorite turntable is a TEAC TN-400 Magnefloat inside a Japanese plinth made partly of lead (yep.) It's weird, it's not like anything else, and it sounds pretty dang good. I got a McIntosh preamp for the pretty lights, and the price was right at the time. It just happens to sound amazing, too. I'm truly glad the cassette format has rekindled your, and hopefully others', interest in forgotten music, and bands, you used to enjoy. I just don't like this overpriced tape player.
Randy, I don't know why there is a fuss about listening to music on cassettes. I don't own cassettes; however, I have a bunch of CDs and started listening to them again (after your recommendation a year or so ago), and it made me very happy to reacquaint myself with the music I enjoyed in my teens. I am sure someone will restart listing to their cassette collection and will thank you for that. Keep up the good work!
I really appreciate your video and point of view, people need to remember that this is all about enjoying music…Period! I love cassettes because it was the first reasonable/affordable way I could record music the way I wanted and it is STILL a fun way to do that! Thanks for the video!
I'm old and was in High School at the peak of cassettes. I still have some stored way. Some I got in 1976 . They hiss when new, and get tangled too easily, etc. Nobody should get into them thinking it's a great sound. BUT, if you want to relive those years, why not? who cares? If I had my 1979 Firebird Formula back again and it was a cruise reunion, I'd be popping cassettes in and jamming to Boston's first album which I probably still have on cassette. .
Your Firebird is a good analogy for this entire discussion, too. Or old cars in general. Objectively, modern cars have a lot going for them. Yet, there are people who would much rather drive and work on old cars, fiddling with their engines, cleaning and adjusting carbs on the reg etc. and just enjoy wrenching on them driving them, making conversation about their cars and so on. Everyone kind of understands that about old cars. Nobody at a classic car meetup would get on their soapbox and go „Um..you guys know that they make fuel injected cars now, right? You don’t have to clean and adjust carburettors anymore! Why would you do that, it’s stupid! Old cars are bad, y’all should be driving Teslas now! Get with the times!“ That would be completely missing the mark. But somehow in the audio world, this is exactly what happens. Someone enjoys a certain thing, and suddenly everybody and their dog are coming out of the woodwork to let them and the world at large know how bad the thing is that that person enjoys and that they are dumb for using and enjoying it.
Cassettes never really meant much for me, I'm 33 but I started caring about music pretty late in life, and they were already phasing out. If I'm here it's for the "listen to your music, not your equipment" motto. it has saved me so much money ❤
80s kid. First device was a transistor radio that I listened to late at night in my bed. Then, for my bday, got a yellow Walkman cassette player and it never left my side. Ha! Lover boy, Brothers in arms and Dream of the Blue Turtles were my first cassettes. My mom loved hard rock. Had Kiss and Nugent albums that we rocked out to with the babysitter. This was the start of my hifi journey. Don’t have many positive experiences as a youth, but music made things more manageable. Oh ya, I also had a portable cassette recorder/player that I carried around. I’d hold it up to the home stereo speakers and record my favorite songs played over the radio.
Sometimes, having a tactile relationship with your music like sliding an album out of it's cover and sleeve and placing it onto a turntable or opening a cassette tape box and clipping it into a player, makes listening to the music more intimate. It becomes more "real" and satisfying.
Word. So many people are completely missing the point, there’s more to this hobby that’s just listening to the music. If not, we wouldn’t even bother with anything but streaming or FLAC or whatever. And those people are free to do that, but they can also eff off to their listening rooms or whatever and leave us to whatever we want to do.
This feels a lot like scotch whisky purists, for them it has to be a single malt, neat or perhaps a drop of water. Thing is, some people like the value for money of blends, some people like a bit of ice, some people like Coke in it. At the end of the day it shouldn't matter, people should let others enjoy whatever it is they like to enjoy.
Anyone who thinks a blend can't taste good just needs to try Japanese whisky. I'm a single malt guy, but also love a Famous Grouse with lemonade on occasion. Or, after I have closed all the windows, locked the doors and put on false beard and glasses, a Springbank in my Blade Runner glass with ice. I'm a Scot. We need to keep up appearances and lean in to the stereotype.
I've got to tell you. I am a retired guy who a couple of years ago gave his kids most of the components of my really enjoyable AV setup. No regrets by the way but I did recently rediscover how much I enjoy music through good gear. Enter Cheapaudioman, residual components, Craigslist and Amazon. I now have a new, very affordable, man cave music setup that has absolutely no right sounding as great as it does! That is mostly because of your approach. Polks all around, Onkyo, Sony, Wiim Mini and SMSL SU-1. Thank you more than you can imagine! I am having a blast!
I don't get to hate either. This is a pure nostalgia play. My old mini cassette player got me through 10 years living on ships in the Navy. I'd buy one of these things just for the memories. ... That, and my kids would probably think its cool. Kinda want one now.
I think that the only thing is that the tape head is not stereo. No one manufactures them anymore, they are mono, with software correcting the output. I was also that DBag HS kid with the fancy alloy bodied spensivo Sony / Akai portable tape players in the 80s
Oh, don't worry; 20 years from now, the next generation will comment about how quaint streaming was, how "awful" it sounded or looked, and how silly all of the various smartphones were. That's "progress", apparently. Haha! :)
I got my first cassette player in 1988, and cassettes are still a part of my life over 30 years later!The most popular albums I’ve made involved cassette machines in the process. It’s a pleasant sound!
I don’t see why anyone would be upset for a new device for a legacy format. Personally I saved a cool late 90s/early 2000s portable player from an e-waste pile, gave it some love, belts, and general service, and now I have a nice player to enjoy whatever old music I still have on tape. It even has Dolby B decoding. Now _that_ is something one won’t find in a device built today.
Cassettes = nostalgia and fun. Made some great mix tapes in the 80’s, *for THAT girl* copied lots of albums, *has the statute of limitations for piracy run out*? 😅 A new portable player is just another way to enjoy the music you like!
Thanks for the video😀, I also watched the one where you presented the FIIO CP13, I am a 50 year old guy who recorded loads of tapes in the end of the 80s and the 90s and luckily still have them all. I have just ordered the CP13 thanks to your videos and can’t wait to listen to the old tapes (will make me feel like a teenager once again I guess 😅). I am the same opinion that the sound quality of a tape comes for me in second place, in first place it’s that feeling I had back as a young guy. Cheers from Germany.
I grew up in the cassette era. The only way to listen to music on the go was either a radio, or a cassette tape in the car or a Walkman. I have to admit, I didn’t like prerecorded tapes, I would purchase the album and a good blank tape, take it home and clean the record, then record it on a decent 3 head deck. In the 80.s and 90.s I sold and installed both home and car audio, I got pretty spoiled working with really nice gear. Fast forward to a few years ago, my 22 year old son came home with a Walkman he purchased on eBay. That was all it took to bring back all the memories of my youth. I never lost my love of music, I’ve always had nice systems in cars and at home, but something changed in the experience, we got spoiled by having everything at the touch of a button. I’ve been having a blast introducing my son to vinyl and cassettes, he now enjoys the music the way I did back in the day and he’s loving it! Enjoy the hobby and the music people, whatever does it for you is all that matters.
I'd love to revisit my old tapes again, there's something about loading and unloading tapes that is very much like putting records on a turntable. The physical act of loading music has such a strong nostalgic vibe that digital can never replicate - like driving in real life compared to driving in video games.
I left the army, after nearly 8 years, in 82'. I came back to the States with two high-end Pioneer cassette decks, a Pioneer 100 watt per channel amp, two Bose 501 and two Sansui speakers, and a mulit-hundred dollar direct drive turntable. It met my needs, gave me the music I wanted to hear, in the configuration in which I wanted to hear it. In the 70s I was mocked for opting for cassette over 8-track in my car. I persisted and as with my later home system, enjoyed my music. I've also owned a few high-end reel-to-reel decks. When CDs hit the market, I gravitated to them. The same is true for MP3 players and the current higher fidelity digital music. Through it all, I played the music I wanted to hear, for as long as I wanted to hear it. I'm old enough that the first color TV owned by our family was a portable Sears brand with a 10" screen. Until then our TVs were always 19" black and whites that sat on TV carts so we could "roll" them into different rooms. On a side note, I didn't know the Wizard of Oz was in color until after I married my wife while station in New Mexico in '78. Imagine my surprise when Dorothy opened that door and munchkin land was in color. You go, guy. Find your nostalgia and enjoy the moments.
Your comment on the Wizard of Oz stopped me...yeah had to laugh because the first few times I saw it it was of course with a black and white TV. I'm about a few years younger than you . We didn't even have that black and white TV until one of my grandparents got a new color TV in 66. There were was a color TV my father won from a local TV station in the late 50s but it didn't really work and after I discovered the tubes in it ...well ...it nolonger worked . in 1970 when we got a color TV I had that experience with seeing Star Trek reruns. Anyway I just listened to Judy Garland singing Over the Rainbow a few days ago ( with my little groove onn. Small Rugged Speakers 30$ Walmart) and all I want to say is that girl can sing . There is a radio broadcast from when she was 21 that is a good recording , I searched through a few. Being a little younger we all got cassette decks to tape our albums so they would sound good longer. We also already knew the 8 track was a crap shoot every time it went into a car deck. So we all put cassette decks in our cars. By the late 70s those 3 head decks were getting pretty good. I was on a tight budget so I got a Marantz SD 1000 and used TDK D-90s at 3.75 ips. I have to say only two heads, but they sounded better than a low end 3 head ...didn't work in a car though...and the motor didn't last very long. The NAD two head I replaced it with was a disappointment the tapes it made were sorta lifeless. My JVC DD-7 I got at a thrift store twenty or so years ago....complete opposite excellent even with a TDK D series. And It's a work horse 🐴 to boot. It's out lasted the five or six decks previous to it combined and still working. I estimate close to twenty thousand hours I'm pretty I've put 15,000 on my self. Mostly gets used for TH-cam music these days I think that it sounds better taped on a type I.
Born in 75. I feel the same as you. I still have all my childhood cassettes. I still listen to them occasionally and enjoy it. Sometimes I’m actually quite surprised on how good a select few still sound. It does help that I have what was a high end deck from the 80’s. It’s just fun. For the love and nostalgia of music. I appreciate you Audioman.
I'm a 50 year old rocker. I still have hundreds of cassettes bought in the 80's and 90's. A quality, calibrated, and demagnitized cassette deck combined with a good studio recording will marvel your eardrums! I will never get rid of my cassettes. For those that bought this little player, good on you! I truly hope you enjoy it, and it brings back awesome memories! Sal - Little Elm, TX
Good for you, man. I love my cassettes too and won't part with the ones I grew up with even though I enjoy records (and kept my original collection), CD's, reel-to-reel, some 8-tracks, and music available online. :)
Cassettes were my primary source for many years. In 1986 I heard a CD for the first time on a modest Magnavox CD player through a modest Sony table top stereo. It was a Windham Hill Sampler that began with Michael Manring's "Welcoming." I was blown away. There was just clean, clear music with no scratches, hiss, pops, or any other extraneous noise. I was converted immediately. Of course I made tape copies of CDs for the tape player in my truck. Frankly they sounded almost as good as the CD's. I wore out two cassette recorders and gave a 3rd to our son. Now he streams music through his phone for the car. I must admit that I loved cassettes. But, alas no longer... I appreciate what you love about this little player. It is cool, you and Star-Lord... It is great to see your enthusiasm! Paul H. Huntington Beach, CA
Randy, there's a shop in Oklahoma City called JB's Analog. He specializes in refurbished vintage equipment, including cassette players. He also has The Wall of Cassettes. Hundreds of cassettes all for sale. Everything at reasonable prices. Sure, he sells Bozaks and Magnapans, Luxmans and Technics, but he sells plenty of Zeniths and Magnavox, too. It's about the fun and enjoyment of music, not "the best".
I love my cassettes got Yamaha cassette player. I still enjoy making my own tapes and they sound amazing and you’re right they make you listen to the music. Love your channel. Keep up the good work.
For me, it is about convenience. I have a few hundred songs on my phone and thousands on my laptop that I can almost instantly sort through for the song I want.
Analog tape can be an enjoyable EXPERIENCE with the proper ingredients. Making a good analog recording is a thing of skill, pride and attention to detail. Plus the end result is a unique creation. Years past, I found the exploration of the attributes of different tape formulations to be fun process. At its best, analog recording matériel was a merger of excellent electrical, mechanical, chemical and industrial engineering practices. It was a quest and gradual growth towards better sound and performance, not an immediate perfect cookie-cutter gratification.
I have a friend who’s been through so many many vintage speakers, amps, preamps and receivers, etc. He keeps switching them around. He listens to speakers. I listen to music.
Hey man, good video, I’m happy to hear you wax poetic about your tape collection for a little bit. And yeah, if you needed the highest fidelity thing, maybe listen digitally with lossless file types on nice monitors, but it sounds like you just want to enjoy your tape deck, and I fully support that.
Sometimes I am smart. Sometimes I am dumb. Sometimes I listen to music. Sometimes I listen to equipment. I love your adventure to Malaysia and purchase of this FIIO cassette player. The “one right way” is narrow spectrum freedom. Why have limits?
(My point here being that a bunch of the stuff that Randy said in the first video about the tactile feel and the sound that you get with tape, is similar to what people say about vinyl. Of course it feels nice to get a disc out of its sleeve. The sound is nice as well. But I used to have a couple of flac files recorded by someone with a really nice setup from vinyl. Still sounded great because digital didn’t kill it, just made it easier to listen to. And if you like the feel and sound of tape, then great :)
Essentially just because a piece of equipment plays music does not mean it is therefore an 'audiophile' level piece of equipment which needs to be analysed as such...
Because every group consists of two types: people who are having fun with it and people who hate the fact that people are having fun with it.
this ... this guy gets it
Truth
There’s absolutely nothing wrong with enjoying whatever products resonate with you. A lot of people just love picking a side and planting their stake in the ground.
However. I will say that the never-ending hype surrounding “the next big thing” in Hifi can be exhausting. Especially if it objectively doesn’t present any real improvement.
Great false dichotomy.
me when searching for something on the pirate bay:
search results: 5:28
Seeing USB-C on a cassette device, although it makes perfect sense, gave me such a shock.
Give me AAs or give me death
@@jackjowett902 tbh, it would be preferable to have AAs and the possibility to manage rechargable AAs through the USB port. The battery will die someday and this way makes it harder to service it, with AAs you just take them out and place new ones, it's the same approach Xbox controllers use and it's the best.
Add some convenience to your inconvenience
@@fordesponja Rather then the ability to charge the batteries in the device, I'd rather it be avoided to keep things simple. Just make it so it can function properly with rechargeable AA batteries. Some devices have trouble handling the lower voltage of rechargeable batteries (1.2 volts for rechargeable batteries vs 1.5 volts for alkaline AAs).
Instead, just purchase a set rechargeable batteries and a charger (I purchased 4 rechargeable NiMH AA batteries and a charger together in a moderately-priced pack). Then while you are using one pair of batteries you can have an extra set charging. When I used a portable CD player that used 2 AA batteries, I carried four extra charged batteries so I never had to worry about my batteries dying. I carried the extra batteries in a case that could hold four AA batteries that I put in my pocket.
@@fordesponja the xbox approach is not perfect its 2024 they still include a regular AA batteries when you can provide a rechagable AA one its freaking $500 ffs lol
Once the equipment becomes more important than the music, you've become an electrician. Tom Waits was asked his favorite format for listening to music, he replied, "wandering down Sunset blvd, and some cat comes walking towards you with a transistor radio up to his ear listening to the Shirelles". That's where it's at, man.
Too funny, I have had the Amazon Music Motown station on all day here in Detroit. ;-)
It's true, hifi is about electricity
However, there has to be a reason for creators like CheapAudioMan. If sound quality really didn't matter at all, we wouldn't need somebody to point us toward reasonably priced music gear which can reproduce music well.
Amen
My dad's an electrician, and he doesn't know much about hifi apart from knowing some brands and whatnot. For example, he prefers Pioneer for car stereo systems. He gives Sony flack when I feel it's unwarranted. I've used a couple of Sony products and I think they're pretty solid devices.
One feature I love that Fiio has introduced is that the player memorises your last playing position. Just pick up, press play and you're right back where you left off.
Scariest part is I can't even be certain you're joking!
@@ChrisStoneinator I'll never tell.
Yeah, it's spooky. I once had a top of the range VHS player that could do the same with video tapes. Voodoo, just sayin'.
They've always made solid products
@@jsc315 until now!
Oh, and their old portable headphone amps used to be REALLY noisy and have shitty imbalanced pots, along with a pretty dangerous gain toggle. Not sure if they're still like that.
I just purchased a Nakamichi cassette player on EBay. Hope to own a few cassettes. The cassette era was a good part of my youth. I’ll be 70 in a couple of months. I think I earned the right to re-live a part of my youth. Rock on.
Within the last decade, new albums have been released on cassette - first by indie labels and then the majors followed suit.
I had a Nakamichi BX125 back in the day. I loved that machine for making mix tapes. Always wanted a three head BX300, but I could never afford it. The Nackamichi hardware was always top notch.
Almost 72 years young myself. I bought a Nakamichi 700 when first released and had the good fortune to record friends' LPs straight from the wrapper (first play). In its day the quality of those recordings was exceptional and served me well until the convenience of CDs took precedence. Alas, I wish in hindsight I had kept that Nakamichi. I daresay I would enjoy the trip down memory lane from time to time now.
You didn't happen to purchase the Dragon did you? When I started my musical playback journey in the 1980s that was the deck all the servicemen wanted at the PX😁
Cassette is nostalgia it wasn’t high Fidelity in the 70s or 80s or ever
As someone who were young in the early 1980s, cassette tapes have a special place in my heart. Because when you're an 18-year-old car-guy, where do you mostly listen to music? In your car of course, while cruising around, heading to no particular place. And if you had a decent quality player, with Type II and Dolby NR and all that, which I had, cassettes could sound really good.
The main problem was that original recorded tapes never sounded very good. Not even the ones that promised on the cover to be better quality recordings (some using chrome tapes even) were very good. Mostly because all factory tapes were recorded at high speed, which will always hurt the treble.
So, what did we do when we wanted a good quality recording? Well, we bought the vinyl record pluss a good quality empty chrome or metal tape (which sometimes was as expensive as the vinyl record), and then recorded tapes ourselves on good quality hifi equipment, which luckily a friend of my had. I recorded most of my tapes at his place. The result was really decent quality sound from cassette tapes.
I still have most of my cassette tapes form that era in my collection, together with my vinyl records.
I've got a few mix tapes from the early 80s recorded on decent equipment.
That's so cool
Are you still listening to those cassetts? And where?
@@thovenpixel3740 Unfortunately not. I've become modern and mostly stream music on Tidal nowadays. And both my cassette deck and turntable need new belts at the moment.
But I still have the cassettes, so the option is always there. 😄
Ah, the nostalgia trip of a cassette tape enthusiast! How quaint. Your reminiscence of cruising around in the early 1980s with your cassette collection is a lovely glimpse into a bygone era, but let’s be real: romanticizing cassette tapes is like praising the horse and buggy for its “charm” while ignoring the vast advances of the automotive age.
The Illusion of Quality
You seem to cling to the notion that a “decent quality player” and some fancy Type II Dolby NR magic could transform the cassette format into an audiophile’s dream. But let’s not kid ourselves: cassettes were the epitome of compromise. You may have had some fleeting moments of auditory pleasure, but they were built on a foundation of physical limitations and inherent distortion. How noble of you to wax poetic about “decent quality sound” when the reality is that cassette tapes have always been a messy compromise at best. The only thing they excelled at was portability, not fidelity.
The Myth of Factory Recordings
You bring up the “original recorded tapes” that never sounded very good, as if that’s a surprise to anyone with half a brain. Perhaps you should’ve realized that the mere act of cramming music onto a magnetic strip was bound to result in a subpar listening experience. The so-called “high-quality recordings” you mention are nothing more than an exercise in futility, a marketing ploy to entice those who were desperate to hold onto their beloved tapes. Spoiler alert: those tapes were never going to deliver the dynamic range and clarity that even a mid-tier CD player could muster.
Your Daring Recording Technique
Ah, yes, the “ingenious” solution of recording your own tapes from vinyl. How original! It’s almost as if you were the first person to discover that you could capture music in a format that was inherently flawed. You might as well have proclaimed that you discovered fire while using flint and steel. The fact that you spent time “recording tapes” at your friend’s place reveals a startling lack of awareness about how much better your vinyl could have sounded if you’d simply embraced better technology. Instead, you chose to engage in a laborious process that merely masked the shortcomings of a dying format. Bravo!
The Collector’s Delusion
And now, you proudly declare that you still have those cassette tapes and vinyl records in your collection. How... quaintly nostalgic. But let’s not mistake sentimentality for quality. Holding onto a relic of the past doesn’t make it valuable, and your collection is little more than a shrine to mediocrity. You’re not a pioneer of sound; you’re a keeper of outdated technology, clinging to the illusion that there’s something special about cassette tapes that modern formats simply can’t replicate.
Conclusion
In conclusion, while your nostalgia for cassette tapes is touching in a rather pathetic way, it’s high time to acknowledge that the format was a flawed, imperfect vessel for music that simply doesn’t hold a candle to today’s audio advancements. Your fond memories may be warm and fuzzy, but they don’t change the fact that cassettes were always a poor substitute for true sound quality. Perhaps instead of holding onto your cassette tapes, you should invest some time in understanding why they were left behind in the dust of audio history.
Final comment: anyone who thinks cassette was the worst audio format ever obviously has never heard an 8-track on a sparkomatic stereo while rolling in a '72 Nova
💯
Fun with loads of good memories and no one sitting in your car with you moaning that you need a better thingymabob. Just fun.
8-track had the potential to be the most efficient form of media. What else would let you play the right channel of one track simultaneously with the left channel of a different track.
Joking aside, the 8-track of Pink Floyd's Animals does give the listener an extra guitar solo by Snowy White.
Sometimes the pleasure is in the sound your fav speakers adds to the music (they all usually add something). We use to listen to poorly recorded Velvet Underground because it was full of deliberate feedback and fuzz. Even better on an old tape. It's an atmosphere. Tape is nostalgia. Maybe the next model will be even better sounding. I love that it's portable and I have some friends with a ton of their old tapes including their own mixed tapes.
8-track players didn't sound bad at all. The format was just inconvenient
There are some people that simply can't enjoy a song. They are far more concerned about "how the equipment sounds" than simply using it to listen to music.
This.
I think a lot of people are forgetting that it's all about enjoying listening to music not concentrating on equipment
Amen.
They are not forgetting. They are just full of crap.
What!? Isn't music for evaluating this month's audio device purchase?
I agree. I have an okay system (Sony Walkman NW-A55, several pairs of headphones, a sound bar, and MediaMonkey to manage my music and listen to it on my computer) and it's good enough for me. I can pop on headphones and listen to music without a lot of muss and fuss. Used to spend a lot of time management my music, now I've reached the point where I just want to listen to my music.
If that was the case we’d just use a jbl Bluetooth speaker. Being into audio is about listening to the music and the gear. Sorry.
Cassettes that are well recorded are much better than people might believe. They have their own charm and I for one still buy new albums released on tape from time to time. Glad to see an attempt to bring new cassette players on the market to keep the format alive. Rock on
Cassettes represent the future of analog music. We've got to get this right.
That's the main reason people are complaining. The FIIO is a $50 unit. They just need to do better, that's all.
Two kinds of audiophile labels. 1) People that label themselves as audiophiles (thus usually full of crap and themselves) and 2) People that are labeled as audiophiles by other people, and usually do not wish to be because of #1.
I’m a “Musicophile”. I love music and enjoy listening to music on mid-fi gear that fits my income and budget. Firm believer in diminishing returns. I’m happy with my rig. 🎶😎
… and I wholeheartedly agree w/your comment.
@@Norman-bone13 I like that term "musicophile"!
Facts
😂
I LOVE CASSETTES! I’m 49 and grew up on tapes. Store-bought albums, mix tapes made by recording songs off the radio on my boombox, recording stuff on my parents hand held tape recorders, etc. SO cool.
I bought a 90’s Sony Walkman about a year ago and I take it with me almost everywhere. People love it. I’ve started making mix tapes again for the first time in decades. Also recording full albums from streaming to tape and using my Photoshop/Graphic Design skills to make tape covers for their cases.
My 13 year old daughter got into vintage audio and she makes mix tapes too! Both for her room stereo and also for her “Walkman” (we got her a Byron Statics Walkman-type portable cassette player.
Is the audio great? NO! But it’s still super freakin cool. When I wear it out in public people go nuts! Almost always someone starts a conversation with me about it, which I think is pretty damn cool 😎
Man, people should lighten up…I with you, man…I was a teen of the 80s and graduated in 87…I lived on cassettes…on a boombox or a Walkman …that’s all we have…I think it’s great that you have something that brings you back to your childhood…Rock on, Dude!
I grew up on cassettes in the 80's as well. I am willing to bet the ones complaining about it never grew up in that era.
No auto-stop on rewind seems like a bit of a problem, but if it makes someone happy, good for them.
I bought "correct belt" on my Aiwa HS-P7 and unfortunately the belt is not as tight as I hope and lost the "auto stop" REW and FFWD because the belt slips preventing the motor to trigger the auto stop.
Another important thing , 90% ( if not more ) of online "Audiophiles" are NOT actually Audiophiles in terms of audio gear , they just live in an online world of make believe ( living it through reviewers and testers ) 😊
Hey! play nice, I am the Pope of those people. Who will I anoint should they start listening to music? 😁
A fine, important observation you make there.
A situation brought about in the main by self delusion exacerbated by the sheer number of products being peddled and the largely outrageous pricing therein.
The irony is that the one fuels the other. Resulting in a runaway, self sustaining Chernobyl like audio meltdown.
I am not sure that there is a properly agreed definition of the word "audiophile" and who really deserves that label. Audio enthusiast is as far as I go.
As someone too young for cassette tapes or vinyl to be my primary way of listening to music, they just kinda seem cool for a vibe, a lot of indie artists especially ones on bandcamp sell cassettes. So it'd be a cool way to support smaller artists.
Last spring I dropped $350 to have my Sony ES three head deck repaired and calibrated. I have had a great time revisiting old party tapes, road mixes etc in my collection. (And they sound great over the vintage receivers and JBL L82s in my man cave system). If I didn’t make the completely sentimental decision to drop the repair cash, I could see how this little player could accomplish the same goal of revisiting old friends for very short money. I don’t remember how many Walkman units I used up back in the day. Thanks for making this video. Listen to the music, not the equipment. Great message. I am always amused by folks who proudly say they have ripped and disposed of all physical media, then spend inordinate amounts of time trying to troubleshoot their streaming gear and data. Streaming has its place in my musical life as do Cassettes, CD’s, LP’s and live performances.
It has little to do with audiophiles, it was about pushing a bad product. Everyone is pushing that thing. If you want to enjoy cassettes, there's many cheaper, better alternatives. I've seen at least 5 other channels saying the exact same thing about this, almost if they were paid to push this, and that's it people called you out on.
Yeah, let's not unnecessarily hinder the experience if you can do it better by spending less, on older gear. It's not about cassette, it's about the specific market situation of new players.
A good mechanism is definitely doable on a small budget, but the heads I doubt. The result is that everybody ends up then using the same new crappy heads anyway (and then also the mechanism...), when there are how many millions old, good players, that all it takes to save them from a landfill is a belt, and they could make the whole experience more enjoyable.
There's a difference between "you're listening to the music or the gear?" and going for the worse option on purpose because it somehow adds charm.
May as well record stuff on an old phone in .AMR and listen from it's internal speaker.
To be fair, nobody is making high quality cassette mechanisms these days, so the FIIO player is probably about as good as it can get for a new product.
There are better players, but for cheaper? I don't think. Not new ones, at least. If you want a better cassette player, you will have to buy a mid '80s to late '90s one, but that *will* need a refurbishment to perform close to its original specs, or often to work at all. If you can do it for yourself, then you might get yourself a good player for $100, or even half that if you are lucky. BUT not everyone is involved in repairing electronics, players like this Fiio is made for them!
There are plenty of people out there who go around craving confrontation because it's the only social interaction they get.
How dare you describe me as craving confrontation!
I feel compelled to dig out my boxes of cassettes from punk, new wave and alternative days and set up my Denon cassette player. Thanks 👍
Getting irritated about what someone else is doing with their money is kind of stupid, yes?
You would be surprised at how often this happens - especially if said person has endless disposable income.
To a degree, there's a point imo that markets for certain products have become inflated for the every day person thanks to those who have more money than they deserve, and then companies happy to take as much money as they can, i.e. the entire North American auto industry. Voting with your wallet is one of the only powers we have and people regularly choose to buy the dumbest stuff. With that said I see no issues with a high quality cassette player as long as it's reasonably priced. We should all value physical media and anything we can to keep it alive.
No.
People hire hitmen with money.
People traffic with/for money.
People buy weapons/tools to rob people.
Kids buy eggs to throw at houses.
Wannabes flash their cash in bars.
Military/government unnecessarily spending because idiot reasons instead of helping veterans.
Government overspending.
Politicans buying a 3rd home.
Someone in 100K debt getting more from a loan shark.
A lot of reasons why.
A father wondering why their daughter racked up so much credit card debt.
A wife whose husband is a degenerate gambler.
I want to say your comment is the stupid one, but I guess I'm just being an asshole.
Not really. Because there are many that have money that are uneducated in the field of hi-fi audio and most have the mentality that the more you spend, the better the item sounds when I know FOR A FACT, that is not the case with audio equipment. Okay, sometimes it is in the case of a company like McIntosh. But with a great many companies like Bose, Bang and Olufsen, Focal, KEF, and a great many others, they want you to THINK they have a good product by the name. Whereas, when it comes down to it, their build quality (and sound quality) don't match the asking price. All of the companies I mentioned, were, at one time, good companies, but now adays, they have become troll manufacturers and then you have the distribution that adds their slice of the pie on top of it. Speakers in particular is one HUGE area of hi-fi audio in which I feel you RARELY get what you pay for in terms of very expensive models and it is why I am against spending more than $1000 for a set of speakers and THEN they have to be the size of tower speakers. I will NOT spend more than $650 on a set of bookshelf speakers...EVER! Years ago, when I first started in the hobby it was rarely heard of that a speaker system cost as much as car, and if it did, it was huge monstrous system that could generally justify the cost. But today, you have speaker systems that cost as much as house and I take one look at them and say that there is NO WAY that is worth the cost of a house. It is trolling and the companies are forcing those that really DO make a good product, to raise THEIR prices. Eventually this puts all the really good stuff out of contention for the average blue collar audio enthusiast. A prime example is Dynaco. Years ago, they were considered a top notch company that made hi-fi affordable to the masses. But nowadays, much of the Dynaco tube equipment is getting into the realm of being untouchable with prime examples of the ST-70 amplifier, NOW fetching close to $3000! So yeah, rampantly giving in to Troll manufacturer's without doing proper research and "thinking" that $10k set of speakers is good because of the price is what gives these companies the gold key to charge even more. It has been getting out of control. The other day I saw a turntable that had a price tag of $375,000. ....The cost of a house. I'm sorry, but that is getting out of hand. And to reiterate one of my frequently mentioned lines. Spending that much on a turntable (or on ANY audio item for that matter) demonstrates a degree of ineptitude that borders on the imbecilic
@WildernessMusic_GentleSerene Randy had given his age at about 48 or 49, so I would assume he is experiencing some high end roll off. I am a bit older than he is and I certainly have high end roll off on my ears. I definitely don't hear above 15k as I cannot hear the flyback transformers on CRT monitors anymore. But I hear low end very well still. When it comes to cassettes, most GOOD cassettes (Chrome) rolled off at that point anyway. Normal bias, you are lucky to push 12k. But as you pointed out, it is very hard to do side by side comparisons anymore since there is a lack of local stores like they had years ago. Overall, I have come to trust Randy when he stays in line with what his page is all about. I had bought several items based on his reviews and I was happy with those items. I do get put off when he flies off on a tangent like this, but I understand, it is just rant on nostalgia. What I find more irritating is his inclusion of expensive items, such as that ridiculous Cambridge Audio streamer which sells for $3200. To me, that is troll pricing. I am surprised he would have anything to do with such an item, especially when his page is dedicated to quality AFFORDABLE equipment. But as a whole, I like Randy and I do trust his judgement and opinions.
I really have a special place in my heart for the days of cassette tapes. Cleaning heads, aligning, pinch roller cleaning, mix tapes,…so fun
Snapshot of our society today.
Mentality of “ if you ain’t with me, you’re agin me!”
Seems people would rather look for fights than answers.
Thanks for your time and efforts.
Has me shopping for an old AIWA.
Society really is Anakin Skywalker.
Miss my aiwa with bass boost button on the door, it was the last walkman I owned.
I Loved my big fabulous AIWA portable radio/cassette player, before it was stolen in 1983. Thankfully, I still have most of the cassettes I had back then.
But that's the point. I had an Aiwa too. To compare this piece of useless plastic with a Fiio badge to an 80's Aiwa is an insult. This video is a bad joke.
Making mix tapes for me and my friends was so fun back in the day! I still have all of them stored in my Radio Shack cassette storage boxes. I play them on my 1991 Denon 3-head cassette deck. They still sound great (to me).
Decent cassettes (CRO2 or even Metal) actually sound better than most people think, especially with a half decent cassette deck. Heck, I even really like consumer reel-to-reel at its lower speed. What I loved about cassettes and reel-to-reels weren't the stuff I bought commercially, but the mix tapes my friends would make for me, carefully curated to introduce me to things they think I'd like. And vice versa. In the days before social media, and easy digital file-shares through email or peer to peer sharing, that was such an amazing experience. So while I don't think I'd go out and buy full "albums" on cassette, I'd love to get back into the whole making mixed tapes for my friends and family thing. :)
You're exactly right - I grew up with cassettes, but it wasn't until I was an adult and picked up a Nakamichi deck from a pawn shop that I realized just how good cassettes could sound!
@@Stormpix Are one of those extremely lucky people who has a Nakamichi (Dragon was it?) deck? I remember seeing those in hi-fi shops and drooling. They were the end-game back then, haha. I have a somewhat modest Harman Kardon deck from the mid 1980s currently, and it's not bad at all. Haven't used it in a very long time mind you, but CAM has me thinking of dusting it off, cleaning the heads, and giving it a spin or two. :)
Those CrO2 tapes were great. The problem was trying to re-record over them, LOL!
@@pervertedalchemist9944 I remember those days ... haha. You'd almost listen obsessively for any hint of leftovers from what was on it before ... especially noticeable between (new) tracks, haha. You took me firmly down memory lane with that memory.
@@WSS_the_OG Oh, I wish! :) Mine was one of their lower-end decks (CR-1A maybe?) but it was still light years ahead of everything I'd had when I was younger. It was built like a tank and everything was just so premium about it. It was a joy to use. Sold it to a friend back in the early 2000's, but now I wish I'd have kept it. :)
Randy dropping FAX!! Pay attention peeps. 👌👍🏼 Keep it up brother. 😊
I still have most of my tapes from highschool and I'm 60 :)
I kept mine too from the 70's, 80's, and 90's, and they still sound great. I don't listen to them all that often, but they are still a treat to have and now and then, I buy cassette albums and lots of sealed blank tapes from my local thrift store chains.
Good collection of cassettes! When I redid my audio setup recently, due to the death of my old Sony shelf system, I included a reconditioned/refurbished Technics cassette deck from a record store that retains a guy who remans old stereo equipment. I haven't used it much because I've been enjoying my new 5-disc CD changer and getting through my backlog of new-to-me record purchases, but I'm glad I bought the player so I can pull the old cassette collection out of the closet to use them. I know what you mean about enjoying music. I spent so much time laboring over what equipment I should buy that I wasted a lot of time I could have spent listening to music on a new setup.
It makes me think about listening to my Walkman while walking around on my grandfather's farm as a kid. I used to love to do that. Later, when I got a Discman, I walked around with that on the farm. I loved the boost in audio quality, but always had issues of discs skipping because I jostled the player around too much. These days, I stream music on my phone while I go on walks. It's my own music that I ripped from my own CDs, running on my own home media server. Does it sound as good as it could through my $50 Bluetooth ear buds when it's ripped in a lossy format? Nope. But am I enjoying listening to it while I get off my butt and get some exercise? Absolutely! It's not the fidelity that counts nearly as much as the experience, as you said. Music is entertainment, and I want to enjoy it in the best way possible, but it's also about connecting with something outside of ourselves. You can do that just as easily with a $2 tape you bought at Goodwill and a crappy old cassette player as you can with a setup you spent thousands of dollars building.
I love my cassette tapes and decks. I think I'm up to 11 decks and still look at them on eBay. I can't explain my addition. I just love them.
I have two 1986 Harman Kardon tape decks that still sound great after all these years.
I have 40 cassette decks, many of which were purchased on eBay about 20 to 25 years ago and I've scooped up others cheaply at thrift stores. Nobody in their right mind needs 40 cassette decks. Hahaha! However, they are fun and I enjoy them as well as other formats of decks. :)
@@pervertedalchemist9944, I love my Harman/Kardon cassette decks too. They sound great and have a cool design aesthetic. I bought them all gently used from eBay sellers and some of them operate with remote controls. :)
@@TorontoJon So, I'm not the only one. I just love tape decks and vintage gear!
I got mine today. Is it too complicated to do the head alignment you mention at 3:28? Any chance you could show how to do it? Love this channel, btw. Good day to you sir.
Okay, I'll drop a comment. I absolutely agree with you. To each their own. I remember in the spring of '89 I took a travel adventure up to Nova Scotia (albeit without a car; love it that way). I took a ferry out of Bar Harbor, Maine to Yarmouth, Nova Scotia. Back then you could still take the steel rail out of Yarmouth to almost anywhere you wanted to go!! And what did I have with me in my backpack of humble belongings? Spare clothes, a camera with case and yes, a CASSETTE PLAYER with 4 cassettes!!! It was wonderful! In a very compact way I was able to take with me the music that ultimately would be the "soundtrack" of my trip. In fact, on the train I met someone who was curious to what I was listening to. We swapped cassettes and both got a taste of what spurred each other's musical interests (try that with a vinyl album!). Yeah, it is partly nostalgia and let's face it the 20th century is gone but then alas, if you lose your phone you'd still have your music if you had a tape player!! Thanks for the opportunity to comment. 👍😎👍
Just got my 22 yo son this cassette player. He loves it! Once a month he and his girlfriend go to a local record store and buy each other records or tapes. This is how memories are made. Thanks Randy!
I love it when YT reviewers, who are lucky to have any audience, decide to get condescending and talk down to their audience. It's great!
I still have an listen to more than 200 cassettes that I recorded from records back in my youth. I have lots of mix tapes for many different moods or occasions. I lived through the 'Disco' era and made LOTS of club-type mixes that I actually loaned to a DJ friend of mine to play at his club while taking a break from the booth. None is at the level of quality that I am accustomed to today, but the music was great and has so many great memories attached to it. I still have a well-functioning Teac 770 cassette deck in my system to play them with. My Sony Walkman has long passed away.
On the mentality part, it’s more a symptom of the chronically online culture. It exists in every fandom, sports, music, cinema. Someone “MUST” always be wrong, and that SUCKS. I don’t know how people will ever stop.
Don’t forget politics (both world and local). The “I’m right and you’re wrong because I read/saw something that backs up my opinion and you can’t prove me wrong” attitude of all these things has become a form of mass delusion.
People like that live by confirmation bias. The problem is they will not accept being wrong...which is a lot of the time.
100% this
I remember a few years back when a client ask me to fix an 8 track player. I asked the guy why he wanted me to fix such an old device. His answer was quite simple. He own hundreds of 8 tracks tapes, some have never been available in other formats, and he still enjoy them now and again. Having fun listening even to old low-fi stuff should be a constitutional right, if not, cuff me, put me in a cell and lose the key !! Thanks Randy!
I removed the stereo from my 94 Toyota pickup and replaced it with a new old stock Blaupunkt AM/FM cassette player. I make mix tapes like I used to in the 1980s to play in my truck. I pick up prerecorded cassettes at thrift stores. I've never thought cassettes were better than anything else. It's just fun and nostalgic and it makes me happy. I've never asked anyone for permission to enjoy my music just the way I want to. They hate my choices? Oh dear. So sad.
You hit the nail on the head when you said it’s for people to enjoy music I have said for many years there is a large percentage of snobby slightly hateful gatekeepers in the audio hobby which spend more time criticising and putting other people down rather than enjoying and listening to music
Randy, my cassette days are over and I don't miss them. That said, as long as you are getting music into your ear holes who am I to stand in the way?
When I turn on my old tube amp it sounds like throwing a switch on a high-voltage substation... But after the humming and buzz quiets down and the tubes warm up, it really sounds sweet. You can't put a price tag on nostalgia. HH Scott LK-72 amp. Thanks for the video.
Yeah. People are lame. It's exactly what you said about feeling it. The music, nostalgia, and the fun of interesting new gear. A tape player with some modern features? Pretty neat. I'm surprised Sony doesn't have a similar Walkman, because new cassettes are definitely a thing in Japan
There have also been new albums on cassettes selling decent within the last few years in America. I was surprised to see them pop up on places like Amazon, Urban Outfitters and Walmart.
Exactly this is it.
I bought the red one and love it, and it looks so cool. It's heavy and well built. The mechanism is not cheap but also some Parts are not made anymore so fiio had no choice than to use that.
But the sound is decent, it has no extra base, no dolby (because the chips are not made anymore) but i it's a fine player.
I also have a couple of old walkmans, yes they are smaller, lighter, dolby, auto reverse, auto stop, remote etc.. but also old and need new belts. I hope the cp13 will sell a lot so they can make beter ones.
It's sad that the technology is not made anymore.
Just imagine the arguments IF they had made a high end portable cassette player.
People’s heads would spin off
I have operated a DJ business for over three decades and until six years ago my shows consisted of me playing music via three portable CD players, a cassette deck, and of course my audio mixer. The crowd loved the old school tech. The music still banged and got the crowd jumping. Since retirement, some 2 years ago, I still DJ events but I now use my MAC Book and the occasional portable CD player. I will always keep my cassettes, portable players, vinyl, and turntables within arms reach.
This is us, Gen X’ers, “Remember those days…”.
Kids today won’t understand, we use to make audio tape mixes for our crushes in elementary to high school. It was our version of sharing our souls.
when i read this, i doubt if i am a "millenial" or GenX, because i had a lot of cassette experience... except sharing, tbh.
I burned my girlfriend a CD in college...
As someone who owned several different home cassette players over the years, I used them mainly to transfer my other music at a pretty high quality over to cassettes for listening at home and in the car. I loved playing with, high bias, metal, Dolby B, C, and even DBX. There is no doubt that cassettes played a very large roll in my love of music even to this day.
I'm usually with you, but you missed the mark. The point I think you're missing is that it has an extremely low budget mechanism in a device that is anything but. You can get the same exact mechanism in a cassette player that costs less than $20 new to this day. If you want to get into cassettes, you will get better audio out of basically any cheap 90s Walkman than you're going to get out of the best cassette player made today. Overpriced audio, man...
Yeah everyone said that too me. I have a Sony ex622 coming soon. Hopefully my tapes will sound better.
Give the guy a break and let him like what he like. It’s not that hard. As one of my favorite quote goes “don’t treat yourself so seriously, nobody else does”.
His journey was more interesting than the product, and I’m glad that he was happy. Not for one minute did he told us to buy this whacky thing.
As a fellow cassette enthusiast, I love your review and am buying one for my 88 Trans Am whose factory tape deck no longer works. (BTW, thanks for the selfie after your talk at AXPONA!) I have purchased a great AIWA 3 head deck from ebay and tons of NOS blank tapes of the chrome and metal variety. I use my Wiim Pro to stream through my SMSL dac and record albums in their entirety, in order, onto a tape, to play in my car or wherever. Can't wait till my Fiio CP13 arrives! Thank you for all you do for the Audio (HIFi) community. Nostalgia is a good thing!!
Don't worry about it, cassettes are still cool. I am fortunate enough to have a pristine Nakamichi CR-7A and the mix tapes that I create with that deck sound amazing! Yes, you can get great sound from cassettes.
Not one of my cassettes survived. All but one of my records survived, despite moved 30 times, stuck in boxes for years, etc. but all the old cassettes were entirely unplayable years ago and long since relegated to a landfill. It’s a temporary medium at best.
Explain why my 500 cassettes sound great today and only 2 have failed
In terms of troubleshooting, perhaps your cassettes didn't survive because they weren't stored properly or maybe they were inferior quality to begin with or got wrecked in the heat or cold of a car or storage space because I haven't had any of those issues and I've got cassette tapes that date back to 1978 that still sound fine and play properly.
I did find that the quality of Sony cassette tapes (and Sony VHS tapes) took a nosedive in the 90's and metal tapes were hopeless for me since I could often hear the side B recording interfering with the side A recording and vice versa, but in terms of other brands of tapes like Maxell, TDK, etc, they still work flawlessly for me.
I also have far better cassette decks now (Nakamichi, Harman/Kardon, Pioneer, Akai, Sony, etc.) than I had as a teenager with a Prosonic boombox (not a Panasonic) or an all-in-one Yorx stereo system, but even then, those tapes I recorded with those entry level units still play fine today some 45 or more years later.
No hatred here. It's pretty nostalgic actually and I think it has its place. Has a cool retro chic look about it. Cassettes must be really cheap now too, well second hand. I can't pass a charity shop without going in to check out the vinyl and I always see plenty of cassettes. I'm all for anything that makes music more accessible especially to younger generations. Maybe it starts someones journey into higher fidelity.
I still have plenty of cassettes and a TEAC cassette seperate. Haven't played/used either in decades but I'll never get rid of them either.
Still got my dad's old 8 track somewhere too.
Some of the second hand cassettes go for a pretty penny these days.
Man I LOVE your channel! As a GenX'er I totally get the cassette player! I used to have a Walkman, made mixed tapes, and wait for the radio to play my favorite song to hit RECORD at just the right time, also rewinding the tapes with a #2 pencil! :D I'm building up a system and have taken your advice to start to look at some inexpensive, but good equipment. Thanks for all the work!
I think the primary motivation of all the naysayers is the mechanism, because from what I understand, there's really only one company making compact cassette mechanisms anywhere in the world anymore, and everyone who's making recorders and players is just buying those mechanisms and building around them, maybe tweaking the mechanism a little to suit them, but otherwise just leaving it as-is. And those mechanisms are cheap crap compared to what we were used to growing up. That said, I've still got a bunch of tapes from throughout my lifetime, and I still have a couple of Realistic / Radio Shack shoebox recorders. The older one plays and records in slightly better quality, so it's easy to tell it's an older mechanism. The newer one is dull and thinner, more midrange-forward. I can still use it and get enjoyment out of it even if the difference is clear. And I think you're right: that's what people are missing about this. Enjoy the music. Hell, we used to listen to half of this stuff on noisy-as-all-hell AM radio. If you could listen through the static to music back then, you can listen through the hiss to music now.
Also, it's worth noting that this format wasn't originally intended for music, it was a dictation format. The original mechanisms and machines were tuned for the human voice, not the full audio spectrum. It took about a decade of improvements to even match the audio quality of 8-track tapes. So the slight degradation in quality today over the peak of the compact cassette's popularity isn't really that much of a consideration in the grand scheme of things.
That is why I don't expect much from any new cassette tape device these days, but that's OK. I say this as a "not a tape person" myself (I still prefer CD). New (and reasonably-priced) tape players are still going to be fun with handle, and anyone wanting to get into listening to cassette tape music will be able to enjoy it.
There is a physicality to tape, even more than CD (which I like for its physicality) to cassette tapes.
Anyone that is super serious into their cassette tape music will already have a refurbished older Sony/etc (but probably it will be a Sony) model, with the Dolby/etc and the Chrome/etc features, and the right sort of cassettes for them. And that's fantastic. I love seeing people still using older music format devices. Keeping them still functional, and really enjoying it.
I am curious in the FiiO DM13 CD player. I am not deep into audiophile stuff, so I don't know if there are still manufacturers of CD read mechanisms that still product quality modules. I really hope that is still the case. I really want to see reviews of the DM13 to see how it stacks up.
One of my old favourite "mix tapes" is one I recorded off late night radio when I was 12 and every third or so song is interrupted by traffic accident reports. It's not a particularly great representation of the music, but I find great joy in listening to it.
As a 50 year old those cassettes bring back some memories. I hate when people think just because it's not their style it sucks. People suck. Items don't. Lol. We should like different things in life for different reasons. As a comedian once said. "If we all like the same things...We would all be fuc%ing your wife." Lol. Sorry for the language. That Cinderella album hits different. Still sounds great and even now doesn't sound cheesy like some older hair bands.
Back in the late ‘70’s & early ‘80’s, I was a road warrior that traveled all over Northern California & I carried a small Awia FM & portable cassette player with me into some pretty remote areas as my only entertainment in the evenings. I also had one tape case with about a dozen prerecorded & personal mix tapes that I taped off my LP collection. Those were my old friends & my only music sources during the week. That little Awia was a God send for me & those went with me on every field assignment with my tool box & suitcase. Now that I am long retired, many of those same tapes still get frequent use out in my garage/shop area while I am working on projects. They are all like old friends that I used to travel with & are still a very valuable source of music entertainment for me. But all of my gear is old now & that definitely includes my cassette decks, so I just might purchase one of these portable players to keep my cassette tunes playing. It doesn’t have to be the latest & the greatest technology to enable you to enjoy your old music collection.
I love the world of audio and have since the 70's. I consider myself an audio enthusiast rather than an audiophile simply because I have witnessed a lot of pretentiousness within this wonderful hobby. I've listened to 8-tracks, cassettes, R2R, vinyl, CD's and all of the modern day digital formats. I miss some of the gear that I once owned, I do. I personally don't wish to return to any of that anymore but I always say, "whatever floats your boat". If you're happy with whatever you choose then I am happy for you. It's not my place to suggest you're doing it wrong. You're not. Just enjoy listening to the music!
The problem with cassettes is that they are extremely nostalgic and they do bring back memories but unfortunately these memories aren't usually good. Hassle of head cleaning, belt repair, tape degradation, battery life would suck unless your portable device is the most expensive one. Basically, tape wasn't cheap and cheap wasn't good at all.
Nostalgia isn't what it used to be.
Randy,
I’m 57 grew up with 46’s, 8 tracks, cassettes, CD’s and all the digital formats, but my heart is with the earlier ones. All this my be chalked up to nostalgia, but they had a warmth about them, I get it.
I bought a portable cassette player from Sears in 1981 and bought Ozzy Osborne Diary of a Madman cassette for my first one, it sounded amazing especially the Song " You cant kill rock and roll" the opening guitar is so pleasing to the ears. I spent my whole teenage and early adult life listening to cassettes. I have fond memories of playing cassette. Sounded great in my first car too!
I bought one and have no regrets, it is as you mentioned “fun” I wasn’t looking for it to sound like a 24 track Otari 2” - I do find cassettes from my bands or my wife’s band laying around and I can’t be bothered to search the recesses of the house for a cassette player or deck to see what is on them, this was a fun solution. Just in the same way you don’t go to see a summer blockbuster movie and expect it to compete with the best films of all time, you go to have fun. Glad you haven’t lost touch with the fun factor.
Well said, Mitch, and an excellent analogy too. :)
My brother works in junk removal and has been keeping the cassetes he gets, he has hundreds of them now. Great collection, his truck is from 2000 so we can cruise and pop in tapes like it is 1995 again. You are right, they are fun!
Randy, how you feel is the most important. Remember you started the channel about cheap affordable stuff “The Cheap Audioman” it’s the same feeling finding cheap stuff that brings you joy when the hunt is great value and the feeling is what the hobby about. And that’s why I still watch your channel for so many years since the start.
You do you, don’t be bother by the rest. 😉
This is actually really cool. I have a handful of tapes of local bands that I used to go see in high school that aren't around any longer, never released cds, and are likely the only existing copy or one of like five in existence.
I originally wrote a comment on your introduction video to this product, you filmed it in Malaysia I think. I don't begrudge your musical enjoyment - far from it! My objection was to the cost of this cassette player when you consider the tape mechanism it holds. It's a bad mechanism, which cost Fiio not very much at all to acquire, and charging $100 for a rechargeable battery and aluminum construction just kinda strikes me as wrong. Cassette mechanisms were so amazingly capable, small, and reliable not too many years ago that this Fiio one just seems insulting, somehow. Auto-reverse, auto-stop, metal/chrome tape selection, Quartz locks for tape speed, soft-touch controls, and quite a few portable players were barely larger than the box the tape came in! I still have my Sony WM-EX1 10th Anniversary Walkman, and it still strikes me as a marvel of engineering. This Fiio just strikes me as a cynical cash-grab of nostalgia for what they're charging. If it were $40-50 I wouldn't say boo about it, OR if it was $100 but they'd managed to put a more capable tape mechanism inside.
Again, my beef is with the hardware, not the format, and certainly not the enjoyment of music for its own sake. Long ago I identified my musical equipment tastes as based on looks and quirkiness, not the ne plus ultra of sound reproduction. Hence my favorite turntable is a TEAC TN-400 Magnefloat inside a Japanese plinth made partly of lead (yep.) It's weird, it's not like anything else, and it sounds pretty dang good. I got a McIntosh preamp for the pretty lights, and the price was right at the time. It just happens to sound amazing, too. I'm truly glad the cassette format has rekindled your, and hopefully others', interest in forgotten music, and bands, you used to enjoy. I just don't like this overpriced tape player.
It's an expensive toy. Nice colour though.
Randy, I don't know why there is a fuss about listening to music on cassettes. I don't own cassettes; however, I have a bunch of CDs and started listening to them again (after your recommendation a year or so ago), and it made me very happy to reacquaint myself with the music I enjoyed in my teens. I am sure someone will restart listing to their cassette collection and will thank you for that. Keep up the good work!
I never got rid of my cassettes and I still listen to them.
CDs sound better than most sources of streaming.
I really appreciate your video and point of view, people need to remember that this is all about enjoying music…Period! I love cassettes because it was the first reasonable/affordable way I could record music the way I wanted and it is STILL a fun way to do that! Thanks for the video!
I'm old and was in High School at the peak of cassettes. I still have some stored way. Some I got in 1976 . They hiss when new, and get tangled too easily, etc. Nobody should get into them thinking it's a great sound. BUT, if you want to relive those years, why not? who cares? If I had my 1979 Firebird Formula back again and it was a cruise reunion, I'd be popping cassettes in and jamming to Boston's first album which I probably still have on cassette. .
Your Firebird is a good analogy for this entire discussion, too. Or old cars in general. Objectively, modern cars have a lot going for them. Yet, there are people who would much rather drive and work on old cars, fiddling with their engines, cleaning and adjusting carbs on the reg etc. and just enjoy wrenching on them driving them, making conversation about their cars and so on. Everyone kind of understands that about old cars. Nobody at a classic car meetup would get on their soapbox and go „Um..you guys know that they make fuel injected cars now, right? You don’t have to clean and adjust carburettors anymore! Why would you do that, it’s stupid! Old cars are bad, y’all should be driving Teslas now! Get with the times!“ That would be completely missing the mark. But somehow in the audio world, this is exactly what happens. Someone enjoys a certain thing, and suddenly everybody and their dog are coming out of the woodwork to let them and the world at large know how bad the thing is that that person enjoys and that they are dumb for using and enjoying it.
Cassettes never really meant much for me, I'm 33 but I started caring about music pretty late in life, and they were already phasing out. If I'm here it's for the "listen to your music, not your equipment" motto. it has saved me so much money ❤
I'm with you and totally get IT. I, too, wonder why some people can't see or understand the nostalgia and fun of it. Thank you, Randy.
80s kid. First device was a transistor radio that I listened to late at night in my bed. Then, for my bday, got a yellow Walkman cassette player and it never left my side. Ha! Lover boy, Brothers in arms and Dream of the Blue Turtles were my first cassettes. My mom loved hard rock. Had Kiss and Nugent albums that we rocked out to with the babysitter. This was the start of my hifi journey. Don’t have many positive experiences as a youth, but music made things more manageable. Oh ya, I also had a portable cassette recorder/player that I carried around. I’d hold it up to the home stereo speakers and record my favorite songs played over the radio.
Sometimes, having a tactile relationship with your music like sliding an album out of it's cover and sleeve and placing it onto a turntable or opening a cassette tape box and clipping it into a player, makes listening to the music more intimate. It becomes more "real" and satisfying.
Absolutely! I couldn't agree more. :)
Word. So many people are completely missing the point, there’s more to this hobby that’s just listening to the music. If not, we wouldn’t even bother with anything but streaming or FLAC or whatever. And those people are free to do that, but they can also eff off to their listening rooms or whatever and leave us to whatever we want to do.
Man, your cassette show and tell took me down memory lane. Just seeing the album art make me hear the songs on the album.
This feels a lot like scotch whisky purists, for them it has to be a single malt, neat or perhaps a drop of water. Thing is, some people like the value for money of blends, some people like a bit of ice, some people like Coke in it. At the end of the day it shouldn't matter, people should let others enjoy whatever it is they like to enjoy.
Anyone who thinks a blend can't taste good just needs to try Japanese whisky. I'm a single malt guy, but also love a Famous Grouse with lemonade on occasion. Or, after I have closed all the windows, locked the doors and put on false beard and glasses, a Springbank in my Blade Runner glass with ice.
I'm a Scot. We need to keep up appearances and lean in to the stereotype.
@@jimfarrell4635without going to Japan you just need to look at Compass Box offering (high quality and sometimes high price blends)
@@jimfarrell4635 or a SMWS blend. Never had a bad one.
I've got to tell you. I am a retired guy who a couple of years ago gave his kids most of the components of my really enjoyable AV setup. No regrets by the way but I did recently rediscover how much I enjoy music through good gear. Enter Cheapaudioman, residual components, Craigslist and Amazon.
I now have a new, very affordable, man cave music setup that has absolutely no right sounding as great as it does!
That is mostly because of your approach. Polks all around, Onkyo, Sony, Wiim Mini and SMSL SU-1.
Thank you more than you can imagine! I am having a blast!
I don't get to hate either. This is a pure nostalgia play. My old mini cassette player got me through 10 years living on ships in the Navy. I'd buy one of these things just for the memories.
... That, and my kids would probably think its cool. Kinda want one now.
I think that the only thing is that the tape head is not stereo. No one manufactures them anymore, they are mono, with software correcting the output. I was also that DBag HS kid with the fancy alloy bodied spensivo Sony / Akai portable tape players in the 80s
Hearing music through two paper cups connected by a string has a certain “charm” that reminds me of my childhood
😂
Oh, don't worry; 20 years from now, the next generation will comment about how quaint streaming was, how "awful" it sounded or looked, and how silly all of the various smartphones were. That's "progress", apparently. Haha! :)
I got my first cassette player in 1988, and cassettes are still a part of my life over 30 years later!The most popular albums I’ve made involved cassette machines in the process. It’s a pleasant sound!
Thank you. This video needed making. ❤
I don’t see why anyone would be upset for a new device for a legacy format.
Personally I saved a cool late 90s/early 2000s portable player from an e-waste pile, gave it some love, belts, and general service, and now I have a nice player to enjoy whatever old music I still have on tape. It even has Dolby B decoding. Now _that_ is something one won’t find in a device built today.
Cassettes = nostalgia and fun. Made some great mix tapes in the 80’s, *for THAT girl* copied lots of albums, *has the statute of limitations for piracy run out*? 😅 A new portable player is just another way to enjoy the music you like!
Also, you have to love the fact it has a lithium ion battery with a USB-C charger. If only those type of portable tape players existed back then, SMH.
Thanks for the video😀, I also watched the one where you presented the FIIO CP13, I am a 50 year old guy who recorded loads of tapes in the end of the 80s and the 90s and luckily still have them all. I have just ordered the CP13 thanks to your videos and can’t wait to listen to the old tapes (will make me feel like a teenager once again I guess 😅). I am the same opinion that the sound quality of a tape comes for me in second place, in first place it’s that feeling I had back as a young guy. Cheers from Germany.
I grew up in the cassette era. The only way to listen to music on the go was either a radio, or a cassette tape in the car or a Walkman. I have to admit, I didn’t like prerecorded tapes, I would purchase the album and a good blank tape, take it home and clean the record, then record it on a decent 3 head deck. In the 80.s and 90.s I sold and installed both home and car audio, I got pretty spoiled working with really nice gear. Fast forward to a few years ago, my 22 year old son came home with a Walkman he purchased on eBay. That was all it took to bring back all the memories of my youth. I never lost my love of music, I’ve always had nice systems in cars and at home, but something changed in the experience, we got spoiled by having everything at the touch of a button. I’ve been having a blast introducing my son to vinyl and cassettes, he now enjoys the music the way I did back in the day and he’s loving it! Enjoy the hobby and the music people, whatever does it for you is all that matters.
I'd love to revisit my old tapes again, there's something about loading and unloading tapes that is very much like putting records on a turntable. The physical act of loading music has such a strong nostalgic vibe that digital can never replicate - like driving in real life compared to driving in video games.
I left the army, after nearly 8 years, in 82'. I came back to the States with two high-end Pioneer cassette decks, a Pioneer 100 watt per channel amp, two Bose 501 and two Sansui speakers, and a mulit-hundred dollar direct drive turntable. It met my needs, gave me the music I wanted to hear, in the configuration in which I wanted to hear it. In the 70s I was mocked for opting for cassette over 8-track in my car. I persisted and as with my later home system, enjoyed my music. I've also owned a few high-end reel-to-reel decks. When CDs hit the market, I gravitated to them. The same is true for MP3 players and the current higher fidelity digital music. Through it all, I played the music I wanted to hear, for as long as I wanted to hear it.
I'm old enough that the first color TV owned by our family was a portable Sears brand with a 10" screen. Until then our TVs were always 19" black and whites that sat on TV carts so we could "roll" them into different rooms. On a side note, I didn't know the Wizard of Oz was in color until after I married my wife while station in New Mexico in '78. Imagine my surprise when Dorothy opened that door and munchkin land was in color.
You go, guy. Find your nostalgia and enjoy the moments.
Your comment on the Wizard of Oz stopped me...yeah had to laugh because the first few times I saw it it was of course with a black and white TV. I'm about a few years younger than you . We didn't even have that black and white TV until one of my grandparents got a new color TV in 66. There were was a color TV my father won from a local TV station in the late 50s but it didn't really work and after I discovered the tubes in it ...well ...it nolonger worked . in 1970 when we got a color TV I had that experience with seeing Star Trek reruns. Anyway I just listened to Judy Garland singing Over the Rainbow a few days ago ( with my little groove onn. Small Rugged Speakers 30$ Walmart) and all I want to say is that girl can sing . There is a radio broadcast from when she was 21 that is a good recording , I searched through a few.
Being a little younger we all got cassette decks to tape our albums so they would sound good longer. We also already knew the 8 track was a crap shoot every time it went into a car deck. So we all put cassette decks in our cars. By the late 70s those 3 head decks were getting pretty good. I was on a tight budget so I got a Marantz SD 1000 and used TDK D-90s at 3.75 ips. I have to say only two heads, but they sounded better than a low end 3 head ...didn't work in a car though...and the motor didn't last very long. The NAD two head I replaced it with was a disappointment the tapes it made were sorta lifeless. My JVC DD-7 I got at a thrift store twenty or so years ago....complete opposite excellent even with a TDK D series. And It's a work horse 🐴 to boot. It's out lasted the five or six decks previous to it combined and still working. I estimate close to twenty thousand hours I'm pretty I've put 15,000 on my self. Mostly gets used for TH-cam music these days I think that it sounds better taped on a type I.
Born in 75. I feel the same as you. I still have all my childhood cassettes. I still listen to them occasionally and enjoy it. Sometimes I’m actually quite surprised on how good a select few still sound. It does help that I have what was a high end deck from the 80’s. It’s just fun. For the love and nostalgia of music. I appreciate you Audioman.
I'm a 50 year old rocker. I still have hundreds of cassettes bought in the 80's and 90's. A quality, calibrated, and demagnitized cassette deck combined with a good studio recording will marvel your eardrums! I will never get rid of my cassettes. For those that bought this little player, good on you! I truly hope you enjoy it, and it brings back awesome memories! Sal - Little Elm, TX
Good for you, man. I love my cassettes too and won't part with the ones I grew up with even though I enjoy records (and kept my original collection), CD's, reel-to-reel, some 8-tracks, and music available online. :)
Cassettes were my primary source for many years. In 1986 I heard a CD for the first time on a modest Magnavox CD player through a modest Sony table top stereo. It was a Windham Hill Sampler that began with Michael Manring's "Welcoming." I was blown away. There was just clean, clear music with no scratches, hiss, pops, or any other extraneous noise. I was converted immediately. Of course I made tape copies of CDs for the tape player in my truck. Frankly they sounded almost as good as the CD's. I wore out two cassette recorders and gave a 3rd to our son. Now he streams music through his phone for the car. I must admit that I loved cassettes. But, alas no longer... I appreciate what you love about this little player. It is cool, you and Star-Lord... It is great to see your enthusiasm!
Paul H.
Huntington Beach, CA
Randy, there's a shop in Oklahoma City called JB's Analog. He specializes in refurbished vintage equipment, including cassette players. He also has The Wall of Cassettes. Hundreds of cassettes all for sale. Everything at reasonable prices. Sure, he sells Bozaks and Magnapans, Luxmans and Technics, but he sells plenty of Zeniths and Magnavox, too. It's about the fun and enjoyment of music, not "the best".
+1 for JB's Analog. I visited for the first time about a month ago, and was seriously tempted by the cassette tape selection!
Why those comments? Its the HiFi community. Can't say anymore.
I love my cassettes got Yamaha cassette player. I still enjoy making my own tapes and they sound amazing and you’re right they make you listen to the music. Love your channel. Keep up the good work.
For me, it is about convenience. I have a few hundred songs on my phone and thousands on my laptop that I can almost instantly sort through for the song I want.
try listening to albums
Analog tape can be an enjoyable EXPERIENCE with the proper ingredients. Making a good analog recording is a thing of skill, pride and attention to detail. Plus the end result is a unique creation. Years past, I found the exploration of the attributes of different tape formulations to be fun process. At its best, analog recording matériel was a merger of excellent electrical, mechanical, chemical and industrial engineering practices. It was a quest and gradual growth towards better sound and performance, not an immediate perfect cookie-cutter gratification.
I have a friend who’s been through so many many vintage speakers, amps, preamps and receivers, etc. He keeps switching them around. He listens to speakers. I listen to music.
Hey man, good video, I’m happy to hear you wax poetic about your tape collection for a little bit. And yeah, if you needed the highest fidelity thing, maybe listen digitally with lossless file types on nice monitors, but it sounds like you just want to enjoy your tape deck, and I fully support that.
Unfortunately too many self important, so-called “audiophiles” only use music to listen to their equipment rather than the other way around.
What surprises me is why are these people watching Randy's channel? Haters have to hate I guess.
Sometimes I am smart. Sometimes I am dumb. Sometimes I listen to music.
Sometimes I listen to equipment.
I love your adventure to Malaysia and purchase of this FIIO cassette player. The “one right way” is narrow spectrum freedom. Why have limits?
Imagine if someone had to make a video justifying why they liked listening to vinyl.
(My point here being that a bunch of the stuff that Randy said in the first video about the tactile feel and the sound that you get with tape, is similar to what people say about vinyl. Of course it feels nice to get a disc out of its sleeve. The sound is nice as well. But I used to have a couple of flac files recorded by someone with a really nice setup from vinyl. Still sounded great because digital didn’t kill it, just made it easier to listen to. And if you like the feel and sound of tape, then great :)
They do, all of the time.
Essentially just because a piece of equipment plays music does not mean it is therefore an 'audiophile' level piece of equipment which needs to be analysed as such...