Hey, so I got a bunch of cassettes I’ve bought from bandcamp over the years, and I don’t really have a decent solution for listening to them. I know there’s a cassette thread on Elektronauts, but I’d like to home in specifically and focused on portable cassette players today - the Walkman revival.
The only one I’m finding that seems to be a serious modern attempt is the We Are Rewind, but it’s getting slammed in reviews - by people who take their cassetting seriously, though, and it’s hard to know how much is an acquired taste when it comes to just enjoying a cassette and really being able to tell the difference between modern players.
So I don’t know. Do you guys know of any options? Or if I want to go for something manufactured today, is the We Are Rewind my only serious portable option?
I’ve dipped in and out of the cassette world but my understanding is that anything made in the last 20 years is rubbish.
However, if you want tape aesthetic I don’t think you need to worry about that, as I suspect you’d quite like a bit of wow and flutter. It’s more an issue if you want hi fidelity!
Well, I mean, I’m buying music made today with whatever tech is used to get it to tape, so as close to the intended experience as possible is what I’m after, I suppose.
I actually found one more, Recording the Masters. They seem to take their shit seriously. Decently priced too.
I think the problem is the mechanisms - I’ve watched a few techmoan videos where he’s talked about it - the factories that made anything decent simply don’t exist any more. My understanding is you’re best off buying something from the 80s/90s and having it serviced.
If you’re prepared to shell out for something and have it serviced it’s already going to be expensive so it may as well be something with a decent record function so in the event you want to record some of your own music to cassette for the novelty of it you have that option. I have a few older walkman units from my youth that still work but I’ve been on watch for a good opportunity on a Marantz 3 head recorder/player - they are larger than walkman size though. Arguably the best walkman sized walkman is the WM-D6C which is a professional grade recorder in a walkman package but good luck finding one for less than the cost of your arm and part of your leg.
Outside of that I’m sure there’s some virtual shouting match you can get into on any number of forums over what other options available would be better than others, but a lot of it is mostly nostalgia and collectability.
I’m not aware of any modern “walkman” that is currently as good as anything old and rebuilt, but if you don’t care thhhaat much about the concept of “good”, you can certainly buy the stuff you’re talking about already and not have to worry about it eating your collector edition tapes, needing more service in the near future, or the cost of replacing it if it did die on you.
If you want to find a classic vintage cassette player for a decent price, I’ve found that Goodwill auctions (shopgoodwill.com) goes through a ton for < $20.
I picked up a 1990s Technics from a local place that sells reconditioned hifi gear, and also repairs it. That’s not a portable though. In fact, the guy warned me about portables being harder to repair and maintain.
If it’s for playback only, Aiwa, Sharp, and Panasonics from the 1990s were good, and you can sometimes find them in almost unused condition.
Anything modern will most likely have the Tanashin tape mechanism which are not too great, my advice if you don’t need a recorder is get a 80’s or 90’s Walkman - Sony, Aira, Panasonic, Marantz, Philips, Sanyo or similar mid to high end can still be found for reasonable prices, especially if you look in thrift stores or pawn shops etc, or a hi-fi deck from that period (+if you want recording, often a bit cheaper) you can get a decent 3 head Aiwa, Akai, Sony etc for about €100 I would think.
Totally worth having a half decent one, totally not worth getting a shit modern one, the wow and flutter and sound quality will be pants.
This doesn’t have Dolby or anything fancy but it’s got a mic, a speaker, 2 variable speed knobs, some kind of noise circuit effect and fm radio. When I listen to normal tapes it sounds… like a tape. Found it on Etsy
There’s a curious/sadistic part of me that would love to see Teenage Engineering make a £1500 walkman.
If I was looking for a portable cassette recorder now, I would be looking at the old Marantz outside-broadcast units… they were in use longer than most people realise by reporters because of their reliability.
That’s roughly what the high end decks cost, back in the '80s. Adjusting for inflation, that should be something like half a million modern global credits today.
Would definitely be curious. As well as playback, I’d like to see it have built in stereo mic, 4 tracks, and do double duty as a portable mini analogue tape delay like that trex replicator pedal from a few years back. That’d be worth 1500 of your local buying units.
