An Example of Why Audiophiles are Still Full of Crap

The perfect examples of audiophiles being full of crap is the Fiio CP13 cassette player!
IN STOCK ON AMAZON! amzn.to/44uaihK (affiliate cash grab!)
Support the Channel! Shop on Amazon amzn.to/3W8vsgK
Crutchfield shop-links.co/...
Join the best hifi community out there! / cheapaudioman
TRY ROON
Tidal Deal bit.ly/3siuqSF
Amazon Unlimited Music Trial amzn.to/3DRAVj9
Crutchfield shop-links.co/...
Best Buy Deals shop-links.co/...
amzn.to/3GkNaop
CAM Store (New Products!) bit.ly/30Lgu4K
apos.audio?sca_ref=552340.TY98BPcZ6P
massdrop.7eer....
Amazon Unlimited Music Trial amzn.to/3DRAVj9
Tidal Deal bit.ly/3fQvNkq
www.patreon.com/cheapaudioman
High Res Music Streaming for FREE!!!!
Amazon Music Unlimited Free Trial amzn.to/3fiiMPC
Test Track Playlist:
music.amazon.c...
Satanic Panic Playlist:
music.amazon.c...
Leg Warmers Playlist
music.amazon.c...
cheapaudioman
If you click on this link and sign up for a free trial I will receive a small referral fee.
If you use any of my links to purchase products I will receive a small commission on the sale of that item. Won’t cost you any more to purchase with the link.
Recommended Streamer
WIIM Mini amzn.to/33CL99w
Bluesound Node shop-links.co/...
Recommended Speaker List
Around $100 (These prices will fluctuate between $75 - $150)
Sony SSCS5 - Lively amzn.to/3pZNnGk
Neumi BS5 -Neutral amzn.to/3q0SR3B
Elac BS41 amzn.to/3SBmEgq
Around $200
Emotiva Airmotiv B1+ - Crystal Clear and Punchy emotiva.com?aff=9
Jamo Concert howl.me/cf295u...
Elac Debut b5.2 - Neutral amzn.to/2WPNQxw
JBL Stage A130 - Neutral/Great All Arounder at $179 the best value amzn.to/3t7gOHe
Around $400
Emotiva B2+ emotiva.com?aff=9
Jamo C93ii Bit - Boosted on Top howl.me/cf295u...
Q Acoustics 3030i - Neutral with Punch - amzn.to/2OQkpLo
Around $500
SVS Prime bit.ly/2LozJgF
Wharfedale Diamond 12.2 bit.ly/2ZckoD9
Wharfedale Denton 80th amzn.to/3Sv8RIq
Around $600
Elac Uni-Fi UB5.2 - Neutral amzn.to/3s3srPG
Elac Debut Reference - Buttery but Detailed amzn.to/39bt6WC
Polk Reserve R100/200 howl.me/cf29Ue...
Aperion Novus - Neutral and probably the best desktop speaker one can get $599 bit.ly/2Q1H9rW
Aperion Novus Open Box $449 bit.ly/3us8zGx
Wharfedale Diamonds Lush and Detailed amzn.to/3aBAso0 Come as singles
Recommended Amp List
Under $100
Aiyima A07 - Neutral and Full amzn.to/3g9YLNf
Fosi Audio V3 - Extremely Clean - Audiophile Sound (Best Amp under $250) amzn.to/3rhrpDL
Fosi Audio TB10D amzn.to/43cJtwh
Fosi Audio BT20a Pro amzn.to/3r8pgdH
Around $130
Aiyima T9 amzn.to/3F8eOb6
Around $250
SMSL DA-9 Balanced Amp amzn.to/34SdbLs
Around $400
Emotiva TA1 - DAC, Phono Stage, Pre Outs - Balanced and Tasty emotiva.com?aff=9
Recommended DACs
Geshelli Labs J2 geshelli.com/p...
SMSL SU8s amzn.to/2SWTGiw
Denafrips Ares 2 www.denafrips....
Subs
Emotiva SE8 emotiva.com?aff=9
Emotiva SE12 emotiva.com?aff=9
SVS SB1000 Pro bit.ly/3scmwsc

[@christopheratkins9677]

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.

[@ianwilliams7740]

this ... this guy gets it

[@EHiggins]

Truth

[@n.o.b.s.8458]

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.

[@christiangonzalez6945]

Great false dichotomy.

[@uiopuiop3472]

me when searching for something on the pirate bay: search results: 5:28

[@davshavu]

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.

[@michaelwright1602]

Too funny, I have had the Amazon Music Motown station on all day here in Detroit. ;-)

[@MasterofPlay7]

It's true, hifi is about electricity

[@allanflippin2453]

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.

[@larrysmith5413]

Amen

[@CoasterMan13Official]

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.

[@Rickyp0123]

Seeing USB-C on a cassette device, although it makes perfect sense, gave me such a shock.

[@jackjowett902]

Give me AAs or give me death

[@fordesponja]

@@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.

[@Spractral]

Add some convenience to your inconvenience

[@Solitaire001]

@@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.

[@dxtremecaliber]

@@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

[@SteveHuffer]

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.

[@ChrisStoneinator]

Scariest part is I can't even be certain you're joking!

[@SteveHuffer]

@@ChrisStoneinator I'll never tell.

[@albanana683]

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'.

[@jsc315]

They've always made solid products

[@ChrisStoneinator]

@@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.

[@jimlnkfrd]

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.

[@pervertedalchemist9944]

Within the last decade, new albums have been released on cassette - first by indie labels and then the majors followed suit.

[@alanross99]

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.

[@Laz_Arus]

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.

[@erictheblue7256]

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😁

[@mmgee]

Cassette is nostalgia it wasn’t high Fidelity in the 70s or 80s or ever

[@eaches]

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

[@ericboehm4529]

💯

[@kingkongz88]

Fun with loads of good memories and no one sitting in your car with you moaning that you need a better thingymabob. Just fun.

[@mikel5582]

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.

[@kingkongz88]

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.

[@jontpt]

8-track players didn't sound bad at all. The format was just inconvenient

[@HGSolberg]

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.

[@jaycoleman8062]

I've got a few mix tapes from the early 80s recorded on decent equipment.

[@ngtflyer]

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.

[@chocholatemilkshake4799]

This.

[@ralfwalter3923]

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.

[@Norman-bone13]

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. 🎶😎

[@Norman-bone13]

… and I wholeheartedly agree w/your comment.

[@ralfwalter3923]

@@Norman-bone13 I like that term "musicophile"!

[@mattjones7547]

Facts

[@DataHoarders]

😂

[@gregbartosik5372]

I think a lot of people are forgetting that it's all about enjoying listening to music not concentrating on equipment

[@SamuelBarrPhotography]

Amen.

[@thelowprofile9767]

They are not forgetting. They are just full of crap.

[@Mark-fs7ok]

What!? Isn't music for evaluating this month's audio device purchase?

[@Solitaire001]

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.

[@tylerhackman6832]

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.

[@rmzidann]

I never bought any prerecorded cassette tapes back in the 80s but I sure as hell made a ton of recordings from my LPs on high quality TDK and Maxell cassette tapes for my car. Good days!

[@DAVID-io9nj]

Yes, the OG "mixtape". I did my share of them. How else could we have music on the go?

[@garytempleton5097]

Me too!

[@jamiegolden7093]

Yup. That's how we did it; play your record once to tape it and listen on cassette. On your tape deck, on your Walkman, and in your car. TDK-SA90 was my weapon of choice. I have a refurbished Walkman and listen to cassettes from time to time because (I'm even older than Randy) it makes me happy. Great piece, Randy!

[@kenneths.perlman1112]

Chrome and Dolby C

[@CraigHollabaugh]

dBX was the way to go back then.

[@rightwingsafetysquad9872]

No auto-stop on rewind seems like a bit of a problem, but if it makes someone happy, good for them.

[@jim_wiley]

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!

[@pervertedalchemist9944]

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.

[@cvvv6166]

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 ) 😊

[@MKL_D]

Hey! play nice, I am the Pope of those people. Who will I anoint should they start listening to music? 😁

[@philipkershaw7918]

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.

[@donjohnstone3707]

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.

[@petpot6908]

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

[@RockwellAIM65]

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.

[@TheVintageNewbie]

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 😎

[@richardsmith5673]

I still have most of my tapes from highschool and I'm 60 :)

[@TorontoJon]

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.

[@andee7255]

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. 👍😎👍

[@chief8852]

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 👍

[@Drackleyrva]

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).

[@Oldcrow77]

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.

[@LordWaterBottle]

Society really is Anakin Skywalker.

[@BrainHurricanes]

Miss my aiwa with bass boost button on the door, it was the last walkman I owned.

[@donjohnstone3707]

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.

[@MohsinWadee]

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.

[@eaches]

Getting irritated about what someone else is doing with their money is kind of stupid, yes?

[@pervertedalchemist9944]

You would be surprised at how often this happens - especially if said person has endless disposable income.

[@Enixious99]

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.

[@AzngameFreak03]

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.

[@jukingeo]

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]

The problem is I am trusting the Cheapaudioman" ears and listening skills to purchase my next amp. There are no stores to go to for this stuff; and even if there was, it is not a listening room with my room acoustics or speakers. So, I lost my trust in him as soon as he claimed enjoyment listening to cassette. There is a huge advantage to testing new equipment in your home giving you a baseline acoustic room reference to all the new equipment inserted into YOUR chain of components.

[@proxytag]

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.

[@joshdieckmann595]

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.

[@WSS_the_OG]

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. :)

[@Stormpix]

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!

[@WSS_the_OG]

@@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]

Those CrO2 tapes were great. The problem was trying to re-record over them, LOL!

[@WSS_the_OG]

@@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.

[@Stormpix]

@@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. :)

[@eRocko808]

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

[@pervertedalchemist9944]

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.

[@Theupgradeguy]

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.

[@gcb2home]

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.

[@Techfanatic73]

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.

[@mattjones7547]

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?

[@DarenLee]

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. 😉

[@wiggyjones]

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.

[@chriwri]

I love cassettes! I'm having the same reaction as you are with them. It what I use to listen to as well in the 8o's... Several months ago bought a vintage cassette deck and am now trying to build my collection of tapes that I used to have. This is such a great hobby.

[@marzcapone9939]

Just imagine the arguments IF they had made a high end portable cassette player.

[@cheapaudioman]

People’s heads would spin off

[@SamuelBarrPhotography]

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.

[@sivalon1]

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.

[@MohsinWadee]

It's an expensive toy. Nice colour though.

[@MichaelOxborrow]

A Sony TC-124 portable was a revelation. Battery powered, could have music anywhere, and I could RECORD music anywhere (which was handy as I was a musician in a band). Tape Cassettes - Gotta love em'! Thanks to that cassette tape recorder, I have, and still listen to, music I helped make many decades ago!

[@scanman84]

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.

[@pervertedalchemist9944]

I have two 1986 Harman Kardon tape decks that still sound great after all these years.

[@TorontoJon]

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. :)

[@TorontoJon]

@@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. :)

[@scanman84]

@@TorontoJon So, I'm not the only one. I just love tape decks and vintage gear!

[@donvittoriosierra]

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

[@starker1971]

Thank You for this Randy. My first vehicle was an 88 Toyota 2wd pickup. I found a way to stuff some 8" sub based MTX kick boxes behind the seat. I had some MEI 6x9 back there too. I had 2 driver MEI surface mount tweeters stuffed in the seat covers to the outside of the headrests. I ran the stereo cassette into a couple of Pyramid EQ/amps so capacity for 8 speakers. Lots of cheap crap built up over time. It was rocking the cassettes. One of which began with "Bad Seamstress Blues/Fallin' Apart at the Seams" Kick boxes kicking. I might still have the cassette stuffed in a case logic zip-up somewhere. I haven't seen the mess regarding the cassette player review. I am into CD's now. I would like to find my Cassettes. I guess as long as anyone knows the lacking quality that comes with cassettes, (it's foolish to assume they aren't already aware), it makes no sense to fuss over anyone's idea of a good time. While I am CD hunting at thrift stores, I see people looking through cassettes. I think cool, more CD's for me :) I must add: There is a younger generation that may not know the nature of cassettes, who may be buying a player for the purpose of collecting cassettes. I think those of us who pretty much abandoned cassettes for the quality of CD's should probably make sure they are informed. There is a correct way of doing this. Probably lead with, I am not going to assume you don't already know but if not, I don't want you to find out the hard way.

[@TonkyTronicus]

There are plenty of people out there who go around craving confrontation because it's the only social interaction they get.

[@donjohnstone3707]

How dare you describe me as craving confrontation!

[@mikechristensen1285]

Slightly hypocritical dude…. You, cheapaudioman, are the king of absolutist statements (especially with your thumbnails) about how the latest chi-fi release “destroys” or “embarrasses” and make expensive hi-fi is obsolete or whatever. It’s okay to like a thing because it’s fun, or a good deal.. but you’re on the other side of the pendulum swing most times, “if you spend more you’re dumb, or a sucker, cheap is always better!”

[@TorontoJon]

Lighten up, Mike. Using terms like "destroys" or "embarrasses" helps the algorithms and attracts more clicks and views and it is incredible when an affordable unit can give a more high-end unit a run for its money. Plus, the law of diminishing returns kicks into overdrive eventually when one pays a fortune for gear.

[@jamesmichael900]

@@TorontoJon yeah, that's true and CAM knows it. Shiii...he's perfected the practice of "helping" the algo. Most of the people who follow his advice aren't savvy enough to understand what's happening, and if they start to suspect it, he'll just admit to it and ask why they're mad. It's genius. The kool-aid is being straight piped right into their veins. He says it's great, it's better than the whatever thing he's probably never even heard (this week) and they buy it. They just don't realize they're the frog in the pot. Some do and they've called him on it. Then you get a video like this.

[@crodoc69]

One of your best videos! You nailed it!

[@salvadormarquezjr5597]

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

[@TorontoJon]

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. :)

[@steveosgood9182]

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. .

[@DeputatKaktus]

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.

[@SurnaturalM]

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.

[@Kalvinjj]

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.

[@Max_Mustermann]

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.

[@mrnmrn1]

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!

[@brianconneranweig1772]

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!!

[@VintageLuxmanStereoCollector]

Nice video Randy and love your passion. It’s tough doing what you do sharing your passion with others via social media. Loved your Malaysia vid too. Last night I opened (still in shrink wrap) Donald Fagen’s “Kamakiriad”. It’s a “digalog” from Warner. Sounds great! I just had my 1990 Luxman K351 cassette deck totally restored. Has Dolby B & C and HX Pro. The head can be reversed on the fly and it will search for gaps between tracks too. Also had my 1979 Pioneer CT-F950 deck restored 2 months ago. I use a 300B single ended triode (8-watt) tube amp and it really improves the sound quality. I’ve been collecting tapes on and off for the last 9 years since I retired. It’s nice to be back in the game with cassettes. Almost ready to pull the trigger and buy a Fiio. Crazy Lenny’s HiFi vid led me to your vid👍👍

[@Sunshine_Superman]

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.

[@pervertedalchemist9944]

Some of the second hand cassettes go for a pretty penny these days.

[@tomdavis6371]

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!

[@roundelrider]

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!

[@quickdraw1216]

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.

[@JoshColletta]

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.

[@slipperyj6155]

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.

[@1QKGLH]

Man, your cassette show and tell took me down memory lane. Just seeing the album art make me hear the songs on the album.

[@punkhillbilly3869]

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!

[@hanaya4163]

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!

[@pervertedalchemist9944]

I never got rid of my cassettes and I still listen to them.

[@trudimcleod5042]

CDs sound better than most sources of streaming.

[@DeputatKaktus]

Thank you. This video needed making. ❤

[@emailshafihusain]

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.

[@geraldmartin7703]

Nostalgia isn't what it used to be.

[@rogervd666gamer]

I'm still using my almost 40 year old tape deck, people ask "why use this old crap", then I say "BECAUSE I LIKE IT" and have fun. My house my tape 😂

[@SybrKnite]

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.

[@butlerwm]

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.

[@stevengagnon4777]

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 KZbin music these days I think that it sounds better taped on a type I.

[@DrBovdin]

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.

[@MFWolfman]

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.

[@JohnKelly2]

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".

[@davidbono9359]

+1 for JB's Analog. I visited for the first time about a month ago, and was seriously tempted by the cassette tape selection!

[@garytrudeau2291]

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.

[@larrysmith5413]

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.

[@marcod24]

Why would anyone think any cassette player is an audiophile item? No cassette is a match to a good digital audio or vinyl. Not metal, not chrome, not ferro. It's useless in this time and a waste of time to listen to anything on a cassette. If there is someone enjoying a sound of a cassette chewing the drums and spitting them in the mouth of a beautifully recorded vocal, I want to hear what they hear that is such a joy. What is good about it, besides nostalgia for 2 minutes?

[@j.tarner9093]

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!

[@pervertedalchemist9944]

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.

[@tubefreeeasy]

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.

[@user-aRb00d3r]

when i read this, i doubt if i am a "millenial" or GenX, because i had a lot of cassette experience... except sharing, tbh.

[@jwr6796]

I burned my girlfriend a CD in college...

[@Jacksonpt99]

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.

[@TorontoJon]

Randy, I agree that having a portable cassette player like the FiiO CP13 is all about having fun and rediscovering one's cassette collection. Yesterday, I was testing another cassette player, an all-plastic FIOLEES SM-216 purchased at the same time I bought the FiiO CP13, and I really had a blast being reacquainted with my cassette tapes. I particularly got a kick out of hearing a Rhino release of 'Tube Tunes Volume Two' which included various TV tunes like 'Welcome Back Kotter', 'Wonder Woman', 'Charlie's Angels', 'S.W.A.T.', 'Magnum P.I.', etc. That's the point of playing cassettes and having portable cassette players; to have FUN. :)

[@DaveLanki]

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.

[@jimfarrell4635]

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.

[@BlackMoonGaming]

​@@jimfarrell4635without going to Japan you just need to look at Compass Box offering (high quality and sometimes high price blends)

[@Sunshine_Superman]

@@jimfarrell4635 or a SMWS blend. Never had a bad one.

[@RockandRoll0U812]

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!

[@clarencehoover6748]

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.

[@audiophoolz9413]

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!

[@weswheel4834]

Imagine if someone had to make a video justifying why they liked listening to vinyl.

[@weswheel4834]

(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 :)

[@intothevoid9831]

They do, all of the time.

[@Rob1972Gem]

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

[@mikel5582]

I think your assessment at 10:14 is pretty accurate. The "hate" and "negativity" are just honest opinions, often delivered with a touch of humor, from viewers who enjoy your channel. I was born before the audio cassette was invented and happily used that format when it came to prominence. It offered portability, the ability to record, and longer play time, which were wonderful advancements. I'm actually looking at several full Napa-style 100 slot racks in the corner of my living room as I type this. Somehere along the line I got a crappy a Lloyd's brand portable cassette player with equally crappy headphones that would have been great if I could have afforded to buy AA batteries by the caseload. I lacked the funds to buy a Sony Walkman CD player when they came out but the invention of the I-Pod was a game changer. Long battery life (and rechargable), plenty of storage capacity, *_and_* they were super lightweight and portable. *_That_* was the single most important advancement in recorded music since Edison, i m.o. Your channel allows comments. People have opinions and sometimes feel like expressing them. It's all good. Cassettes, 8-tracks, 78 RPMs, suitcase record players, AM radio, singing in the shower, etc. If it tickles your fancy, enjoy it and don't sweat the small stuff.

[@eaches]

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.

[@patricknaville4564]

Over the last 5 years I have had my late father’s Teac reel to reel repaired bought a Pioneer tape deck for my use and bought and gifted 5 other various tape decks to friends. Music is meant to be shared and enjoyed.

[@stuartmaguire]

Love this content and also your watch collection 👌🏻

[@PhillyBosoxFan]

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!

[@elpayp1870]

Hearing music through two paper cups connected by a string has a certain “charm” that reminds me of my childhood

[@pmrsfr]

😂

[@TorontoJon]

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! :)

[@SuperWooba]

If I remember right, the clear tapes always sounded way better than the white ones. I got an old Sanyo cassette deck that I want to restore and record all my favorite albums off of Spotify ... for my post apocalyptic pleasure. 😎

[@TorontoJon]

It's not the colour of the cassette tape housing (clear, white, black, red, etc.) that determines sound quality; it's the darkness of the tape itself that can determine the quality of the magnetic tape mix. The darker the tape, generally, the better the quality of the tape material, so the better the potential quality of the recording, so I don't know what you mean about clear tapes sounding better when clear tape is just tape leader and has no music on it and is not capable of recording anything.

[@TorontoJon]

After the Apocalypse, most electronics won't function at all due to electro-magnetic pulses destroying electronics (EMP's) unless you keep everything protected in a Faraday cage, so it really won't matter which format one prefers because there won't be any internet for Spotify or KZbin, etc, no electricity to power anything, and nobody manufacturing batteries to keep vintage portable players functioning in the long-term either, so enjoy any format you love and for as long as possible. :)

[@superdougie10]

Does this little unit have a source out besides the headset? I have lots of tapes I need to place onto a digital format of any kind to preserve their content.

[@richh650]

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.

[@annoyingneighbor4928]

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.

[@keithkamps77]

People are assholes, I as born in 1966 and have & still use my Onkyo double cassette player/recorder because I have a bunch of great music on that platform. It's not always about the fidelity but about the emotion. Great video brother!!!!!!!!!!!

[@mattupload5808]

I was born in '66 too brother. Rock on!!

[@johndonovan9234]

Teased my perm, put my leg warmers on and got my new cassette tape! Its the same as the kids going retro with gaming. It brings back the great memories!! Keep telling us about the hifi toys! I also bought the portable CD player! Now if they could only provide something that brings my hair back. Keep informing us of cool things in audio.

[@Rad_Dan]

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.

[@donatj]

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...

[@jorgeehernandez6930]

Yeah everyone said that too me. I have a Sony ex622 coming soon. Hopefully my tapes will sound better.

[@lanzer22]

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.

[@TheTrueVoiceOfReason]

Why those comments? Its the HiFi community. Can't say anymore.

[@ONESIXTHCAVE]

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.

[@allanflippin2453]

I think I've figured out what's up with this cassette thing and also the very cheap turntable before it: 1) It's a troll Us non-patreons and non channel members know that Randy is ignoring what we say most of the time. So we don't usually comment much. These troll videos are guaranteed to get a pile of responses 2) It's some kind of poll of the general viewing public. Randy can use the aggregate of our comments to judge our attitude toward high fidelity in general. If most folks don't care a lot about it, Randy can focus more on extreme value stuff ala Fosi Audio. If a lot of folks are more concerned with the nuances of quality audio, he can spend the effort on pursuing quality even when it costs more.

[@SumbaListens]

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.

[@feedboy2112]

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.

[@pervertedalchemist9944]

People like that live by confirmation bias. The problem is they will not accept being wrong...which is a lot of the time.

[@ReticentXS]

100% this

[@MitchGurowitz]

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.

[@TorontoJon]

Well said, Mitch, and an excellent analogy too. :)

[@PaulHaussler-bs1qi]

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

[@doegywhail728]

I’d like to know how many plays of a cassette you get from that player before the batteries go. Is the same sort of time as the old 80’s ones and you have to resort to the old pencil rewind device to save on power consumption.

[@boscodooley8561]

I recently had some one give me their old record collection. While I was cleaning and play testing them I came across Culture Club. I knew their hits but never heard anything else of them. So I put the record on and I was having a few beers found myself digging it. I was shocked. I was like damn Culture Club is pretty damn good.