Cassette Fun with the FiiO CP13 and a Really Nice Sony!
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 1 ต.ค. 2024
- Cassettes are starting to get some attention on TH-cam lately. Kevin got the bug again after watching some of our friend's videos while recuperating. Check out the links to their videos below!
Kevin called Eric in to help with this video but did not tell him what it was about. He just wanted him to start shooting when he came through the door. What follows is a fun-filled afternoon playing old and new cassette tapes on an incredibly clean Sony TC-K870ES from 1990, and a brand new FiiO CP13 portable cassette player.
Do you still listen to cassette tapes? Do you miss them? Do you have any interest? Let us know in the comments and share this video with some of your friends you used to listen to tapes with when you were younger.
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I have 111 cassettes in my collection. I still play them. I use my Sony Sports Walkman when I do yard work.
Welcome back! I think people just need to remember to not take everything so seriously. Cassettes were never the greatest format, it's about the nostalgia and the fun factor. I have a Pioneer deck from the 90's that rarely gets used anymore. But I'll tell ya that once in a blue moon it's fun to dig out a few of my old cassettes and have a listen. The memories that go along with them are priceless. Have fun with it once in a while.
Braun speakers, are actually identical with Canton. One of the top German speaker brands.
nothing fun about useless cassette tapes that you paid good money for
@@AudiojunkabusGuy in the vid says he got them for 79¢. Hell I buy new ones and most of em are $8-15, usually cheaper than cds and WAY cheaper than vinyls
i still use it today since 2017 i recorded 90 cassettes with compilations since mid 90´s i didn´t had a deck working, sound perfect if one takes care of them, that´s the truth when hearing old songs memories come to my mind if it weren´t for the compilations i´ve made some memories would be forgoten but one associates good times with the music we were hearing at the time, there´s also the reverse when i hear a song from the band Bush , i think it´s called if inflated or inflatable not sure makes me remenber a girl i let go but while in summer vacations it used to be on the radio played several times a day while i was camping with her, my car radio cassette player started to not play cassettes in my Lancia dedra and the 10 cd box player from sony was also stoped for two years at the time
It's better than streaming
Welcome back Kevin.
I'm still playing cassettes on an old Teac tape deck, which still sounds great and I love it. I consider it a poor man's reel to reel.
I think a lot of people got turned off off by cassettes because of cheap portable and car audio cassette players that had lots of problems and poor sound quality .. it's a different experience when you hear a cassette on a good home audio HiFi system
As always- I agree. Thanks Karen!
it´s true,i remenber wanting to buy a Teac Z-7000 but not even enough money to buy a Z-5000, maybe one of the best decks ever made, this after buying a so good Dragon deck from nakamichi that was beautifull and looked good in my system only had a problem, it lighted up but didn´t play cassettes after two monthes and a summer ,heat kills the dragon ,it shouldn´t be as they breed fire but what a waste of money
A well recorded cassette in good condition on a great deck can sound awesome. Beat up cassettes just like beat up vinyl and scratched CDs sound poor. The quality of the original recording and manufacturing matters. It varies with all 3 media.
Love that music at the end and I still play cassettes. Beyond the nostalgia factor of the 80s, I actually like the sound of them too.
Way back in the day I thought 8 Tracks were something, the cassettes came out and I was in wonder, then CDs came out and I was simply amazed, nowadays I simply stream from TH-cam and the sound of HD, Lossless etc etc literally makes my speakers send out sweet sweet music to my ears. Forgot something - When Direct to Disc albums came out the nearly blew my mind
@ethimself5064 I Still listen to CD, Flac files and Internet radio but I do like the analogue sound of tapes too. Grew up with them in the 80s into the 90s.
@@AlexMitchell-sj4sb Then you would love Direct to Disc albums - I forget what they are called these days.
@@AlexMitchell-sj4sb they do sound better if in good condition no matter how many times were heard
@RUfromthe40s especially if you use the 80s and 90s blank cassettes like TDK, Sony etc to tape onto and use a good source and a good tape deck to record with. They sound better than a pre-recorded one.
My favorite cassette memory comes at a time that was about a year out from a nasty divorce that was still dragging me down. I was listening to country music radio, which was really just me subconsciously gravitating to sadness. I had always been a rocker. Some stupid song came on and as the tears started to well up, I decided right then, "f*ck this sh*t!" and immediately rooted around under the seat of my truck until I found my not seen in a year tape case, pulled Back in Black outta there, popped it in the player, and never looked back. It was life changing.
i was tired of ac/dc but still sometimes put to play the" dirty deeds ,need dirt cheap" , "powerage" that in cd my favorite song is missing or "cold hearted man"and "for those about to rock we salute you"and the live album "if you want blood ,you got it" sorry if some name is wrong ,but maybe 4 years ago i enter in a music store and saw the back in black album ,i had to buy it ,as mine went nowhere to be found
I bought the FiiO CP13 a week ago in black and white and loved it so much I went back online and ordered a red/silver and light blue/silver one as backups. I had over 400 cassette albums stored away in closeable trays and dug them out while moving from my second home and have been loving plugging in my 3.5mm wired headphones and diggin' the sounds. The FiiO CP13 is a great little machine.
The FiiO CP13 sounds slightly more muffled. Not as detailed and clean.
ADS L710 and L810 are to me the pinnacle of vintage speakers. They sound amazing and very non fatiguing. On the cassette side, I got the We Are Rewind player which sounds ok but the fun factor outweighs the performance. I’m 53 so cassettes were my go to for portable music as a kid.
I have L710s and L780s. ADS are still fantastic.
@@stevezeidman7224 i had the L710 ,it were conected to a SX-1050 receiver from Pioneer ,loud as hell at least in my first litle house ,the last thing i bought from ADS was a set of headphones maybe in 2009, i wasn´t a kid anymore but the 80´s was when i most recorded cassettes and still have them ,bad or not they are there and after my first divorce when i got back on my feet again i made a lot of expensive buyings , if i knew that a divorce would cost me so much i had kept her and make a living hell out of her life, not violence as i never hit a girl there are other ways of showing your unhappyness, like buying her modern synthetic fibers clothes and jewelery in her birthday from the indians that used to sell on the floor of a high movement street, in reality i bought a telephone to my bedroom but whenever the landline telephone ringed i could hear the call from my modern indian phone in my bedroom, i learned a lot about my kids life but at one point even they had a phone like mine in their bedrooms, indians from India .
Glad to see you back. I had a lot of cassettes as a teenager growing up. First deck in my car in 1991 was a cassette deck of course, so all of my best cassettes spent their time in black Mustang. So you know where I'm going with this. They all got baked, big time. When I play some of them back, they just don't sound good. What I enjoy the most is going back and playing my homemade cassettes from the early 80's all the way until 1990 when I graduated high school. Just hearing the promos for the local radio stations from back in the day, some of which long have changed formats. I have picked up a few cool 80's decks over the years, but only rarely fire them up.
Thank you!
Lol! Kiss cards have that smell, just like my old Batman TV show cards(!) because they did have thoae flat, sheets if bubble gum in them. Good memories.
The best part of this video, the sound of the physical cassettes being slammed into the players. The sound of my youth, I had so many XLIIs and SAs back then I can't tell you. Thanks guys.
Very cool!
I was very partial to the SA-X's myself. I still have two cars with cassette players a 95 Miata and a 69 Camaro so the tapes do get played. Both cars have cassette adapters in the glove compartments so I can listen to modern stuff too.
@@JohnReallI was a poor student when those came out, bought SAs or XLIIs whatever was cheaper when I had money.
@@JohnReall69 Camaro, awesome! It's always time for a Slow Ride, Take It Easy.
Welcome back, Kevin! The sound from that portable isn't bad, but I wonder how long it will last. I was out doing yard work today, enjoying great audio on my WM-D6C! Just kidding, I would never take that precious machine to do that. Audio from that nearly equals my KA3ES.
Thanks for the trip back in time. I paused the video dusted off my ROTEL RD-870 deck and hooked it up. fun fun fun.
Kevin, it's nice to see you back in good health. I am glad you have now gotten the Cassette drift. Audio cassettes are not about the sound quality, although there are some later (1990's) good-quality tapes (Type 2 [chrome], ferro-chrome, and metallic). Unfortunately, those good-quality tapes go for a premium price on eBay. Nostalgia also cannot explain it because the younger generation getting into it has never experienced listening to audio cassette tapes before. I think curiosity, peer pressure, and the physicality of the media, as was shared by one of your followers in the UK, (there are a lot of things about Gen Z that we, the Gen X, cannot explain). With regard to peer pressure, their favorite artists, like Taylor Swift, e.t.c., are using it to sell their music. Cassettes have also been featured in some movies. With regard to another physical form of media, I have seen some TH-cam videos and pictures online of people taking pride in collecting albums on CD, vinyl, and cassette tape. There are lots of speculation as to why cassettes are on the surge... but for my case, I collected them for nostalgia, cheap, curiosity, and just incase the resurgence in sales can get me a extra buck we I let go of what I do not like lol... Yeah, getting the tape decks fixed is a nightmare... Have a blessed week...
How do you pass up something for 79 cents? lol....that is me.
Why did the record store hire a contractor? Because too many customers kept asking for "vinyls," and they thought they needed new flooring!
Definitely high-fi if done right. Some people store their tapes improperly, don't clean the tape path, use crappy blank tapes, and then complain how bad the format sounds. Prerecorded tape quality can significantly vary. However, a good blank cassette like the Sony TC-K 870 ES can be an amazing cassette deck experience. Cassette Decks overall started getting better and better starting in the late 70s and early 80s and reached their sound quality peak in the mid 90s.
I bought the CP13 like a month ago and I've been having a blast. I still have many cassettes, most of them vinyl and cd recording. in the case of CDs, when the CD Walkman came out, I hated the fact that anything will cause the sound to skip, and on cars was even worse. I kept using cassettes of my car until the Car Cds got better and I moved to Minidiscs.
My cassettedeck is a 3 head Technics, and I have been recording Lps for comparison purponses and my recordings are like 3 times better than the same Original cassette(same album).
I used to buy most of my music in the80s on vinyl so I can had an alternative at home and the cassettes were damage easily. I don't have that many Artist cassettes, well about 100 or so, but compared to CDs I own thousands.
New to your channel, thanks a lot for taking your time to share with us all this great experiences.
Kevin, the best vintage walkman-type players from the '80s approach the sound quality of the best home-audio decks. However, getting those personal cassette players restored to original specs is harder than with home-audio decks. Cassettes have a seductive appeal: no record-cleaning ritual before each play, smaller than compact discs, fun to handle. Sound quality ranges between mediocre and jaw-droppingly superlative. It's fun to see you and others discovering cassettes as a secondary audio playback format. You need to watch "Cassette: A Mixtape Documentary" featuring the pioneer of the cassette format, the late Lou Ottens.
I'll watch it for sure!
Eric and Rob did a much better job last week. HaHa, just kidding! Welcome back Kevin! I look forward to your videos every Sunday. Everyone at Skylabs does a great job.
Welcome back, Kevin.
Randy (Cheapaudioman) called this FIIO piece "Audiophile" Randy said "I bought one, you should too" about the FIIO. Hard pass Randy. Hard pass.
There are TH-cam shills, there are TH-cam super shills, then there's Randy at Cheapaudioman.
Randy thinks Metallica is audiophile.
Randy thinks Sony SSCS5's are audiophile.
Randy is as dumb as they come when it comes to real audio knowledge, yet has one of the biggest subscriber bases out there.
The blind leading the blind.
Okay...I have seen the video made by the Cheap Audio Man on this and if anyone else saw that, you will see he got a lot of hate comments on it and I think the main reason why was his title in which he touted that cassettes are making a comeback for Hi-Fi. The problem is that putting the words cassettes and hi-fi together in the same sentence will cause some outcries. Sadly, I am not going to sugarcoat things and, yes, I am one that is against cassettes, despite the nostalgia factor. I AM in the above 45 category and was around when cassettes were the dominate recording medium. Back then they did have their advantages, mainly of being a highly portable, recordable medium that was relatively inexpensive. The alternative would be open reel decks, of which were not portable, and definitely not inexpensive, but they did sound a helluva lot better. Making mixed tapes for friends was a big thing, and so was recording songs off the radio. But the downsides of cassettes was something I had struggled with back in the day and I will never forget those struggles. It was VERY hard to get hi-fi sound out of cassettes. The slow speed meant lots of hiss, which could be counteracted by the various noise reduction systems that were out, but they weren't infallible either. In fact many didn't work well going across machines. The better noise reduction systems worked best recording and playing back on the same deck, only. Only Dolby B seemed to be OK with going between machines. But hiss was only one problem. Unless you bought a good deck, you had wow and flutter to deal with. So, if you had a good deck, the problems didn't stop there. Many times it was the cassette itself and how it was constructed that led to revealing it's limitations. Then regardless of quality, you had issues with the tape aging, such as the high frequencies dropping in and out, or you get total audio dropouts. Storage was always an issue because if you got the tapes anywhere near a magnet, there goes your high end as it would partially erase the tape. So setting up your tape deck next to speakers was always a bad idea.
I can go on and on of the struggles I had and even with having a special tape deck with dual capstan drives and metal cassettes, I never could get a tape to sound anywhere near like a CD. Then the Sony Mini-disk was released and that was "The Savior". Finally there was a recordable, and portable format that didn't have anywhere near the problems cassettes had. Gone was the hiss, wow and flutter, and noise reduction systems. Discs could finally be moved from one unit to another and SOUND THE SAME! While it wasn't CD quality and some might argue that the compression schemes may not be considered hi-fi, it was still a vastly superior format. Sadly, the Mini-Disc really didn't fully catch on, or perhaps it was a little to late when MP3 players were released and changed things for reordable / portable audio again.
So, yeah, I guess wanting to revisit one's childhood and play around with some cassettes might be something someone is interested in, I really don't think there will be enough interest like there is with vinyl for a full on comeback. If anything, I would rather see the Mini-Disc come back. Or I would rather revisit reel to reels, but I know that is very expensive. I do admit that I have held on to a few portable reel to reel units and I rather use those for a nostalgic trip than cassettes.
Finally, during the sound tests, the Fiio unit is clearly lacking, sound wise. The Sony sounded OK, but when the Fiio unit was played, it was like someone tossed a towel over my speakers. Then there was the HIGHLY audible wow and flutter. Granted, I understand that these units are among the few portable cassette unit's being produced today, but for $100? I think that is a bit much, even for nostalgia reasons. I think that unit should sell for around $40 and no more. For $100, I think I would rather buy a portable reel to reel player and it would sound better too. Also for around $100, I think one would be better off with getting one of the portable recording Sony Walkmans they put out. Yes, they probably have to be serviced, have the belts replaced and the heads cleaned, but I think they would outperform the Fiio unit and having the recording ability probably would add to the nostalgic factor.
But I digress, this is just my opinion on using cassettes in this day and age. For recordable portable medium, I am fine with an MP3 player. Cassettes were too much of a struggle to get decent sound out of and I am good with the format going the way of the Dodo bird.
Cassettes played an important part in audio history. If you think of them as miniaturized reel-to-reel tape decks, then some of the comments I am making become more clear. Studio machines ran at either 15 or 30 inches per second (ips) so they essentially had high bandwidth. If one owned a reel-to-reel machine, it likely had three speeds, 7.5 ips, 3.75 ips, and 1 7/8 ips. As the tape speed decreased, so did the fidelity of the recording and playback, and his became a bigger problem.
Although the cassette started out more for dictation and other spoken word uses, there was interest in making it a viable choice for music. However, the tape speed was a problem, as was the issue of cramming stereo channels onto a much smaller tape head, which also brought up the issue of tape alignment across the tape head, particularly since different brands of cassettes varied in the quality of construction and how good the design of the pressure pad was that kept the tape against the head.
Luckily, technology improved on the mechanisms, Dolby Labs worked out the Dolby B (and later, Dolby C) standard for reducing tape his, the industry developed chrome tape, all great innovations in the industry.
For all of that, cassettes were best used as a niche product for small portable players (I still remember when the Walkman came out) and for car stereos, where the highest fidelity and lowest noise weren't really an issue. Cassettes were inherently a better technology than the 8 track tape, more reliable, plus you could buy a record to enjoy at home and make your own tape for your car, so the ongoing development of the cassette hastened the demise of the 8 track format.
My guess is that the new portable you took out of the box was competitive in part because there wasn't any head wear on the new portable, whereas the deck probably has at least some, given its age. As far as whether someone younger would use the portable over a tiny streaming device, the difference in sound quality would not likely to be noticeable when mowing a lawn, even with an electric mower and noise cancellation headphones. It would likely come down to the availability of desirable music.
Welcome back!
As for the Sony model number...it really isn't all that complicated. All Sony tape machines were "TC" xxxxx. And the ES line of equipment all end in ES. So, really, we're just needing to keep track of the K870 part. To ding them for the rest would be like dinging Pioneer because all of their cassette machines started with CT. The FXXXx would let you know, more or less what they were going to look like. The CT-F9191 is going to be a silver faced machine from that era...just like the CT-F1250, or CT-F500...etc.
Onto the FiiO. It wouldn't be for me but that's fine too. The story really hasn't been written on it in that we don't know how well it is going to hold up...when will it start eating tapes...how fast does it degrade over time...etc. It isn't starting from a very good place. Even with your conversion and making through what all TH-cam does to the sound, its poor sounding performance is apparent. It doesn't have the various NRs so there wouldn't be any enjoyment from my cassette collection (of the era...I'm not making anything now but Dolby B was on about 95% of my tapes with Dolby C on the balance).
I wouldn't want to hear flutter and a speed/pitch issue would drive me nuts because I've listened to these tunes for decades...I know what they should sound like. Back in the day, when radio stations would speed up the music to get more commercial time, it would drive me nuts. The pickins' are so slim on tape transports/heads it is bound to be compromised and your demo sort of proved it. If the threshold for its viability is that it makes sound...then that is a pretty low threshold.
If it makes people happy then I'm all for it. It just isn't for me.
The Sound Quality of New Cassettes are not Good compared to the Older pre recorded tapes. Mainly due to the Quality of the actual tape, due to regulation of manufacturing. Also most New Cassettes aren't recorded with Dolby. The older Tapes recorded with Dolby and Played in a Quality machine like your Sony that decodes properly Sound Awesome. The new portable is a pretty cool unit, but for me the only Cassettes I listen to are at home. Just because on my Pioneer CT-A9X all dialed in, the older 80s and 90s Tapes can sound dang near CD Quality, not CD quality but amazing!
Great Video, Glad you're feeling better!
Thank you!
I was fortunate to find a NOS head for my 1973 Teac A450 and also had my tech replace bad capacitors and transistors.It was one of the best decks of that era and sounds incredible to my ears.I enjoy watching your channel very much.
Thanks for sharing
I still have over 100 cassettes that I recorded years ago and have not listened to them in years. I picked up a Marantz PMD 510 Pro deck for 10.00 at a Church garage sale. It works great. I have tons of great music and it has been great rediscovering all this music I recorded years ago.
Kevin, are you aware of the sometimes better than CD quality cassettes that can be made with a good cassette deck recording HD streaming music sources to a good chrome tape? Simply awesome and tons of fun to have quick access to high quality current music.
I'm sorry...but there really is no such thing as "better than cd" with ANY form of cassette. Just sayin.
@Jeff. Have you recorded streaming music from a Bluesound Node on a rebuilt to factory spec Nakamichi Dragon? Just saying.
Great to see you back Kevin. For us teen’s in the late 60’s & 70’s there were no portable cds, iPods or phone music players just cassettes. And to have one at home,a Walkman or in the car it was the bomb. You could have your music anywhere you wanted.
Love this video, I'm in my 50s and still listen to cassettes 🤘 thanks guys
Glad you enjoyed it!
Great to see you again Kevin. I hope the airways are clear and healed. I love that you were sniffing KISS cards. Not how I would test the surgery, but to each his own!
Great video, one of my favorites. I grew up in 80s and had a Walkman 3. It sounded great for the times. While I have decks, (including CT-F 9191 in video and Onkyo TX-2800 3 head deck). While I still have my tapes recorded in 80s and enjoy them on today. They bring me back to the "those were the days", I played tapes and my 13 year old son said "why would you want to go through all the trouble when spotify sounds so much better through the Iphone. I get the nostalgic value emphasized in your video entirely. When I get excited about running to the Sam Goody and/or Tower records, buying LPS and 45s and making mix tapes, he says, I guess I understand but indicates wish I could experience what you did.
Good to see you back! In a similar vein was talking about minidiscs with a pal the other day. The first time we met in 1997 we ended up getting ridiculously stoned to Tricky - Maxinquaye. As far as Google is concerned this release doesn't exist (it does). That's a format that definitely isn't coming back.
I never bought many prerecorded cassettes back in the 80's. They could never compete with a well recorded home tape made with good equipment. Cassettes can sound pretty damn good, when done right.
With that said it's beyond silly that people are messing with them in 2024. Then again, vintage audio these days is pretty silly for the vast majority of people. Nostalgia is a big part of it. That's why I'm interested. Beyond that it makes no sense. I guess if it gets people listening it's a good thing. I just wish they could be honest about it and leave the ridiculous claims out of it.
Have fun.
Recording my own mix tapes for cruisin' was really a thing! I am happy that I grew up during that time and experienced it. I still have a few TDK SA90's on the shelf with titles like "Cosmic Explosions" haha. Good times. Cheers!
I have a Teac V680 3 head cassette deck, and its sister. A Tascam 103 single head deck. There is a world of difference in the sound. The 3 head deck out preforms the single head everytime. I find it funny when people bash the cassette. The funny part is that the original master recording is done on a tape. The only difference between them is the width of the tape and the speed it is played at. The quality of the deck is everything. The downfall of the cassette was the cheap walkman knock-offs, and crappy headphones. They are what made that tape sound like crap.
I have such fond memories of making mixed tapes on my Sony ES deck in the early 90s. Kevin, I'm sure you enjoyed that part of the High Fidelity movie!
Hey Kevin. The past couple of videos have been on the fuzzy side and had me cleaning my glasses, not real bad though. Glad your back after surgery and the guys did a good job.
Old guy what used to be St. Pete but now Florence SC
I got more info from that than any other podcast. Not having spent a lot of time with tapes that isn't even something I would have considered. CDs were on the horizon already when I very first started taking in music. So I only had a couple years with tapes.
I am still big with using cassettes.
I ordered my Fiio CP 13 in February
2024 and recently received mine
in mid May, and it seems to work
very well and construction seems
sold.
I started with cassettes back over
50byears ago when most friends
were using 8 Track.
I said cassettes were the future and
that was true, and now have returned. 😊
I'm using this fiio cp-13 less than 1 month and already have issue with play autostop - it has stopped working at all. It start curling tapes. So, tape transport mechanism is really poor. So, be careful, better to buy some used Walkman or panasonic in good condition
I honestly do not understand the criticism of cassettes. The technology really advanced in the late 90s with metal and chrome tapes and dolby c and s. If you have a high quality deck with a good tape, they sound fantastic.
Kevin, this indeed was a lot of FUN. When I bought my 1987 BMW 635csi (back in early 2000's) it had an Alpine tape deck. Bought a case and loaded it up w 20 + cassettes, many of which I owned as a kid. Flash forward to couple years later, someone broke into it but left a crowbar (guess they got interrupted). Responding officer asked what was missing... Just the case with all my cassettes ! Just never know where you'll find someone into vintage audio. Owned that Sony ES line up once, great deck.
I am with you basically on everything you said in this video. I got out of cassettes completely in the late 90s other than a few from my favorite bands. I recently found a very good condition Denon DRS 810 (loads like a CD) and it blew me away! Very low wah/flutter and great treble response, which is something alot of lower end decks fail to represent.
Sold all my tapes in a yard sale years ago. Kinda of regretting it now. Great video, glad you're back.
I found my old box of cassettes in the attic a couple of months ago and ended up buying a Denon dcd400 deck from a pawn shop for 50 bucks and after a bit of clean and lube it works great so I can listen to my old mixed tapes and album copies that I made on my long since dead and gone Nakamichi 481 which cost me about $800 Canadian dollars back in the early 80's. They sound pretty good on my garage system .
Prerecorded cassettes? Not for me. I always bought records (eventually CDs) and blank tapes.
My TEAC A-170S deck did a great job, as did my HK TD392.
The last time I played a tape I made in the 1980s it sounded as good as I hoped it would.
I still have some high-quality unopened blank cassettes such as TDK SA-X and Maxell UDS-II.
Someday maybe I'll again use one to make a copy of a CD or LP that is worth the effort.
Cassettes are fun as hell and with a mid level deck, some very high quality recordings can be made. Definitely a bit of nostalgia for me, but I enjoyed going through the process of recording a mixtape from LP. HOLY SHIT is that a labor of love.
First and foremost, it is great to see you up and around. The situation at hand is, what truly IS the FiiO ? Let's be honest, it is in reality a current production version of a Sony Walkman. If you could still find a Sony in REALLY GOOD shape, I bet you might very well measure the same amount of wow and flutter in it, as you did with the FiiO. As with our Sony Walkmans, all we really cared about was the portability factor of being able to take our "cool tunes" with us on the bus/plane/train. NEITHER of these portables were intended to be "quality audio". They were, as you said, fun. On the component side of things, the cassette format lent itself to be taken MUCH further than its predecessor the eight-track. High-end cassette decks progressed to "dual capstans", just like reel-to-reels did. And pre-recorded cassettes even went "high-end". Mobile Fidelity (way before "MOFI-Gate"), even sold cassettes recorded just like their records, from the original master analog tapes. Somewhere in my piles of "stuff", I actually have a MoFi copy of Steely Dan. Like your Sony, I do still have my really nice JVC cassette deck. Back to the FiiO, for a hundred bucks, I'll probably snag one of these, just for the hell of it. Glad you're healed up.... Rip
Thank, Rip!
Have several vintage cassette decks, some in near perfect condition, and some in need of attention. Best are Nakamichi R202, Pioneer CT-F1250, CT-F9191, CT-F900. Also really like a small Sony drawer type deck but don't recall model number. Hopefully cassettes will revive or at least be with us for some time to come!
I am 63, and cassettes were crap, even back in the 70's, 80's, etc. Prerecorded tapes were crap. Making mix tapes on a quality cassette deck, with quality tapes such as TDK SA, Maxell UDXL 2, Basf Cr02, was decent. These kids have Spotify, etc. There is no reason for cassettes these days.
Thanks for info on that Pioneer cassette, did not know about plastic cam. Commercial recorded cassettes are a disappointment, especially 80's - 90's, I guess they got a little better later utilizing High Bias recording. Ill stick with Maxell blanks and CD/ROM.
Just my 2 cents worth. I have about 100 prerecorded tapes still left, some got "eaten" by other cassette players (car, portables). I have a dual well deck that I record music from records, mostly compilations that I play when doing work around the house and for "background" when we have guests over. About 3 hours of music that I don't have to worry with (flipping a record over or putting another one on or CD). Usually with guest over they'll hear something they like and the usual "turn that up" or "start that from the beginning". Very enjoyable to not have to not worry with deciding what next to play or be interrupted. Makes life easy for me. And yes, I'm an old dinosaur that doesn't like "streaming" music from digital sources.
That cassette junk thing is a Radio Shack/Woolworths/Walmart/Target toy. It doesn't even hold water or rven slightly compare to Sony's DD 80's Walkman that actually sounded decent. If minuritization of reel to reel format is the intended goal REAL innovative engineering is required.
Got a decent Yamaha tape deck from Goodwill years ago (maybe decades ago?) in the garage system and I rotate some tapes through on occasion, no complaints. Still have a stack of my TDK SA90s, one album per side. Some go back to 1980 or so and they still sound good. Kind of a bummer when the album you want is on the other side and it's fully rewound but hey - that's the way the cookie crumbles.
i know a lot of people still using that deck ,never heard of having problems in makin`it work, i had the litle CT-F2121 that still looks and works as new today but my grandfather that year in the christmas gave me a CT-F1000 is still today a excelent deck if well mantained as my first receiver also from pioneer late 60´s model and phillips speakers that look so bad but incredible how good they sound today as my second reel to reel deck a akai X-165D from 1970 catalog crossfield something still plays and records today, for my surprise better than most of the cassette decks using only ferric tapes and a PL-51 turntable that looks and works as new
Glad to see Kevin is back in good shape and with a brand new nose!
I hope your recovery wasn't too bad Kevin.
Eric did a great job holding the fort while you were off.
I have quite a bunch of cassette tapes (over 100) and quite a lot of decks too (maybe 11 and 2 walkmans, some needs work)
Yes sound quality is not the greatest but it has one major thing: some albums you can't find on vinyl or they cost an arm and a leg and there you have the cassette for like less than a buck (I bought many of mine at $0.15 or $0.50 at the thrift store, some I bought back when they came out). Not all of them are available on CD or streaming...
I don't have to mow the lawn but one thing for sure, people will take their phone, a pair of bluetooth noise cancelling headphones instead of a walkman with a wired heaphones (even if it's IEM) as it will be much more convenient
But lounging on a patio, with a book and/or a drink, that would work (it would be much better than a mono bluetooth speaker IMO)
Thank you for watching and the feedback!
I use my FiiO in my car. Connection through the AUX input. I record mix tapes on my Denon deck, and record a little louder not to oversaturate the tape though. This is to compensate for road noise in a vehicle. Sounds like the 70s and 80s in my 22 Camry. Plenty of nos cassette tape on ebay.
I still have a bunch of cassettes, so I bought a vintage cassette player for my system a Pioneer CT-F500 and a Sony TC-K3. both have had the belts replaced, but the sony has a weak motor, and needs a replacement motor. If anyone has a Sony TC-K3 that is only good for parts, let me know
That Fii0 is so crappy it sounds like a pillow is over the speakers killing all the highs. My God, people would be better off looking for a Sony Walkman from the 1980's. Nice review though.
I love old cassettes, I remember listening to them in grade school and high school. At the time CD’s were expensive and cassettes were my only option. I’ve tried to re-live that nostalgia, I have a similar Sony es deck as well as other 3head decks. I’ve have old school Walkman’s and a collection of boomboxes. I’ve come to the conclusion that unless you make your own recordings on a sorted out quality 3head deck , with a quality cassette (metal being optimal) you will always be disappointed in sonic quality. Most pre recorded cassettes were horrible from the start and 40 years hasn’t don’t them any favours. I still love cassettes, and I hope younger generations can have the chance to experience them. But without the sound quality that comes with things like vinyl and reel to reel. I don’t see cassettes making any comeback beyond a niche one.
Still wish mini discs would come back. They are a great format that was just a few years ahead of its time. I have a couple of full-size player/recorders along with several portable units, and they all still work great. I have a number of mix-discs (if that's what you call them), and I just use an audio jack to play them in my car.
The Fiio's speed and w/f will improve as the motor and mechanism get some hours. The Sony is a fantastic deck. Just make sure you use it regularly. I have a Sony TC K333esj with Dolby S and love it.
I do have the Braun 1002 speakers. They do sound very good for the size and age. Only question I have, does the crossover need new caps, since mine don't seem to play to high on detail, but sound rather laid back? Many people say that the ADS speaker are usually pretty detailed.
Several potential variables in listening to the comparison between the 2 players. That said, what I heard is significant upper mid and high frequencies loss on the portable player. Point of focus is listen to the snare drum between the 2 and it's obvious. I agree 100%, cassette audio was hugely dependent on $ someone was willing to spend on the decks. Remember, just like speakers, reel to reels, and turntables we are dealing with electromechanical/electronic devices. Audio amps are mega simple and "ear" quality amps are not expensive to produce. Speakers, reel to reels, turntables, and cassettes are much more expensive to reliably produce upper end audio. I hated pre-recorded cassettes as they never sounded good to me. My routine for cassettes and albums was to clean new album, play the album once just to record them to high quality tapes on good decks, then put the new album into a high quality sleeve. Then I would play the tapes both at home and in the car. If the cassette ever gave me a problem I simply re-recorded the album on a new HQ cassette. This process protected my albums while proving great sound overall.
Those Brauns are awesome, Alot of us were totally thrown off by that ( non dome ) mid but yup its original!!! Good lookin speakers!
For those against tapes. Here are the reasons why I have tape decks:
- I can listen to my old tapes that I still have from the early 80s (some of which I have not duplicated with Vinyl, CD, and can't stream or I would have to pay to stream).
- I still find cassettes at thrift stores, estate sales, etc. They cost from nothing to $1. That gives me the opportunity to try and own something that I have never heard of or wouldn't want to pay much to own (for the same reason I buy scratchy $1 vinyl records). If it turns out that I like that music then I can still buy a better copy or stream it. I might not have ever tried it out otherwise. I love discovering new to me music.
- It's pretty easy to make a mix tape music from any of the other sources I have (vinyl, CD, other tapes). Sure, you could probably do that through your computer but it's a heck of a lot easier just to press record on your stereo system without getting a computer out.
- There are a lot of fun oddball things still found on tape on the used market (books on tape, old radio shows, etc.). I got my son into reading by listening to the first several series of Harry Potter on tape that I found at Goodwill. We listened to it on a road trip.
i also saw a video about pre-recorded cassetes but i only bought 7 my entire life normally in vacations and wanting to hear a new album, i went for a the who album after the drummer death and it´s a Polydor cassette that i remenber sounding very good ,i put it to play and it sounded real good has i remenbered when rewinding it, it broke the tape in the start, well i have to open it like i used to do but it didn´t bother me to have the trouble in doing that ,other is the first Boston lp in cassette bought in the U.S. and it sounds real good but in less than a song it dirts the heads , so i stoped playing them but i found a More album also in cassette that isn´t a very good album but it as two of my favorite pink floyd songs the nile song and Ibiza bar ,it´s the OST from a barbet schroeder movie who shows the foolness so to speak of young people at the time and shows a portrait very far from what was Ibiza at the time that i once a year in the summer used to go there and in contrast to today´s Ibiza island full of disco´s, night clubs, beach nightclubs with music ,hotels, etc. at the time was only a fishing vikllage with a church and don´t know how many but in a part of the island there were caves by the rocks in the beach where all young people used to sleep and spent there their holidays the first thing one noticed is that all were completelly naked this boys and girls from every european country and others too ,but a sea of youth and all was fairplay, if you appear with some swiming shorts ,all eyes were on you as it looked strange, but the movie is a excess of youth ignorance about the real world , i went there so many years that i can´t recall people adicted to heroin, there was a older guy who was a fisherman selling drugs but mostly at the time all wanted weed or hachiche with Marocco so near and was a symphatectic guy never saw him with a beahviour less than Polite ,at the time music was more played than hearing cassettes, 8-tracks or records there was a litle night club with music ,excelent at the time but you could enter and get out as it had two big doors all opened, if you wanted a fresh beer you paid and drink it nothing more, sometimes when two drunk kids started to fight two regular guys ,fisherman would try to separate them don´t remenber any girl being raped or any guy being beaten down as it happens today a lot,sorry for the story but i have the tendencie to writte about when talking about it,i was refering to the old but excelent pre-recorded cassette of More o.s.t. by pink floyd and remenbered those years, the first cassette deck i bought was the CT-F2121 from Pioneer as i only needed cassettes for a car i had ,everything else was recorded on reels ,my grandfather later when seeing my deck ofered me in 1976 CT-F1000 , the CT-F2121 looks new todays and is working perfect as the CT-F1000, only substituted the belts nothing else the CT-F1000 was and his still a great cassette deck and with all these years never had to be repaired only some maintenance and mainly the belts or other parts that are worn out in the play/record section, like the pinch roller
Wow Kevin what a great video you got me digging out my cassette cases I found them in the basement boxed up omg I have at least 135 of them about half of them are ones I recorded. So again I pulled out my 90s Sony deck barely used hooked it up to my ole reliable Sansui AU-717 and started to listen to them actually they sounded pretty darn good even the ones I recorded one being Aja on a Fuji chrome tape it really sounded great for being recorded in 1977 I put the date on the tape pretty shocked at how well they have survived this long I figured there would be massive dropouts but to my surprise there wasn't any.
Anyway as always great content Kevin!!! Keep it up
Thank you! Hope you have a great day of listening!
I always made mix tapes off my friends records or the radio. Could never afford the music industries products.That is why I loved walkmans and other portable players. I was the DJ and the sound quality was decent for me, still to this day.
Thanks for the review I really miss my Sony Walkman Pro D6 that thing kicked I record a lot of bands with that but it died eventually it was $350 back in the day that was a lot of money I'm glad to see a company at least making an effort thanks
Indeed. Before the portable minidisc recorders caught on, this was the way to get a good recording at the shows and I did from 95 to about 99. Then it was MD. So much better sounding and easier to use.
Only thing that is for me a bit off is when you jack in the headphones, you need to push it a lil bit for the pin to go all the way in, and when you do it feels like the inside jack is not firm its loose and will brake and fall inside.
Guys, Thanks for the shout out. Looking forward to coming out your way.
Can't wait!
I have a dual Marantz Cassette Deck and single MCS Cassette Deck. 50 something Cassettes. I rarely play them. I buy them more for decoration like you said.
I just bought a cassette deck at Goodwill. Unfortunately, it didn’t work. Anyway, great video and thanks for introducing Dust Follows to us.
You've got a really good Sony deck there. Tapes can sound very good on a good chrome or metal tape recorded from a good source (Vinyl or TR24). They will sound a lot better then these pre-recorded tapes. Cassette tapes are still fun today.
In a previous comment i deleted I said Techmoan reviewed this Fiio walkman negatively. I was wrong it was the ‘We Are Rewind’. Apologies for the mistake.
You mention that VSX - D1s in some of your other videos. They are definitely not a BPC. Got one in my collection and think it pretty darn cool. Glad to see you giving it a nod up.
I'm using this fiio cp-13 less than 1 month and already have issue with play autostop - it has stopped working at all. It start curling tapes. So, tape transport mechanism is really poor.
Yeah I'm familiar with bran I have a amplifier and a CD player someone threw away they both work sound good thanks for the video I'm screwed I'm addicted to cassettes I think I got about 4,000 I've been collecting cassette tapes since 1966 and I'm oldSome of those old high and decks sounded great have a great day I'll keep watching
Hi skylabs audio. I have a minty pioneer sx 828, exteriorly anyway, would like it to be like new again. Can you guys make that happen?
What I really wish a comeback like vinyl is the greatest format ever! is the Mini Disk.
Welcome Back Kevin! Cassettes are fun and I have several decks and walkmans . I wonder if a Sony Walkman vs this new portable makes a big difference
The FiiO makes you look pretty. Screams Billy Squier Everybody wants you deluxe cassette!
In my opinion, even the cheap sony walkmans sound better than any cassette player you can buy today, comes down to the mechanism.
Great to see you back, Kevin.
Now and then I will still take out the Toshiba KT-4066 portable cassette player I bought in 1986 or the Aiwa HS-J470 I bought in 1990 (with record!), or even one of the hundred or so 80s boomboxes around here, just to play a cassette for nostalgia.
Like you stated, they don't sound the best, but it was from a fun era (teenage / high school years) of life.
Thanks for the shout out guys.
cassette quality was $h!t lol it was all about convenience but i still love it and i'm still gonna collect them.. still looking for a decent cassette deck to add to my collection.
I am also going through my cassettes to re-sell ,for sure test play is recommended ,the tapes can get ''odd'' .... lol
Still play my cassette’s from time to time.
I need to it out my old Sony Sports Walkman and see if it still works. 😀🇨🇦
The young need to be exposed to something other than a phone. I'm happy that quality cassette decks are starting to appear.
from I know, high speed and azimuth are typical issues for CP-13.
any chance you'll have a Sansui 9090 or Pioneer SX-1250 shirt soon?
Great to see ya up-to-speed Kevin! Next time test a Nakamichi Dragon with the new cassettes.
come on, this small FiiO cant be compare to 870 Sony, its like to say Volkswagen is similar to Maseratti. I do have this 870 and around 100 cassette deck players (sony, yamaha, denon, technics, Nakamichi, Akai, Marantz etc) and this sony is one of the best of all of them so dont say is similar, in reality FiiO is not even close to that. ps on your measurements at the ent the grath is showing a peak signals so Bass, as you know high frequencies are never equally to bass in records but mutch lover and you wont see high frequencies and sonically on any mensurements. other wise good deck wopuld be never produced and we all will have cheap sh...t players is are so close to high end players.
Both cars get you from A to B. The FIIO and the Sony both play cassettes. Your outrage might be more preposterous than either analogy or someone owning 100 cassette decks... But hey it's the Internet you are entitled to your opinion and so am I. Gotta love it! :)
I had too many tapes ruined by malfunctioning tape decks.
Cassettes are mini time capsules. I can't believe that the ones I recorded radio programs on from the early 70's still play.
That Sony deck looks really nice. Anything with an "ES" suffix usually meant higher build quality over non-ES units. It's a 3-head deck with Dolby HX-Pro, so it ought to make great-sounding mix tapes! I don't see where it has automatic bias, though -- the one feature that usually made an audible difference. While I usually preferred Sony products to Pioneer, the Pioneer CT-9R 3-head deck (1981) with automatic bias was just outstanding. I always ran the auto-bias setup ["Auto BLE"] before starting to record a new tape. You hit a button & the deck would start the tape in "record," send signals onto the tape, pick them back up as recorded, make real-time adjustments, then rewind the tape back to its starting position, all in a matter of about 8 seconds. It was probably the best-sounding deck I ever owned.
P.S. I went to look at other user reactions -- I'm not sure I would recommend searching out a used CT-9R. Seems they are tempermental to keep working and are difficult to repair. That's too bad. The next year's model [CT-90R] also had the Auto BLE setup, but in a more conventional-looking physical layout. Not sure if it shared the same bugaboos.
But just about any decent, more conventionally-built 70s deck would be fine, if all you want to do is play tapes you already have.
Not sure if anyone has ever felt an audio orgasm, but wow. I purchased an old set of Bose TriPort Headphones on Amazon, popped in my Moody Blues (Other Side of Life Cassette) and jacked into my FIIO CP13. OMFG. I never experienced such an amazing distribution of sound from my all-time favorite band on a cassette player. This wouldn’t have been possible without the FIIO and Bose headset. Strike me for whatever you want, but even my high-end phones don’t produce this amazing sound. To much base, etc. … Sometimes old school is still the best.
Cassettes, it's a love'n'hate rlationship . When CDs came mid 80's they were just so expesive! I could borrow them at the local library and filled tons of TDK SA90 and SA100 with them. Most of them were replaced by the actual CDs later. Tapes were also good for on the go, the portable and CAR CD players were expensive and initially skippped too much untill electronic shock protecction was developed. Untill that time tape ruled. Never cared for pre-recorded tapes.
Tapes hiss, W&F on the go and the nuisance of having to fast forward and rewind made me jump into CD recording as soon as it was possible.
I recorded a tape not so long ago, on my Aiwa 3-headed deck. I first needed to replace the belt, did that together with my 14y/o son. Then we made a mix-tape Guardians of the Galaxy style. It's was a vary satisfying experience, out of pure nostalgia and that feeling of craftmanship. Loved that experience...
Unfortunately my KISS cards were ruined in a house flood from a broken pipe. Along with thousands of baseball and football cards.
Bummer!