New TASCAM 202ᴍᴋVII cassette deck - Detailed review

[@ewoutbuhler5217]

So I recently dug up my old Aiwa ADF880 cassette deck, just to demonstrate to my 14 y/old son. He was interested as he saw Guardians of the Galaxy and wanted to make a mix-tape :). A trip down memory lane, allthough looked like a dead-end as the deck was in almost complete no-motion. It wiggled a little but didn't start playback. Sure enough, the belt set was toast, completely liquified. Yes, a project! Found the belts, ordered and got to work with son. Great exercise, trying to scrub liquid rubber off the flywheel. It worked out well, he made a mix-tape on a brand-new cassette I still had (yes, taking off the wrapper, hmm). If you have been playing around burning your own CDs in the late nineties, then moving to MP3 players and finally into the todays streaming age, it's kinda neat doing this again. Great history lesson! But practical? Not really

[@HiPHOPx87]

Awesome. I love cassette tapes

[@KuntalGhosh]

I was making mix dvds after ripping audios from my dads huge cd collection & selecting my favourite tracks then converting them to mp3 & burning them to 4.7gb dvds that i would play at home or in dad's car. The last one i did was in 2015 & i was 12yo backthen. I still have the last dvd & two reels of sealed dvds & cds i will probably never open in next 30yrs.

[@george78779]

I wish Technics will start producing cassette decks.....

[@guillermoadcox01]

Still have my 1990 Technics dual cassette deck.

[@patrickjmorgan]

A used Pioneers a good bet- ebay or similar.

[@AMadcapCow]

Just bought a 1986 Technics the other day for $5. Love it

[@stevesstuff1450]

Likewise! I have a RS-TR575 Dual Cassette Deck which was high-end back in '94-ish.... still works perfectly - no head wear, and even has auto tape callibration so it can adapt to various types of tape nicely.... It's not a top-quality 3-head machine sadly, but it still makes fantastic recordings, and only cost me about £100 brand new a year or so ago...(and you should see the dual heavyweight flywheels on each deck!!)......so good as that Tascam/Teac machine is, there are still some fabulous 'retro' bargains to be had....

[@izools]

Just never buy a NAD cassette deck. They've made some beautiful amps and CD players but boy their cassette decks 😳👀

[@disappointednep-nep2430]

This is probably one of the best modern cassette decks that uses the Tanashin mechanism in terms of features.

[@funkybuddha5604]

Unboxing videos are not stupid. They are very enjoyable to watch and are useful to potential buyers. It's very therapeutic and relaxing to watch somebody unbox a product. It's useful to see what accessories come with the product as well as how the product is packaged, especially if someone is considering having the item shipped. Also to see what kind of setup is required if you are planning to buy it as a gift.

[@vwestlife]

But there are plenty of other kinds of videos you can get your ASMR from.

[@darinb.3273]

​​@@vwestlifeI see that your post is 5 years ago 😊, I just wanted to share my experience concerning type IV tape. I bought a couple (literally a 2 pack) just to try them out. Personally my hearing wasn't good enough to distinguish the difference between type II and type IV. Anyway on to my experience trying them. Mine as mentioned a two pack brand new. The deck if memory serves was a Radio Shack Optimus single well auto reverse "I think" SCT-88. As I did my research for belt replacement (yep, the original turned to tar/black goo). It was essentially a rebranded Awia RD-40. It couldn't completely blank the type IV (if I re-recorded it), however the initial recording was great. As I understood type IV's main purpose was to archive recordings because the tape formula was not as prone to fade (loose the recorded signal) or be damaged by potential stray magnetic fields.

[@sternwheeler]

I love the irony of an alignment cassette with a misaligned label.

[@peacearchwa5103]

Two years later, I still found this review very useful. One aspect of the 202 MkVII which you overlooked was the tape-to-PC digital conversion. There seems to be an industry agreement designed to deter illegal duplication of digital audio CDs, limiting their digital output to 128kbps MP3 (i.e. the TASCAM CD-A580). Because this unit and the TEAC W-1200 only use analog cassette sources, the USB digital output can support higher-resolution file types such as WAV and FLAC. As for sound quality, I think this unit is comparable to most entry-level cassette decks of the 1980s including dual-well unit, which is to say it's a pretty good stereo deck if not TOTL. The well-used vintage TOTL decks from the "good old days" are going to be very hard and expensive to repair due to lack of parts and shrinking number of qualified repair techs, but this TASCAM and TEAC will probably be easily maintained and supported for many years to come. If I wanted a brand-new deck, I'd buy the W-1200.

[@defiverr4697]

but is it as good as a Nakamichi MR-2?

[@peacearchwa5103]

@@defiverr4697 IMHO, No.

[@continentalgin]

I stopped short of buying a vintage machine off of eBay because let's face it, those machines from the late 70's really weren't designed to last 50 years. Like anything else, they wear out and become too fragile. I want a new model, but will wait a couple of years to see if we get any better choices. I might get a MiniDisc thru eBay just for the fun factor.

[@grownjohnboy]

I am expecting mine this month. I ordered it a year ago. It is my intention to put this to use transferring my cassette and record collection to digital and onto flash drives. All of my vehicles have CD players and USB unputs. My Nakamichi needs to be warmed up and then it may just quit. I look forward to enjoying the 300+ 90 minute Maxell UD xl tapes I recorded so many albums on through the 80's and 90's.

[@CoolDudeClem]

Good ol' cassette tapes, I hope this format never dies for good.

[@BilisNegra]

Agreed. But at the same time, I wish it never makes a massive comeback with cheap china junk stuff like the way records have.

[@nakamichi682zx]

Well, CoolDudeClem, luckily your hope is going to be granted. In fact, it already has been. NAC is churning out literally millions of cassettes, blank and pre-recorded every year. There are thousands of new fans all over the world every day when they discover they can hold something in their hands that contains the music.... Humans will always be humans and somehow, they like things they can hug...

[@richardbates2367]

Marc Hugo Hitachi for being considered low in back then was actually better than what some other manufacturers were producing.

[@nakamichi682zx]

Very true CabinDoor. A thousand downloads is worth nothing really. What can be touched and held up has value. "Virtual" is not real by definition, soi here we have a software version of "a miss is a good as a mile". Hang on to that music collection of yours.

[@BonelishOfficial]

+CabinDoor A vinyl or cassette collection has value mainly because of its replacement cost. Vinyl and blank cassettes cost something to manufacture, and vinyl cost depends on the price of petroleum oil. It's not the distorted, imperfect audio stored on these media that has value (except for its value as intellectual property).

[@KRAFTWERK2K6]

You know… i just recently made a mixtape for a girl. And even if she has no tapedeck it was still kindly & happily appreciated as a gift. 90 Minutes of well selected music arranged in a particular order with the goal to give one heck of a FANTASTIC listening experience. Making the playlist is great. But nothing beats the moment of actually recording it :)

[@rollingtroll]

A friend of mine is a big Greenday fan. Still. I wouldn't do that if I were her but still, the band makes her happy. I wanted to get her something she didn't have yet so I got her the original 1992 Dookie tape. She didn't have a cassette deck so I added a walkman, batteries, earbuds and I sent the whole package of the UK (which is there the tape came from to start with, oh well :D). She adored the gift. Good!

[@marcboulware6242]

You are re-living the magic that I had in 1990/1991 with regards to Tape Decks. My GF (eventually My Wife) didn't appreciate CrO2 or Dolby or what not, but she loved the selected music arranged in a particular order. And Playback was awesome. I listened on Hi-Fi Stereo and in the Car; she had a Midland Boombox at her home that blew away all the competition at the time. Great Bass Response, Plus ''Stereo-Wide'' on it as well. Glory Days for sure.

[@KRAFTWERK2K6]

Yeah this is probably what i'm gonna do as well :) Picking a good walkman (or personal stereo) with a pair of good headphones and giving it to her. So she won't pick up some crap like these "mp3 conversion" thingies with the tapehead glued to the "play" button....

[@halfmt4643]

I find it irksome when people call a cd compilation a ¨mix tape¨.

[@marcboulware6242]

Those were some of the more happy days of my life and I am sure you will help her to choose well. My GF/Wife already had the Midland Boombox but I could not, for the life of me, believe how well the sound emanated from that early '90's Boombox. Midland, after all, was known to manufacture CB Radio's. But this Boombox was unsurpassed and unparalleled back in its day. It made Bose and Boston Acoustic (things that came after it) sound lame (at a fraction of their price). And MP3 Files... well they are Compressed anyway. Always have been and always will be. Until the FLAC format finally kills off MP3, a lot of the ''unsuspecting'' will continue to listen to Compressed Audio. A pity. Give me 2 Loudspeakers, a CARVER AMP, A Couple of Hundred WATTS, along with some DQ-10's, and until then......... ;-)

[@scottpeterson7500]

I’ve been enjoying cassette tapes since I was a teenager in the late 70’s and still enjoy using them ❤️🌈☮️

[@americanhindi]

Very well made review. Cassette playback sound is surprisingly impressive.

[@HDXFH]

I love the smell of a freshly opened new cassette

[@SPAZZOID100]

HDXFH cassettes are awful.

[@ardas77]

smell of cancer

[@GAIUSJAKE]

@Proteus Hellene you can get new ones from wallgreens in the use, just feric though

[@stevenewtube]

I think that’s “I love the smell of oxide in the morning”

[@Badassvidsz]

I'm your 147th who agree with you :-)

[@tak178]

Just wanted to say, I've been watching your videos for some time now. I have no idea about audio equipment, but I really appreciate the time you take in being very thorough in your reviews. It's more education than people get nowadays when it comes to even basic electronics.

[@joyxlibeau]

The spec may not be the best we have seen. But i believe the points are; as of 2018, we can actually buy a brand new double cassette deck that is reliable on this planet, and for us to know some company still care and have balls and passions to produce cassette deck. love your unboxing video by the way.

[@Charlesb88]

*JOY* MUSIC yes, that fact that you can buy a brand new deck that isn’t a cheap piece of crap is a good thing even some features that some people want are missing. None of these missing features a absolute must haves in my opinion.

[@randynovick7972]

This was great. I'm the only person I know that still has a cassette deck in the rack. I was curious about this Tascam and was delighted to see your review. Many thanks for the guided tour!

[@ceilingfanmusic6597]

Randy Novick i still use a tape dec. i use it to recoard music. its a technics m11 tape dec an it works well. vary well

[@abrahamoriowo4121]

Randy you, not the only one I even still have my VHS recorder too

[@bitspacemusic]

My main studio recording deck is a Denon from 96. The fun ones are the Califone library deck with 7(!) headphone outs, Landscape HC-TT, which is a motorless hand cranked tape instrument (Human Controlled Tape Transport) and a Panasonic tabletop player. The Califone I have for the pitch control, the Landscape is for vinyl type scratching and I sometimes mic up the speaker on the Panasonic. All of this is in my music studio, which also includes a reel to reel and a cheap 4 track porta studio. About to order this 202 Mk VII. The pitch control (very rare) and simultaneous playback sound fun. Too bad there's no third head and monitoring for echo effects.

[@lesrogers7310]

You definately are not the only one. I still have 4 cassette decks - Teac V-1050, Aiwa AD-S950, Yamaha KX-580 and Technics RS-BX501. All but the Technics are connected and in still in use (no more room for this).

[@sternwheeler]

abraham oriowo, When my reel-to-reel died, I started using a hi-fi VCR for my long recordings. Just don’t turn on the TV. Even though I have digital recording equipment, and I don’t use my Super VHS for audio anymore, I’ve added three more reel-to-reels. I love the things.

[@daleschneider7689]

OMG they’re still making cassette decks? I still have mine. It’s maybe10-15 years. Glad I never got rid of it.

[@VE6XTC]

Hang on to that machine. Cassettes from decades ago still play.

[@MacXpert74]

I was impressed with the sound quality of the recording you made on that Fuij tape. Even without noise reduction, there was hardly any noise in the sound at all. The highs also seem to sound pretty decent.

[@yuk747]

Five hundred dollars or a hundred dollars is still too costly for such a cheesy basic cassette player I would definitely go with a vintage high end.

[@joeblankenship377]

Definitely the way to go. I don't even have any of my old cassettes anymore, but I've been watching the hell out of Techmoan and he's making me want to get all the components and build a super hi-fi.

[@llary]

That's just over $200 in late 80s or early 90s money. $200-300 back then would get you a nice - but not amazing deck and you would be looking at $1000+ in today's money for something really high end. So I think the price is fair considering low volumes they must be selling but some outlets are trying to push them for $599 which I think is going a bit too far.

[@LieutenantReid]

I may not have lived in the generation, but I appreciate and listen to cassettes on the daily

[@turbo1gts]

Thanks for the really detailed review. The audio quality was apparent; even though it uses the Tanashin mechanism, the heads and audio circuitry must be higher quality than in the boomboxes you see for sale nowadays. Plus, like you mentioned, the availability of parts and maintainability of the deck should be good. Edit: The only thing missing for the review that I could see would have been a mention of the specifications, like the frequency response and signal/noise ratio.

[@ArinMishra]

From the User's Manual: Frequency response Chrome tape (Type II): 30 Hz - 15 kHz (±4 dB) Normal tape (Type I): 30 Hz - 13 kHz (±4 dB) Total S/N ratio: 59 dB (during maximum recording level input, A-weighted)

[@makusmati]

I suppose a major advantage with this deck over old decks is that it has a built-in A-to-D converter. The pitch control is certainly great too especially for playback of older cassettes recorded on myriad of decks and recorders. If these were sold in volume, I'm sure the prices would drop too.

[@hulkslayer626]

One of my favorite things about listening to tapes when I was young was when I loaded the tape in, it felt like i was loading a gun lol

[@Mujcanal]

Hulk Slayer me like closing car door

[@londonroulette]

Hulk Slayer stop taking the drugs, lol

[@haweater1555]

You haven't tried using a camcorder in the 90s and swapping out rechargable batteries, and imagining you are handling ammo clips.

[@davidreidy5750]

😆 true, true!!

[@grasshopper6896]

Wow, Vwestlide went in deep on this cassette deck. Good job in going into details & even taking it apart to show the internal. 👍

[@Livewire91]

Well at least it's not bad. If my old jvc cassette deck decides to give up, i would definetly buy this or the upcoming budget version. Just because it's new with factory warranty and probably will last for at least 5-10 years. Thanks for the great review West.

[@VE6XTC]

What I love about cassettes is when they stay stopped and start at the exact same place in the recording. I also have hundreds of cassette tapes, both commercial and home recorded.

[@tonygarrett7214]

Have always been a fan of cassette machines. I still use my 1974 model Sony CF 420L. It might be 46 years old but is in mint condition and still going strong!! They were really well made in those days (full metal chassis). The belts have been changed once.

[@KRAFTWERK2K6]

WOW! You can tell this is actually made for the more serious Tape user. Having the ability to record on BOTH decks at the same time, having a recording and a 1st generation quality duplicate tape that either serves as a archival backup or copy for a friend, is absolutely fantastic! Dude, i think you just sold me to this deck :D

[@rollingtroll]

Serious tape users don't use double decks though. It's a mid-low end seperate. It's not bad, but it's very much entry level. This is about as bad as cassette gets after about 1985. Which makes it even weirder that people seem to hate on it so much. They just have no idea.

[@KRAFTWERK2K6]

at this point i'm glad they even offer something like this. Sure the price range is a little hefty but i'm sure this price will drop very soon (maybe even down to 250) and the more they flood the market with easy maintainable and new parts & machines, the better. At least this deck can record.

[@denshi-oji494]

I doubt very much you will see much of a price change on this. If there is enough demand, they would likely sell a CHEAPER version under the TEAC name rather than lowering the price in the TASCAM line.

[@catsbyondrepair]

@@rollingtroll professional sound guys use double decks all the time we do use other things but tape is the best thing for recording something temporarily.

[@rollingtroll]

@@catsbyondrepair Easy dubbing. Also they are generally cheaper to buy new. They are never the better option though.

[@colewoodard8920]

Less than 30 seconds in and I already hear the voices of 2 of my favorite youtubers

[@JeffreyBenshoff]

I bought those Fuji DR II Chrome slim cassettes by the gross. They sounded awesome, the slim design meant you could put two of them in the space of a standard cassette in a cassette holder. I never had a problem. Fuji Made good tapes then. Nice touch with Shango, and Techmoan In the beginning. I love those guys.

[@AltRockLover]

What a great review! Very informative. I've always had a love affair with audio electronics but I never used them for anything other than simple recording and playback, meaning most of the specialized features went unused. This is def a pretty solid looking unit, and considering the market for new cassette decks, dual or not, is so small, I'd say the higher price is well worth it even just for nostalgia!

[@rubenholguin2917]

Wow, one of the very best reviews I've seen in youtube. Thank you for the information.

[@gekkehenk1980]

Good one! 0:18: Techmoan! 0:21: Shango066! The only big downside of this cheap cassette mechanism, is that the don't use a sleeve bearing at the back of the flywheel. Besides that, they work pretty well, as seen in many cheap stereosystems. Philips even used two plates of iron as a flywheel in their 80's stereosets, which is nice and good for the wow and flutter.

[@VintageAudioTech]

Your videos keep the format alive! Thanks for being you, VWestlife!

[@LightTheUnicorn]

It's great that they seem to at least be trying as best they can with the limits of the mechanisms available, I'd say they ended up making something rather nice there, leaps above the "boombox" style new decks you can buy new today. Oof, pricey though.

[@waltrautwhite8178]

Why do I watch a 20 minutes review of a cassette deck I'll never intend to buy ? Just for the sake of good old times .. :-) Thank you for the video !

[@jeffreystroman2811]

I was a broadcast bench tech for 20 years, built my own home recording studio and had dozens of Nakamichi among others that I'd get for free and fix up. It's hard to believe I'm looking at buying this way as they are long gone and have some old stuff on cassette

[@freibier]

Nice video! I agree, compared to what you can get on ebay (high end tape decks from the 90s, many even fully serviced), this is ridiculously expensive for what it offers. And no Dolby for recording is just sad, even though I can understand they do not want to license it for how many decks they probably sell. Just get something like a used Pioneer deck with Dolby S (CT-900S, CT-S 820S or whatever), make sure it has been serviced (new belts etc.) and you will have yourself a nice tape deck which will smoke these "new" decks in every regard, and it will most likely be cheaper. The situation is pretty much the same as when you want to start with analog photography - instead of buying some plastic camera which is produced/sold right now, it will be far better to go on ebay and buy a used high end Canon/Nikon from the 90s (EOS-1v, EOS-3, Nikon F4/F5/F100) which can be had for $200-300 (and cost $2000-3000 back then).

[@freibier]

+Neko Suki (nice name btw!) True, there simply is not enough demand from the general public for brand new tape decks/cassettes. So it is either these cheap Chinese mechanics, which can also be used in $20 stereos for the kitchen, or super high end hand-crafted devices which can be sold for thousands of dollars and so are profitable even when produced in single digit numbers (although I know of no actual tape decks which are produced that way these days, only reel-to-reel tape recorders - google "Ballfinger reel to reel"). That's why, as everybody who follows like this one or Techmoan knows, the best way to get a good tape deck these days sadly is to look on eBay for decks from the golden age in the 90s. What you can buy brand new today is pretty much the Crosley record players in tape deck form.

[@Stoney3K]

Unfortunately the same goes for blank tapes. Try getting your hands on a fresh chrome or metal tape these days. But since vinyl, reel-to-reel and analog photo are on the return, I suspect cassettes will follow. As long as it doesn't involve hipsters being cool with cheap fake Walkmans which have USB.

[@freibier]

normal and chrome tapes are still available e.g. on Amazon (although in the case of chrome tapes probably just leftover stock), but yes, sealed/unused metal tapes are pretty much impossible to get these days. Luckily I never threw away my tapes from the 80s/90s, so I still have a lot of used TDK MA etc. I can record over. You can still get metal tapes on ebay (of course all used) at a reasonable price - of course you then have to hope they were stored correctly etc.

[@vwestlife]

If someone designed a new high-end cassette mechanism today it would be a *lot* more expensive. Just like the Technics SL-1200/1210 series turntables -- back when they were in mass production they cost around $500 to $700. Technics recently reintroduced new versions of it, and they now cost $1700 to $4000.

[@Livewire91]

Daniël's Tech & Music Channel Thanks for the information. Dolby has the resources. They would have a market too. I bet if cassettes are selling more and more each year, dolby might get interested.

[@stevesstuff1450]

This is a great video...it's good to see a review from a non-biased person: so many so-called audiophiles condemn these decks without ever seeing or using one. I had seen this, and the Teac AD-850 available for a while and was curious about them, and after first seeing this review several months ago, I decided to go for the AD-850 - I wanted a decent cassette deck with CD player to simplify recording albums to tape, rather than using using one of my turntables and getting static/clicks/pops/groove damage noises from my LP's (I have a range of turntables from and AT-LP3, AT-LP120USB, Rega RP1, Project Primary w/acrylic platter...but so many new LP's come with groove damage from new - 'no-fill' in the grooves being the worst!) Also to eliminate having a second CD player connected... save on plugs and wiring!! So yeah... I got the AD-850 and my word, it plays good quality pre-recorded tapes beautifully....sounds fantastic! CD playback is flawless of course: it's a good CD player. CD recording works well, but you have to be careful now with so many CDs being overly compressed and 'brick walled'... but when you get the record levels just right, the tape recording sounds fantastic! I guess ultimately, all I'm trying to say here is that these 'cheap' Tanishin (sp?) cassette mechanisms are robust, perform well, and long may they last making them.. it's good to know that there's someone out there still who has decades of history with making them...and cheap as they are, they still work bloody well...!! :-)

[@mjh5437]

Good review,,Can you explain what 'brick walled'..means please? Thanx

[@dylanwelsford6391]

I cannot believe how good this Tape deck sounds. I wanted a good quality machine that required no repairs. Worth every penny

[@richdelgado3405]

And that smell of newly-opened audio equipment. God I love that.

[@SeaJay_Oceans]

Sweet. It's nice to see good tech is still produced by high quality manufacturers.

[@uxwbill]

As happy as I am to see a cassette deck still on the market, I thought it stumbled on the Pat Coil test recording with noticeable flutter on the piano parts. I do find it interesting that they enabled both decks to record. Surely by now all the patents have expired on Dolby noise reduction for cassettes, so it probably comes down to trademarks and the lack of available ICs at this point. I wonder if perhaps some competitor's system, like JVC's ANRS, would be available for licensing.

[@jimwilliams8858]

Agree - lack of IC most probably.... I thought this deck is cost reduced. Record knob does not adjust L/R levels independently. A must feature. And MIC input should really be stereo inputs these days. Lack on metal recording really hurts this deck.... is this targeted to professionals?

[@uncatila]

I just lokated my Sony D6c in the garage of a friend. That thing is now highly sought after. It played all the tape types.

[@My-Pal-Hal]

@@uncatila All the tape types? Reel to Reel and 8-Track Too? What about SVHS? (a Great Audio recording choice in its time) And even my Phone,.. Has Dolby ATMOS. ...get with the times people 😂...

[@slipknotboy555]

@@jimwilliams8858 I know I'm a year late, but -- it's not really a must 22:12. I would prefer just one record level knob anyway, personally. With those internal pots, you still get access to the separate L and R levels

[@The_Laser_Channel]

I wasn't TOO shocked with the sticker price...I was guessing $699.99...but it actually turned out to be LESS! Great looking deck and the quality looks to be great too! It should serve you MANY MANY years of great quality playback/recording

[@walter-ly4dy]

You can probably get something second-hand for about 100$ that's about the same quality.

[@MVVblog2]

Probably $10 for a superior quality...

[@mikeg2491]

@@walter-ly4dyand for that $100 you’ll get it home and find it doesn’t work, experienced this multiple time with VHS players from garage or estate sales

[@JorgeRodriguez-po7kx]

I Would've liked to have this Deck back in the Mid 70's when the Disco Music Mixes were in Full Swing Saturday Nights on WBLS and in WKTU

[@LSD97123]

I really miss the live analog sound of the cassette tapes!

[@kylehazachode]

Thanks for the review of this tape deck. I have the Tascam MD-CD1 for listening to minidiscs and cds and it’s my favorite music playback device. I bought the Record Store Day release of Prince’s The Versace Experiment last weekend on cassette. The last cassette I bought was Smashing Punpkins’ Melon Collie and Infinite Sadness double album back in the 90s. I’m really excited that Tascam is still making tape decks. As soon as I’m done watching your review I’m gonna buy the deck online.

[@maineboy1979]

The pitch control is a very compelling feature for me. I've never understood why so many cassette decks, even the higher-end ones, lack this feature even though it was a common feature on turntables at almost every price point.

[@CraigTube]

Awesome video. The only complaint I have is that you didn't smell that brand new cassette when you opened it! Dammit! :D

[@BilisNegra]

True! I always did that as a kid and in my early teens. New sony tapes smelled particularly sweet to my taste.

[@QuadTubeChannel]

Lol that brings back some happy memories xD

[@algerian8862]

😘😁😁😁😁😁😁

[@2112jonr]

There's opportunity for a whole new KZbin channel here......

[@My-Pal-Hal]

Complaint ??? You have NO IDEA,.. where he "Stashed" it. smuggling it from China. Let's just say, Moist Towelettes were involved 😂

[@golfman9290]

Tremendously thorough review, highly enjoyable to watch.

[@joeschmoe6802]

That is a very good review. You covered a lot of stuff, and explained it well. Thanks for the inside view of the circuit board (it looked like a lot of full sized ICs) and it's adjustment pots, and tape drive mechanism.

[@marekmaslak8040]

The simpler transport mechanism,the less stuff that can go wrong,plus for the first bird of casette deck comeback it is not bad at all.

[@GeneralVanRyberg]

I know it's an older vid, but still thanks for this more than excellent review. I am considering buying either the TEAC W-1200 or AD-850 (single cassettte deck with CD player. I guess/assume the cassette deck itself would be comparable to the one of the W-1200?), as I didn't have any luck with second hand purchases of vintage gear in the past and I - unlike many seriious tapeheads , it seems - applaud TEAC's effort to at least work with the components that are available nowadays and understand that prices need to be high for this niche hobby. I miss the nostalgia of cassette decks and have lots of pre-recorded tapes that I would love to listen to. Maybe I'll record some tapes myself as well eventually.

[@AnOfficialAndrewFloyd]

Why would Dolby not want to make money from licensing their B noise reduction? It makes no sense.

[@watershed44]

A Floyd Indeed, considering that making even limited numbers of encoder/decoder chips would be very cheap today with current manufacturing abilities. Plus they'd get free advertising through the consumer market as people have forgotten about Dolby Systems including professionals even.

[@michaelturner4457]

Not enough demand probably,. Especially if there's only one company(Tascam), making only one high quality cassette deck(the one in the video). Basically not worth it, Dolby makes all its bucks from the movie industry these day

[@peacearchwa5103]

Ray Dolby passed away on September 12, 2013. Dolby had become a publicly-traded corporation. As a big company, it's likely that others in Dolby's corporate management wanted to kill off the money-losing NR licensing some years earlier. They likely refrained from doing so while the company's founder and namesake was still alive. This scenario has played out many times before in corporate America, such as relocating the corporate HQ or changing the corporation's name shortly after the founder's death.

[@edeggermont]

I do not think I wil ever buy a cassette deck but I enjoyed watching your review

[@user8002]

The return of the cassette deck. Who would've thunk it. I still have my old jvc. Maybe I won't get rid of it after all. Thanks for the review.

[@karlhungus5554]

Beautiful gear. Remember the Nakamichi RX-202 and RX-505 auto-reverse units that would open the door, flip the tape 180 degrees, and close the door? It was like magic.

[@Claro1993]

0:19 Techmoan?

[@gmcnewlook]

Claro1993 shanago66 as well :)

[@vext01]

I believe so!

[@TalenGryphon]

Yeah, that's him alright. I did a double-take trying to figure out who's channel I was watching

[@AMDXplusplus]

I still use cassettes for my radio recordings and Tascam still sell cassette decks in 2018 for making cassettes and MP3 converter with USB. And they still sell cassette tapes at walmart.

[@bratwurst2923]

Brian 1610 AM DX same

[@wclifton968gameplaystutorials]

your lucky since cassette tapes aren't sold in uk supermarkets anymore, the only place I know they might sell cassettes here is in a store called Wilko/Wilkinsons……….

[@bratwurst2923]

wclifton968 I find them at thrift stores / garage sales for next to nothing

[@davarosmith1334]

You get them on Amazon and Ebay brand new.

[@bratwurst2923]

Davaro Smith okay thanks, I'll keep that in mind

[@olaniyi570]

Yes bring back more cassette decks! Also I'm glad it's not autoreverse.

[@infinity999123]

$500 for a deck that doesn't support recording to metal tape? WTF???? I used metal tapes all the time back in the day.

[@thespeez]

Considering that it's made in China is a deal-breaker for me as well!

[@BasvanHeelRoseboom]

Super dealbreaker indeed, no metal is no reason tot buy...

[@BasvanHeelRoseboom]

Maybe the teac model is better

[@dmomcilovic9185]

thespeez spezio , the iPad or phone you used to type your message is made in China too, what is not these days?

[@dmomcilovic9185]

Metal tapes has long stopped being made.

[@BhadriShashikanth]

Cassette decks, are still available in market. I wish I had one. A huge thanks to you and your channel for acquaint this to me.

[@stevebennett9750]

The problem with these new cheaply made decks is people will assume this is the limit to cassette as for sound quality and wow and flutter. Until they've heard a top of the line deck (3 head dual capstan with proper bias and level calibrations) they don't know how good cassette can really perform.

[@kjrchannel1480]

steve bennett I think we can blame that on the China mindset that stereo sound is a luxury and it costs too much. If you don't believe me. Just check out some led projectors for an example. Some are stereo in ,but mono out. They can even only have half stereo out, or only have one speaker installed although it can handle full stereo. As we know people have been brainwashed into thinking mp3's are top quality, and watching a movie on a cell or tablet screen is high quality entertainment. I would not convert any media into mp3's without a high quality original if I could. People have really forgotten what real quality is. What I would like is to have movies fully uncompressed with updated audio and bluray on laserdisc.

[@NOWThatsRichy]

Yes, regarding sound quality, it's amazing nowadays how many people are quite happy to listen to their music for hours on a tiny phone speaker!

[@lobsterwhisperer7932]

when he said tape mechanism is the same as some aldi cheap retro box, my heart dropped.

[@wildbilltexas]

In the 80's and 90's this deck would have been a very middle ground cassette deck and probably would have sold for around or under $250. I'd like to hear how the DNS can handle a cassette with lots of hiss or DC bias rumble. UPDATE: Now in December 2019 Amazon's price has dropped to $349.99.

[@sevcaczech5961]

Ok, go to westegg . com/inflation/, (the inflation calculator), put there $250, year let's say 1990.. and the result?: "What cost $250 in 1990 would cost $475.92 in 2017."

[@Bucefal76]

I doubt, no Dolby, very bad mechanism, one can hear wow effect at recorded tape, nooooooooooo

[@martinkent333]

I paid 850$ to amazon last week for this Tascam.

[@monsirto]

Almost impossible to get hold of now and not clear if they are still pumping them out. Great video!

[@boggsty]

I love the flavour that cassettes contribute to the music. Every tape gives the recording another flavour and makes it unique. I think it's great tha cassettes are not dying completely off

[@MrBagley55]

I love the smell of Hi Bias in the morning!

[@jorgerivas8494]

I love the smell of metal even better. Ferro chrome smells like crayons.

[@eliaschnl]

Man, that play engagement sound is so satisfying...

[@rollingtroll]

It screams 'cheap plastic!' though :D.

[@nordishkiel5985]

It´s amazing how many through-hole components can be in a 2018 device! Those PCBs look like an Atari 2600 board :-D Love it!

[@westelaudio943]

Through hole conponents are still found in switch mode power supplies and also some analog equipment like conputer speakers or headphone amps. Nothing really special and there is a ton of SMD in there.

[@VoxAndrews]

That music on the Pontiac VIP Trans Sport Casette Tape is awesome. Wish I could find some digital versions of the songs.

[@armarra]

watched it right through. At first I was dissappointed with the lack of features and dolby modes, however I was impressed with the amount of nominally high standard tapes you used and the thoroughness of your review. I've been purchasing and reconditioning/repairing a few cassette decks with higher functionality like multi cassette changer and another with Dolby S. It was really nice to see the gleaming facia of a brand new unit, its motivated me to see just how clean and dust free I can make my second hand units look like. I would have liked so see you flick the noise reduction switch within camera shot so we can hear the difference of the dynamic noise reduction. I do wonder if your reference tape was accurate to within half a percent as its subject to tape stretch like any other tape... in short the speed of the unit was probably correct and the pitch knob adjusted slightly left. Thanks for a look at a new unit. I do recall the TEAC A250 that we had and the full size headphones that we used as Dad did not buy an amplifier for a while afterwards.. Teac lost its integrity a little after the 70s as it made some cheap portable players, however they've certainly remained a mainstay of cassette technology.

[@franklee9115]

It is a time machine. Forget the good old days of cassette, just enjoy the feeling and the simplicity of analogue format.

[@mercuryoak2]

Expensive deck but you did a great review on this. Product. I was impressed a 2018 deck sounded amazing.

[@Terry.W]

It's great...but the price is a killer.

[@pokepress]

TERRY. W I suppose the most obvious way to make it cheaper would be to get rid of one of the decks.

[@mogshade66]

pokepress Get rid of it full stop and buy a Naki 😊💚

[@My-Pal-Hal]

You Youngins ☺. I bought the First Laserdisc player, (pioneer) And the First "SVHS" player, (mitsubishi) ...that came out commercialy. Both were $1800 a pop in the 80's. And had a Pioneer Cassette Deck, with a front panel BIGGER than the Grille on my Chrysler. Ahh... The Good Ole days... Enjoy

[@SPAZZOID100]

TERRY. W this would have cost $500 in 1985.. adjusting for inflation, around $1,200.

[@djbryanladd]

I ran this into my DAW with Izotope. While this is a decent mixture of technology, it does not have the sound of what I need. Source.. Rotel SAE, Nak's.

[@vernonbishop]

My sister's foster dad worked for the Ford dealership here in town, so I do know about the reference cassette for their JBL audio systems. It may be obscure to others, though, as my experience is only anecdotal.

[@Fiachraraven]

What an informed, intelligent review! Absolute top class. Fascinating. Thank you.

[@sonicpowerr4068]

It's been 16 years since I bought a cassette 📼 tape for the last time. Gotta say this one sound superb ! I would say this receiver sound almost like my Sony hi fi receiver!

[@OntariosElevatorssince2013]

Just $500? I was honestly expecting you to say that this thing costs $800-$1200. My uncle bought an Onkyo deck around 1985 for around that same price (which is $1066.40 in 2018), which he gave to me, because he hardly ever used it.

[@rollingtroll]

That's way too much thouch. A deck like this should be 250-300. It's almost as cheap as it gets.

[@stonent]

Yep, I was expecting $1200.

[@pfjb9122]

Oh when you peeled open that new cassette, it took me back to old times of tape faith and dependence :)

[@tommahoney8304]

I'll stick with my Nakamichi DR-10 . Thank you for the vid. I bought up all the metal tapes from Tower records back in 2002 .

[@mescko]

I remember looking at the 10-pack box of TDK MA-110s in the D & R catalog and thinking, "They're going to stop making these things, I should buy up a bunch . . ."

[@jeffreystroman2811]

Tom Mahoney I used to think my Nak obsessed buddies were strange, then I trash picked a studio deck (was a bench tech) and man oh man, I had never known just how good a cassette could sound, Nakamichi was really THAT good.

[@bigbaddms]

@@jeffreystroman2811 It was incredible. Indistinguishable from a CD... maybe better?

[@ferretman6790]

My mom loves your vids ( so do I ) but she likes your videos because she can fall asleep to your voice!

[@djhaloeight]

The Ford/JBL premium sound system in my ‘93 Lincoln Mark VIII sounds terrific. The factory amplifier took a crap, so I replaced the factory head unit with a limited production Pioneer MVH-S501BS and wired all the internal speakers to it. I used a crossover filter so the tweeters only got the frequencies they’re supposed to, and I added 2 JBL 12” subs powered by a Fosgate 600 watt amp. It sounds GREAT. The 26 year old Ford/JBL speakers still sound excellent, no buzzing or rattles etc. Doesn’t surprise me they offered a quality recorded tape to show off the systems of the era. Nice!

[@nuNWO]

You would think that with only one maker these days the deck would be loaded rather than basic. How much dearer would it be to make a head that can do type 1,2&4 compared to just 1&2 when the r&d was paid for decades ago. Same with Dolby etc...

[@andriealinsangao613]

Vinyl's back, cassette tapes are back... Dayum! I wish LaserDisc also comes back!!

I guessed the price at the beginning as $400, when you said that it would induce sticker shock, hehe. Honestly, though, I think it is wonderful that stuff like this is still available for enthusiasts.

[@LennyCooke636]

Great review. I purchased the Tascam 202 MkV back in 2010. To this day I'm not really sure why I purchased this deck since I already owned a very good Marantz SACD player bought around the same time. I guess one of the reasons why, was that I received a very generous Pension from my previous job after a a job lay-off. I had a little money to blow, so I decided to upgrade my stereo system with this deck. Since cassette decks were a dying breed, I wanted to get my hands on one of the last cassette decks being made which was the Tascam 202. The only poblem, was that my SACD blew every piece of equipment I owned out of the water, so I didn't see any point into making, or listening to recordings that didn't measure up. So my Tascam cassette deck sat there for years, looking pretty on the shelf while garnering all sorts of ooh's and ah's from friends, and not being used. It wasn't even connected to my Yamaha Amp(for 10 years !). It was only recently after retiring , that I decided to play with it. I bought myslef some empty Metal tapes and Chrome tapes, but unfortunately after thougroughly reading the manual only to realize that this machine does not record on Metal tape, my only hope was to record on Chrome tape and maybe listen to prerecorded metal tapes. This review at least gave me some hope that I did not totally waste my money ($499.99) back then. I also own a Luxman 406 casssette deck that does record on metal tapes and has dbx noise reduction system. The Luxman is really a jewel, but unfortunately it makes a loud hissing sound once in a while out of nowehere and for no reason. So serious recording work with this machine is out of the question unless/until I can get it fixed if possibe. Right now it sits like a collectors item on my shelf.

[@vwestlife]

You can actually record on Type IV metal tape on this deck. It will sound a bit bright (too much treble), but will work.

[@PBRStreetgang]

Oh man, that tape! It came with my friend's 1990 "Eddie Bauer" edition Ford Explorer way back when. I guess it's good to see cassette hifi components are still on the market, but that play head and assembly haven't been updated in decades. Also I never knew Tascam was the pro branch of TEAC. Great video, thanks!

[@Halterung01]

We badly need Dolby Labs to start licensing their Noise Reduction again. My collection of 900+ tapes is recorded in Dolby C and these new decks don't look too bad.

[@rasz]

patents expired long time ago, "noise reduction" switch on this deck is just that

[@watershed44]

dp vn03 Honestly how hard would it be to reproduce the discrete dolby chips today. I think it would be a boon for Dolby Systems at least in terms of getting renewed interested from the consumer and professional alike. Lots of "free" advertising by way of consumers.

[@Halterung01]

rasz: No, that is DNR, something completely different. As the basic Dolby "B" noise reduction is basically a treble booster while recording and a muffler when playing back, it is kind of compatible to DNR, but it has nothing to do with the compander-based 2-way noise reduction that Dolby C is and that is proprietary. waterhed44: exactly. I wouldn't be able to produce one of these chips in my garage though :P

[@michaelturner4457]

Dolby might still license it if one is willing to pay the $$$, but there may not be any manufacturer still making the proprietary Dolby NR chips these days. Apparently there's no metal bias capable heads been made now. The Tanashin decks themselves, it's really beggars can't be choosers.

[@johnstone7697]

Which tells you where cassette really stands as a format. The speed variation in that playback of the Sheffield CD was pretty obvious to my ears, as was the "splashy" treble. It would have been advantageous to hear the difference between the actual CD and the playback off the Tascam. My bet is that there's considerable degradation. Basically this strikes me as what would have been considered a real run of the mill tape deck back in the mid 70's. Given that it can handle anything but Type I and II tape, and the NR is inferior to Dolby B, we're talking a machine that might compete with an old Advent 201. The cheapest Nakamichi would walk all over it. At least the vinyl revival can bring us turntable performance equal to what we saw in the 80's when the format started losing support. No technical effort at all is being put into reviving cassette.

[@deanguando9950]

I still love analog cassette decks. Was never a fan of dual decks. I wish they would bring back a quality stereo Walkman without the radio feature.

[@coredoughboy]

Loved the review! I recently have been getting into cassettes as they are much cheaper then vinyl (for now at least) and there is something charming about their form factor. Do you have any favorite websites for information on tape decks and other related audio equipment? There are tons of models out there and I find myself googling receiver model numbers at the thrift store often and just hoping for some solid info. Your channel is great and it is always nice to see youve posted a new video. Thanks!

[@vwestlife]

Techmoan has done several good videos about cassettes and also there are forums like www.tapeheads.net

[@PreppyGuy007]

Love looking at audio equipment made of substance. Lately, I've seen downsized, recyclable plastic, resembles a toy equipment on the retail shelves.

[@jimmeade9961]

Thanks for the detailed review of this unit. The information you supplied regarding the azimuth adjustment screw was solid gold. I inquired to several well-known, reputable sellers whether the 202MkVII actually had an azimuth adjustment screw and was assured by more than one that it did NOT!! In fairness, I think this is because younger salespeople have no real experience with tape, looked at the specs or owners manual, and saw no reference to azimuth. Eventually, I found a more experienced person at a vendor who checked the service manual and confirmed. A sign of the times, I guess. Thanks again!

[@nickwallette6201]

I like the reference audio tape. A selection of fine examples of early 90s digital synthesizers, some of which used 8 bit samples, the others 16 but cramming all their waveforms into 4MB of ROM. :-D

[@Stoney3K]

Sounded suspiciously like a Roland JV-1080 to be honest.

[@MacXpert74]

+Stoney3K VWestlife said the tape is from around 1991. The Roland JV-1080 wasn't out yet. In fact the whole JV product line wasn't introduced yet. Some of the sounds do indeed have a 'Roland' feel to them. I would say they are probable from a D70 and/or U20/U220. Although there might have been some Korg M1 in there too. :D

[@Stoney3K]

I was convinced the JV range was already out by the early 90s, but it could have been a D-70 or other ROMpler from that series as well. The Korg M1/X5 sample set sounds different.

[@MacXpert74]

+Stoney3K The first JV synth was the JV-80. That one was introduced in 1992. I owned one at the time, it was a nice synth. Virtually al it's sounds were also available in the later XP-50 / JV-1080. The sounds from the tape do not sound like anything I directly recognize from the JV-80. The piano sound is different for sure. It could also be that they used a Roland sampler like the S-750/770 and used some of Roland's sound library. I always wanted one of those back then, but couldn't afford it. :)

[@allstar930]

Thank you for making this. I really appreciate all the hard work you put into your videos. Long live cassettes and cassette culture!!

[@AriKona]

Wow! When this came up in the recommended list, I thought it was going to be from 20 years ago. So glad to see they are still making quality cassette decks of this caliber. Excellent review. Covered the things we need to know and included a lot of "like to know" material as well. Sticker shock? Not really. Costs about $200 less than the dual cassette deck (Yamaha KX-W602) I purchased some 25 yrs ago replacing a TEAC 360S - both great decks. The question that came to mind is: You said that it didn't record metal tape, yet the Loran reference cassette was metal. Does that mean it has the capability to play, but not the equipment to record metal tapes? I guess what I mean is: Is the quality there on playback if it can't record this kind of tape? Great feature set. USB support would be nice. Again, an excellent unboxing and review video. Hope you get years of enjoyment from your Tascam 202 Mk VII.

[@vwestlife]

Any cassette deck that can play Type II chrome cassettes can also play Type III ferrochrome and Type IV metal cassettes, because they all use the same 70 µs equalization. The exact differences between these types only become relevant during recording.

[@AriKona]

Thank you. Wasn't sure if it the difference would affect the playback. Great video.

[@victorysonics6564]

What caliber? It`s not 3 head system that means it`s not pro grade deck. what a disappointment

[@gmitch1978]

I just bought one of these and it’s awesome. No buyers remorse at all.

[@ProjectOverseer]

I own a fairly high end HiFi with mainly digital technologies from knowledge gained from my years in audio engineering and my passion for audiophile recordings and playback technology. Regardless, I still have room for vinyl and own a pretty decent turntable. I love cassette for a multitude of reasons, and back in the day would make quality compilations for home and car use. About 6 months ago I was cleaning out the loft and found a box with Awia AD-F800 on the side. I remembered I bought this as a backup in a sale in the early 90's but never used it. I opened the box and found a mint deck and couldn't wait to try it. I had to wait longer unfortunately. The rubber belts had disolved leaving a black mess on the drive wheels. I was mega pleased to find quality replacements on eBay. Cleaning wasn't as bad as expected and replacing the belts was easy but fiddly. Testing day came ... The deck worked perfectly. Now the sound test. Whilst waiting for the belts, I managed to find some TDK SA90 blanks still in original rap. I used some of my best digital recordings for the test. I did a couple of vinyl recordings too. The deck is now a permanent part of my system, I was blown away with what this old technology was capable of. And to think this deck wasn't even high end at the time, though it did get a few good reviews. I hope cassette makes a comeback. Though it looks incredibly dated in my system, it's sound certainly isn't 👍

[@samsulummasamsulumma6898]

Excellent presentation. Well done!

[@Ivo--]

That Ford tape sounds great.

[@noco-pf3vj]

It's funny to see people in comments complaining about no support for metal tape. Why Tascam want to support metal tape, if there is no new production for metal tape anymore.

[@BonelishOfficial]

Faisal Kadal+ Because in 2018, people expect current production analog equipment to be re-engineered for state-of-the-art performance. In the absence of metal tape, you can't engineer a cassette deck possessing state-of-the-art fidelity, and you shouldn't price your product as if it did.

[@8BRInteractive]

I hope their next step in the evolution of both this deck and its TEAC-branded sibling will be to shield the power transformer properly and to make noise reduction available for recording as well as playback.

[@kentonkirkpatrick5225]

The reason for Metal tapes was due to residual magnetism of the playback head erasing the high frequencies of regular tapes. Metal tapes required a much higher recording force to record or delete signal to/from tape. This made residual magnetism unable to delete the delicate high frequencies. My last cassette deck was the fabulous Onkyo TA-2090 which I purchased around 1986 for $500. I accidentally fed it 220 volts which killed it. Wish I could purchase another NIB.