Sony's New Cassette Boomboxes - East meets West

[@banihex]

I'm a host/producer for a radio station in washington dc. In the edit room I use there is a lot of legacy equipment for previous formats, they are maintained in case we need them. Yesterday an engineer told me (after I told him about you) said that they Library of Congress has an entire department that has EVERY SINGLE audio format player perfectly maintained to play and digitize everything possible they are given! Just an fyi if you are ever in the states and curious, cheers.

[@mixiekins]

Oh, isn't there also an electronics museum somewhere around San Francisco that maintains a lot of old equipment as well? I heard something like that quite a few years ago.

[@erik_griswold]

banihex I hope they have saved everything in realplayer?

[@MrToradragon]

That program? I perhaps have it somewhere on DVD as part of some total backup.

[@purrbox7514]

LOL, real player was amazing, a true breakthrough technology that basically started streaming audio and video.

[@diegobras]

Amazing!

[@cmonkey63]

Default volume level of "11" - sounds like the single creative outlet for some overworked electrical engineer in Japan.

[@benjaminbrady2385]

Probably, lol

[@tobortine]

Exactly what I thought. I wish them well, wherever they are :-)

[@propfella]

Well they had to have something showing. Knowing some KZbin viewers they'd complain no matter what it displayed.

[@Dutch3DMaster]

I can't recall who it was, but there is a clip of a guitar player somewhere on KZbin talking about his amplifier (was it Frank Zappa?) with a volume setting of 11 and when asked why that is so special he replies with "Well...you know, eleven is one louder than ten..." with a look on his face like "Why do you ask, don't you understand that?"

[@tobortine]

Are you thinking of the film "Spinal Tap"? It's a parody of a rock band.

[@purplefuku]

As someone who works in Japanese public schools, I can (reluctantly) tell you how important devices like this remain! I still see brand new ones being purchased. I use my iPhone & iPad for these kinds of tasks, but for non-techy teachers, these boomboxes are reliable, simple and easy to use for recording/playing listening quizzes, music, etc... (A quick correction at 18:38. The manual says that ONLY Type I can be used for recording. Same for at 18:50, where the rightmost column says everything but Type I is 対応: 不可 (unsupported) for playback.)

[@alkestos]

@@AnonymousGentooman so I gather from your comment that John Smith is _not_ your real name? 😱

[@MaxW-er1hm]

You can use Chrome tape. It just sounds a bit too "bright" I've actually used chrome tapes to playback in type 1 decks to get increase treble response for dull recordings

[@OnnieKoski]

i see a lot of cassette players here in japan with the buttons turned around. Apparently its meant for presentations (like in classrooms) where you'll have the speakers pointed away from you and at your audience/ students.

[@FSM_Reviews]

There was actually a Sony boombox meant just for that- the CFD-E100.

[@stizanley3987]

Saga is a great comic

[@BustaHymen]

To me it's perfectly logical that a device made for the UK or Japan has the controls reversed. It's the same with the cars.

[@ezeddiev]

@@BustaHymen they have right hand drive cars in Japan, same as in the UK .

[@nthgth]

Then why do all the other buttons still face forward?

[@wadfather]

If Techmoan starts reviewing precision digital scales and purity testing kits we'll know the real motive.

[@Techmoan]

I've always thought those digital money counters looked cool in the movies.

[@shannondove96]

I ordered this batch from silk road ......

[@danieldougan269]

@@Techmoan I used to have a job in retail. Whenever it was time to close out a drawer from a cash register, we would go into the back office and use a digital counter that weighed the money to count it. Not exactly the stuff of drug dealers in movies, but it was useful in managing the cash at a legitimate business.

[@edtheluck]

Ahh my old friend, Mike Volume. We go way back..

[@splo1nger909]

Eddie Luck i knew his brother Max

[@mikamo]

I have never met this man before in my life.

[@errordtp]

You know : Japan import "hi-fi" -> KARAOKE FTW ! :D

[@benjaminbrady2385]

Are you Eddie! I think we met at Mike's wedding?

[@andriealinsangao613]

Karaoke, eh?!

[@Techmoan]

*Regarding the FM Radio Tuners* The Japanese model can be turned in to any frequency between 76.0 to 108.0 with 0.1 increment steps. The UK model can be turned in to any frequency between 87.5 to 108.0 with 0.1 increment steps. Both radios pick up all the frequencies broadcast in the UK. The radio tuner on the UK boombox is less effective at bringing in a clear strong signal. This is not to be considered unusual....some radios are better than others, in the same way that reception on different phones on the same network can vary.

[@thegreator]

Techmoan that is a let down since my country's radio frequency are from 80-120mhz

[@angelgrant3845]

Techmoan do you have anything on music on hold for a house telephone

[@stefanlindbom1306]

Techmoan hi have you heard the ruark r1 mk3 ? I like to hear your opinion on it

[@mubd1234]

I noticed that when I was browsing Japanese auction sites for boomboxes/radios, a lot of them only tuned from 76-90MHz, which I think is because their analogue TV channels interfered with the international FM broadcast band, so they decided to go with 76-90 instead of 88-108. Many older radios and boomboxes also included support for 'TV band' (i.e. audio from a TV signal) which effectively covered 88-108MHz but it wasn't universal. Now that they've switched over to digital TV, they've expanded their FM band to 76-108, but a lot of radios still don't cover the entire range (especially if they're old models that are still being produced). The thing you need to look for when buying Japanese radios is "Wide FM", which would cover the entire international FM band.

[@Hanesen5]

And in Norway the FM is being shut down in favour of DAB+ :/ Great video as always, thank you! :D

[@OnlyEpicEmber]

This is an incredibly well run channel. You and 8-bit keys are the ONLY audio channels I follow and only because you both make very engaging content for the uninitiated.

[@rahimkvayath]

same pitch

[@FSM_Reviews]

Can't forget Technology Connections.

[@qwertykeyboard5901]

@@lucasrem Lucas, what the FUCK are you talking about?

[@tacofortgens3471]

12voltvids is my favorite channel

[@lavenderfox2430]

I've been watching TechMoan for some time, but I still think he's James May in disguise.

[@amitabhsrivastava1255]

Or James May is TechMoan with a wig.

[@mileshigh1321]

It's his voice! He sounds very similar to James May many times i thought! I like listening to them both actually!

[@Demiglitch]

@@mileshigh1321 Has anyone seen James May and Techmoan in the same place at the same time?

[@eoinmcmahon7007]

It can’t be James May, his jacket doesn’t fit right

[@UNSCPILOT]

Or he's an alternate reality James may, who fell in love with retro tech and clever gadgets instead of cars, both of them are cool either way XD

[@benjaminbrady2385]

"It's cocaine" That caught me so off guard! lol

[@Joeink100]

It was actually mdma

[@johnkolk]

How else would he make so many videos that are 15 or more minutes in length on a regular basis??

[@MisterMotel]

It was all so perfectly serious, until that moment, I was like " wait, whut? "

[@peterrafeiner9461]

I am not interested in a boom box, have no intention to buy one... but watched the whole video simply because it is very entertaining and well produced. I must be a bit of a geek :-)

[@shannonharvey6422]

Peter Rafeiner do you play animal jam cuz I do

[@CascadiaStronk]

Please refrain from unironically referring to yourself as a geek.

[@CascadiaStronk]

Yes

[@Novel_Poe]

me too hehehehehe :)

[@queenliz4873]

Peter Rafeiner k

[@moserfugger6363]

It's gray and rainy outside... I'm sitting on the couch with my dog Rudi and a warm blanket... watching Techmoan. Perfect sunday. :) Thank you & greetings from Germany

[@mikewosowski342]

The S70 as a recorder is quite impressive. I decided to buy one of these for my 3 year old son, but decided to try recording from a cd and from the input on the side. I played them back in my hi-fi and was impressed. Next to no hiss and peaked at +5 with no distortion. Tried with a different type 1 tape and same thing, excellent sounding recordings.

[@TheRjjrjjr]

This is the first video I've ever watched on this channel and I must say that I enjoyed it very much! I am an old music lover who laments that the quality of sound equipment available nowadays, for less than the cost of a home, is so very low. It seems that no one really cares about true stereo and high fidelity music playback these days. Thank you so much for posting a relevant and enjoyable video!

[@manFromPeterborough]

And digital sux too, nothing like analogue

[@m2heavyindustries378]

@@manFromPeterborough Thanks boomer, way to show your age

[@manFromPeterborough]

@@m2heavyindustries378 FYI I'm 48 yo

[@alkestos]

Both are fine, digital and analog.

[@moserfugger6363]

@@alkestos "Both are fine" is such a boring opinion. It's okay to have preferences. And there are good reasons for those preferences. Yes, digital does the job. But to show an ignoramus like @M2 Heavy Industries the difference between beautifully warm analog sound and flat plastic-like digital sound can be a very interesting task. And if his brain is still working, the ignoramus might even learn something. :) It's never too late. Greetings from Germany :=)

[@MrCageman]

Somewhat sad to hear that you quite often get feedback on videos not being 'right'. I think they're brilliant!! Including this one :)

[@ihaveasticknmyi]

I can only imagine how annoying it must be to have to include caveats, justifications, and explanations of obvious features to every point you try to make in an effort to stave off the idiotic masses spamming irrelevant questions and corrections, but think about it this way; in two hundred years there will be scholars asking the same stupid questions and quibbling about pedantry to try and better understand our simple, ancient lives. Your channel will someday be looked on as a miraculous trove of knowledge and enlightenment to Earth's future historians. Keep doing what you do, this channel is a boon to humanity.

[@youareababoonandiamnot4317]

Whoa, that's deep.

[@Alanphuphalee]

@@youareababoonandiamnot4317 this guy must have been on an acid comedown when he typed that up. haha

[@Sonicjan]

He should save his videos on some kind of back up-hardware, since KZbin can always decide to delete them or might not even exist 200 years. Stuff on the internet is so fragile; one day you enjoy your favourite movie and the next day some incident happened or the company decides to just shut it down, without making any back up-plans. And you think to yourself, why you didn't save it and why nobody else seem to care. Already happened a lot of times. And when those things, that thought to be lost, get found they usually sell for a high price. Early DLC, for example. The japanese-exclusive Advent-DLC for Sonic Adventure is now said to be lost forever. It's nothing huge or important, but the company SEGA either doesn't care or doesn't have any back ups themselfs and the fans have to suffer. And what about smaller Indie-games that nobody really knows about, but get to be called as "hidden-gems" in the future, while most of the media around them is just gone for good? Don't get too comfortable with the Internet. It's nothing more than a connection through different servers and thus websites, between/on different parts of the world. So don't forget to back up as much as possible and more than once!

[@ZBTEproductions]

Mike Nagy That's my favourite part of his videos, he just sounds so done with that sort of stuff!

[@PhoenixNL72-DEGA-]

Providing KZbin, or at least it's archive of video's survives that long. My prediction is that in 30 years people will think of youtube as people think of compuserve now. An old service that was ok at it's time. ;)

[@verastaki]

The CFD-S401 is definitely a better class stereo system compared to the other stereos they sell today. The ability to scan thru the tracks on the compact cassette is very rare today. Even though the head transport don't compare to the older models where you can even program which tracks you want to play, it's still a pretty decent mechanism. I'm definitely looking forward to order this stereo to replace it with the one I use in my kitchen.

[@id104335409]

''It's the cocaine....'' LOL I love this channel.

[@johnmahoney2904]

You mind not to make fun of him

[@TooSlowTube]

@7:45 I thought he was talking faster than usual...

[@Takeshi357]

Nice to see the patreon dollars are going to good use then.

[@Xmetalfanx]

I was not expecting that and I have seen alot of videos from this channel lol

[@Nomad-Rogers]

She don't Lie She don't Lie She don't Lie Cocaine........

[@dexter513]

15:17 "it's not going to blast any ghettos but it's suitable around the house" ahhh I love you English people, the way you re-murder American English back to British English is wonderful.

[@goose300183]

When he said that, I got an image of TechMoan strutting through a graffiti-adorned alleyway with this on his shoulder, while wearing a pink satin pimp suit. "What you lookin at fool?"

[@nthgth]

Haha I love that kind of wordplay. It's like a subtle, wry insult to the slang. (Probably not how he meant it, but still)

[@markgrunenwald2670]

Looks like a nice unit. Thanks. On portables, it's a good idea to put on a shelf with a wall 5-6 inches away, and listen standing several feet away. That's how many people (not all) store them and listen to their boomboxes. That sort of environment probably factors into the design parameters, especially like the UK SONY unit you reviewed which has a rear facing bass section. Being on a shelf (shelves above and below) tends to make most thin sounding boomboxes, sound 'boomier' and richer. Give it a try.

[@DisneyVideoArchive]

I found a 1985 Sony cassette deck for $10 at a thrift store and it has amazing sound quality.

[@macintosh_waifu]

Disney Video Archive What is model number?

[@voxvelderrain9273]

@@lucasrem Imagine being such a dumbass, you insult people on their hobbies because they are old. No shit a 2019 speaker with a digital MP3/FLAC sounds better. Christ, you're dumb. "Why play board games when you can play video games". Fuck off

[@jonathanlau1221]

Hardly a surprise there, mate. The real achievement would be to find a working, good quality cassette deck made in 2015, for a tenner. Most decks made by Sony, Aiwa, JVC and the like, were of pretty much solid quality back in the 80's.

[@Leurak]

Alibaba sellers very often put on the wrong prices in order to win the competition when searching for the cheapest. However, when you actually get a quote, prices are a lot higher.

[@saltysoysauce954]

They usually put bulk price

[@DoubleMonoLR]

Indeed, there's no way they'll be selling them for $1 no matter how many anyone buys.

[@alexb-vh4nq]

MrMonotone Leave that to people who do buy in bulk... I don't know about the $1 radio...but the few cents 4GB usb flash drives.... yupp thats how much they cost in engross

[@1djbecker]

@@saltysoysauce954 Having bought various things from Alibaba, yes, the low end of the price range is often nonsense. For sellers that play that game, the only way to get the pricing at even the high end of the range is to buy their entire monthly production. So it's reasonable to guess that the wholesale price is $15.

[@matthewdezii]

Best puppet segment yet. High quality stuff, and a great review! I have a Sony clock radio from the 90s that I use because I like waking up to music or news. I'd be interested in this new Japanese machine, because I would be a little all-in-one media center for my bedroom.

[@MRGilD0]

Matthew Dezii it'd be awesome if it also had Bluetooth functionality or something. Just an all in one device for my room.

[@watershed44]

Matthew Dezii I still want to see a Muppet segment with Jeremy Clarkson, James May and the Stig.....love to see a cameo of Jeremy appear in an actual Techmoan video

[@lavenderfox2430]

watershed44 I'd get a laugh if Jeremy actually voiced it.

[@700gsteak]

The Aldi one has bluetooth.

[@jetjazz05]

I love the beige one... it just screams Japanese to me. Something really great about Japanese designs when it comes to electronics, I've been thinking about finding an old 90s Japanese PC and using the case to put a computer in just because they have an extremely retro sci-fi fashion about them that looks specifically Japanese and still very stylish.

[@nickca420]

Do people really hate the puppets? I think they should get their own spinoff series.

[@saltysoysauce954]

There's a few puppet videos on his website!

[@Havanacuba1985]

The puppets are rad 🤟🏼🕶

[@Will-fn7bz]

I love the puppets. Dad jokes are my specialty too, though.

[@kingfishercomputing9497]

There should be a video on whether the muppets like marmite...

[@demolishedman50]

"if it arrives" Ouch that resonates with me.

[@Bedroom_Punk]

It is that exact fact that prevents me from backing things.

[@panthermodern64]

"it's cocaine" - best thing ever said in a KZbin video

[@Funkeditup]

That did make me laugh. One of my top KZbinrs. Keep up the good work TechMoan!

[@oldskoolgooner]

pmodern2000 I'd like to know just how many of us watching this cracked a smile on the Charlie comment ? 😂😂😂😂

[@Elberto71]

now we know why he has sinus problems LOL

[@peterlamont647]

I suspect he had cancer. He also has no sense of taste. That really sucks. I have thought about it for a while. Would I undergo treatment which did this? Or just enjoy what time I had left. I guess typing it in this thread puts it in perspective. He clearly has life after a sense of taste. Indeed, his taste is for more than just food.

[@Fireglo]

@Peter Lamont I have a constant sinus problem but I don't have cancer.

[@FFVoyager]

Given it plays cassettes and looking at the size of the display and the beige colour option I suspect that is marketed at pensioners in Japan. My 76 year old Japanese mother in law would love it!

[@MrDuncl]

A few months ago I was looking at reviews of the UK unit. Over half of them were along the lines of "I bought this for my 93 year old Mother who loves the fact that she can play her Vera Lynn tapes again"

[@DarthMaul41]

I actually like the Japanese cassette player mostly because of servo controller mechanism which resembles the good old decks. Didn't expect that in a boombox! Very well done review, thanks!

[@DJPenguino51]

The cassette sound is quite good, even on the cheap UK model. I detected a bit of 50Hz hum (hints at a half wave rectifier setup vs full wave) during the track fade out on both of the Sony portables and the Aldi portable, and not on the hi-fi deck.

[@nexgenhippy]

I loved the old Hitachi 3D Superwoofer ones that came in various models, had a few over the years including the newer CD models. Also big old Sharp ones like the GF-777. Classics.

[@mr.y.mysterious.video1]

nexgenhippy cherished my sharp twin deck portable stereo. Wanted the hitachi one but it was too expensive.

[@TDB.AO.]

When I was a youngster I always kept a blank tape in the deck to record songs from the radio.

[@jari2018]

Me too and still got a lot of those tapes .

[@barryholt9564]

We all did! But while TiVo type devices came along to replace VHS for recording off the television there is no real modern equivalent for recording off the radio...

[@MissMartiniCorsetry]

ah yes, the dj would bloody well talk over half of it. :D

[@supergeekjay]

@@barryholt9564 My little KAOS PDR1 DAB radio will record to Micro SD card, but it isn't the same as old tape.

[@brettvv7475]

Same.

[@lordmikethegreat]

Awesome! You ordered a The64 and a SpectrumNext just like me!!! I can't wait for you to do a review of those when they show up... or if they show up!

[@VisionThing]

M D You two samies should get married.

[@zibish3095]

I've got the CFD-S70 in my garage workshop and really like it. It's not easy to find a reasonably priced boombox that plays tapes, CDs and AM/FM radio. And honestly, in that setting, both the sound quality and volume are fine. The Japanese model seems better but if you are looking for a versatile sound source for your shop or a similar location I'd recommend the CFD-S70. By the way, I didn't realize until watching the review that these would play MP3s. So I burned a lengthy classical music MP3 disc and it works fine. First time I've burned a CD in years. Thanks for reviewing this item!

[@matrixmodulator]

does it still work?

[@T.Sizzle]

Thank you for making these videos. They bring back lots of memories, answer old questions not thought of in years and just somehow relax me.

[@KarlAdamsAudio]

Surprisingly respectable output from the CFD-S70 via the headphone output - I wasn't expecting that.

[@jusb1066]

most are, my cheap 12 quid argos fm/cassette is pretty good with the headphone output, even into a nad&mission amp and speakers

[@rubbereentjuh]

haha the cocaine joke was unexpected

[@spongeyperson]

how can you be sure it was a joke?

[@tjfSIM]

Ha ha, maybe the cocaine was imported inside the tape machine? The loose bit of plastic broke off in his eagerness to open the cassette tray and get at the stash! :D In all seriousness though, Techmoan does not strike me as a cocaine kind of chap. Doughnuts, yes.

[@JoeOrber]

@@tjfSIM so, powdered sugar 😂

[@gsilva220]

The mechanism is inverted because this is the RHD version

[@olliecrow3547]

Lol

[@bradsmith2386]

I've had a Sony CFD-S01 for around or over 10 years on 24/7 and still works like a charm

[@classicnerdderp9844]

This channel is by far the most relaxing channel to watch been watching since I was 15

[@LyonsdenBlog]

Thanks for another thoroughly entertaining and informative video as always. The only problem I have with it (and many of your other videos) is that I come away with a burning desire to buy whatever it is you're reviewing! Keep up the great work anyway!

[@panpaletkalg2550]

yeah, that guy meade me buy a nixie tube clock, no regrets

[@LyonsdenBlog]

Already bought a Walkman WM-D6C after watching that video. Nixie clock is now on the top of my wishlist along with a FlipClock and that little build your own calculator project he did. No regrets here either! :-)

[@F_I_J_I_W_A_T_E_R]

More like MeagreBass

[@AlejandroFerrariMc]

I actually would love to know the history of MegaBass. When did it came? How does it work? Why?...

[@mikeangelo6667]

It's nothing but a tone control.

[@edwardz.rosenthal9946]

@@mikeangelo6667 No. True Mega Bass was a low pass filter/amp that boosted a narrow range of bass frequencies. Tone is merely a high frequency attenuator, rolls of the treble. Class dismissed.

[@ccadam]

@@RWL2012 bass heavy music or often any music sounds too flat without bass boost on. Although you're correct in a way that especially at louder volumes bass boost can sound too boomy even to the point of distortion possibly even leading to speaker damage if they're not designed to handle a lot of bass at high volume.

[@ccadam]

@@dodecahedron1 bass boost is called loudness on mostly older or higher end equipment. Designed to give more depth to sound at lower volumes as depth in bass isn't really heard at lower volumes without a boost to the bass or what sometimes is called loudness which can also include a boost or thickening to other frequencies as well.

[@jonk5621]

Oh boy we got our selves a HALF HOUR... I WOULD BE EXPLICIT WITH MY EXCITEMENT, BUT I WANT TO KEEP THE COMMENTS CLEAN BC PEOPLE HAVE BEEN GETTING DEMONITIZED FOR COMMENT SECTIONS BEING FOUL. Thanks for your hard work, research and time dude!!

[@edwardz.rosenthal9946]

I had an AIWA mini boombox that had a "wide" switch which created a bit of surround sound through the 2 built in speakers, but also had outputs for hooking up 2 optional speakers to be placed much further apart and which created a very convincing and well balanced surround effect. With the Mega Bass button pressed the bass was quite solid and nicely defined. Amazing little $50 gadget!

[@ricardoelectronicsrepair]

i like sony boomboxes, they have excellent quality and good looking. i have cfs1040s, 27 years old and still working.

[@bigbro5793]

Great show! Thank you, really love your videos, much better than most shows on TV, to say nothing of the fact that there are no such type of shows on TV. 30 minutes passed like 3)))

[@TheMentalblockrock]

I agree with you, and in addition, I enjoy watching the puppets at the end. They are entertaining and often funny.

[@munxcorp]

I keep seeing new LP record players in stores by Sony and other companies. Would be cool to see a test of those.

[@SianaGearz]

They're all engineered and manufactured by one Taiwanese company, Hanpin Electron Co Ltd. All Denon, Audio-Technica, Stanton and Pioneer are built by them too or come from their parts bin. Now i don't mean to say that they're the same, the company has at least 3 motor types, 4 or so types of tonearm mechanisms, etc, but have fun with their catalogue and spotting which is which, and after a handful, you'll have seen them all. They're not terrible, but just about anything from the 80ies, Japanese, German or even Soviet made ones, is going to be better.

[@DanRichardson]

You're not wrong, but I'm pretty happy with my Audio Technica LP60. It was only £100, sounds decent and USB out means that I can faff around with digitisation. Am planning a Raspberry Pi project to pipe audio from it to all my Chromecast Audios in the house, which is fun.

[@vojtasTS29]

Here in the czech republic we still make metal and chromdioxide tapes.

[@Techmoan]

Are you 100% sure? I'm sure the tape enthusiasts will be thrilled to hear this news. A link to the manufacturer/retailer would be great.

[@briero]

And they still make Nixie tubes in the Czech Republic too :) www.daliborfarny.com/ Good ones at that!

[@vojtasTS29]

store.headlessduplicatedtapes.cz

[@AttilaTheHun333333]

vojtasTS29 Ok, well that link goes nowhere.

[@vojtasTS29]

Attila theHun yeah. Their shop seems to be down today. I just checked. But i've been buying some tapes from them this spring, and i don't think they went down. Try just headlessduplicatedtapes.cz

[@tahiro1121]

I am from Japan and have come to find out about this channel recently. I am very fascinated by the passion you put into running this channel. Do ask me for translations of stuff written in Japanese should you ever be in need.

[@vectorcollector4893]

In Japan does Sony still make the S401?

[@adriancressy8363]

This is just a general compliment to all of your youtube videos. I watch many of them over and over. Thanks for revealing the past audio video formats that never made it and what happened to them. The DBX vinyl records seemed like the answer to revive vinyl records. Guess no one wanted to buy another box to enjoy the clean audio and 100db of dynamic range.

[@TuMalditaMadre]

15:46 definitely Plena was the last genre of music I'd expect to hear on this channel but you've always got a surprise in store for us!

[@RockstarBruski]

Cool testing and review. This makes me want to play my cassettes! I still have many of my cassettes I bought in the 80s and use a very high end cassette deck from the 80s connected to a 90s surround sound analog stereo. The problem with using cheap cassette decks or cheap portable players is they don't slow the tape down at the end when you fast forward or rewind so they end up stretching or snapping the tape. Also their rollers and mechanisms are cheaply made and tend to missthread tapes and mangle them a lot more than a high end tape deck or high end portable player. Anyway great review and cheers! 😎

[@vasilis8208]

You often forget just how good cassettes can sound! But the cassette mechanism needs to be of reasonably good quality, and properly aligned to get the best out of them.

[@AlienSoundworks]

Thank you for this very well made explaination video as always! But I would add that the Japanese manual is saying that the CFD-S401 is complatible "only" with Type I (Normal) cassettes in recording and playback. Type II (CrO2) cassettes are not compatible (Note : Playing a Type II cassette on this device gives more hiss and slightly distords the sound).

[@soonersciencenerd383]

i made my own; i bought a digital am/fm radio tape player with 40 preset channels, for $5 at a goodwill. took it apart, took te tape player parts out, added a speaker, and it sounds great! i checked on amazon for something similar- am/fm digital radio w/ 9 preset channels for $100...

[@janlawrencesanpedro]

I had the Sony CFD-S70 as this is the only my cassette player functioning still in use to this day.

[@CuttingtheCaboose]

Ha, I have both those Prince: The Hits cassettes, they sounded great :) Another fantastic video, keep doing what you do! xox

[@athopi]

I got the "UK" model as a gift last Christmas, It was around $100 then, from a big box store. I use it in my food truck to jam while cooking/prepping. Bass Boost is a must and it plays CDs pretty well and gets ok AM/FM reception despite being inside a large aluminum box. Tape controls reversed from every other deck I've ever owned and still has to be looked at to get right. Annoying that the thing doesn't remember last station tuned, tired of having to take the time passing a bunch of other stations to get to the one I like every time I power it on. Have not tried the headphones with it. It plays loud enough I have to turn it down once I start getting customers or they won't be heard. It plays over the noise of my commercial vent hood so not as bad as the slagging you gave it I think. In that environment it gives me something to tap my toes to while working, fidelity would be wasted there anyway.

[@AlrightParty]

Love this channel, keep up this great work!

[@GeminiRVides]

This is the kind of really useful video that shows the person in charge of it really loves what he does AND knows his stuff. Amazing! Thanks!

[@AfferbeckBeats]

That timed radio recording feature is nice. I would have loved that in the early-mid 00s when I listened to a hip hop show that aired at midnight. I had to get up for school in the morning and I'd have to lay in bed waiting for it to start, then hit record and go to sleep. Of course I'd usually fall asleep before I could that!

[@mazda9624]

The current cassette market is so crappy because it's mainly for hipsters who weren't alive during the actual cassette era, and have no idea that chrome tape and dolby noise reduction even exist. They're just like "It's a cassette tape. It's supposed to sound bad"

[@hmm2928]

mazda9624 so true 😂

[@chaos.corner]

I was around and still have some of my old tapes. I have had no impulse to get them out and play them whatsoever.

[@YAUUN]

I think I've still got the first cassette I bought in a cupboard somewhere. Either Madness or Huey Lois & The News.

[@NJRoadfan]

To be fair, the average cassette deck during the format's prime wasn't much better than what these boomboxes come with. That and the vast majority of blank tapes sold were Type I anyway. Growing up with the format, I don't think I ever heard a Type II tape, let alone owned any. Type IV metal tapes were non-existent then and now!

[@kaitlyn__L]

i grew up with type 2 mixtapes compiled from my father's LPs... but then he had a very extensive, very high end (i think, it was all matching brand) hifi system - records, tape, CD, radio, and an amp that was bigger than any of the other units, all in a big rack - and flanked by speakers as tall as the whole assembly. i don't think he knew much about the specs himself, but he had a pal who would hook him up and know what's what. i think the pal fixed things when they went wrong too? like when i was 4 and turned the volume dial way too far and messed up the variable pot. whoops! later on, he ignored my advice when he asked me about making a home cinema system in a later house (i was 15, and had come to know what's what myself). he was out of touch with that friend, otherwise i presume he would've asked him. he ended up just going for what hi-fi magazine's number 1 products that month, not really grasping that they try to have circulation of new things each month, and have no consideration for how each part works together. oh well. i never really knew how well off my family were until i moved out. i had a very basic walkman when i was about 7 but it was still a sony, y'know? so i'm guessing there's probably a class divide on what types of tape were common in the household. my father worked in finance. i had no idea that was a particularly fancy job when i was 6.

[@sawarunan]

So now you've done a video on cheapo old boomboxes and very recent releases. Maybe it's time for a video on older, supposed "higher end" boomboxes, like the AIWA Strasser CSD-SR8 or the Panasonic RX line?

[@tremorist]

That's it. Moving to Japan.

[@thecianinator]

You put chapter selection with permalinks in the description. This is a greater attention to detail than I have ever seen in a KZbin video.

[@KILUB11]

I just can't stop looking at that cassette rack and digital clock. So gorgeous!

[@googleboughtmee]

Why do these muppet videos always have that guy at the start droning on about boring electrical things

[@Dzeroed]

Lol, nice one XD

[@althejazzman]

You can always skip to get to the important bits.

[@benjaminbrady2385]

I think it's a glitch in KZbin

[@propfella]

Unfortunately for people such as yourself, these videos, especially at the start, are made for intelligent people. But don't worry too much googleboughtmee, there are cartoons you can watch elsewhere. Now stick your thumb back in your mouth and SUCK.

[@googleboughtmee]

propfella That''s the most impressive example of 'not getting it' I've seen for a while, congratulations!

[@rarbiart]

14:10 _"Volume at 11?"_ I laughed before you even mentioned "spinal tap".

[@etmax1]

Surely Dolby's patent has expired by now?

[@PeKlim]

But rights for logo and name...

[@nathanczaja]

@@PeKlim call it Yblod instead

[@gideonkloosterman]

I think they would have no problem letting people use the tech.

[@xboys_archive]

Gideon Kloosterman it's not worth the trouble I think

[@marcel911]

I enjoyed that, thanks. I always like your delivery. None of the annoying cuts that other Youitubers seem to think are necessary. Looking forward to the next one, you always find something unusual to feature.

[@lindokuhle4130]

Narrator in deadpan: "It's cocaine" Me: "Subscribed"

[@WarmProp]

The muppet banter at the end was better than usual.

[@LaskyLabs]

From what I've heard, even a chrome tape without Dolby B is quite good. It's a shame that Dolby doesn't licence it anymore, and no one has made an open source alternative that can be used on any new tape decks.

[@PanaSonyc]

Teac and Tascam has it's own noise reduction system. Bit different to the Dolby but still pretty good.

[@abelq8008]

Chrome tape recorded on a decent deck sounds very good even without NR.

[@vpassanisi]

don't let the haters get you down. I really like your videos, especially the hifi/audio related ones!!

[@BananaSlug911]

I found this channel today and I'm very happy about it. I just found a new passion for an older audio equipment. Subscribed.

[@sheppo]

Have people really complained about the puppets? *sigh*

[@ciprianwinerElectronicManiac]

Soft touch tape controls on a modern cassette player? Take my money! I really want one of these things but it's impossible to get one. Will be great if Sony would be selling these all over the world. Thanks for sharing :)

[@BarneyLCornett]

I've gotta say, I really Love your videos... Do you happen to have a review of the Nakamichi Dragon Cassette Tape Player?

[@spectacularbear]

In Japan, there's like, otaku radio shows sometimes... so those people would probably use that radio recording feature.

[@beefcakeandgravy]

I was taught (many years ago) NOT to use the track skip function on tape decks (where it looks for a quiet patch to indicate the next song position when fast forwarding or rewinding). Reason was that the read/write head stays in contact with the tape as it moves the tape quickly - placing extra wear on the head and the tape itself, instead of retracting and allowing the tape to pass without contacting the head. Thoughts?

[@mikeangelo6667]

Skip functions also put kinks in the tape.

[@keithbrown7685]

Really??? Which tunes? Lola maybe???

[@EclectikTronik]

In cue/review/track skip, the head does indeed remain in contact with the tape , but it is retracted so that it is just close enough to pick up the magnetic signal. The amount of extra wear is thus minimal. People tend to worry far too much about this. I have been working on language learning machines for years which always have these modes, and they do not suffer unduly. In fact it is surprising how robust the tapes and machines can be. In one installation, the c60 tapes only began to show audible wear after 4 years of weekly use. More importantly the heads of the decks were like new -after all that cueing!

[@satman6124]

Just a quick question did anyone ever wear out a tape head on a quality unit. I have never seen one but that's just me

[@satman6124]

OK seen one on google search

[@SPAZZOID100]

Golden era of boomboxes: 1979-1983

[@rick3747]

No, I am 59y and I lived that time. 1978-1992 was the Golden Age of Boomboxes.

[@ChilisBabyBackRib]

@@rick3747 rick rick rick rick rick rick rick and morty walked in the club just me and my shorty 😩😩😩🤤

[@TheZProtocol]

The Japanese always keeps the best stuff for themselves

[@folksurvival]

As they should.

[@mg86_]

TheZProtocol Including cars...

[@emmareporter4324]

Michael765 well yea cuz they didn't meet us standards at the time (the 80's,90's ,and 2000's

[@ujellybroski]

plus IIRC in japan personal vehicles are taxed by their size/capability and since compacts would be the best way to go in terms of dolla it's no wonder japan's compact car market is booming

[@coydog7902]

I love Japanese cars!! The Mazda RX-7,Nissan GTR R35,Nissan Skyline R34,Toyota AE86,Toyota Supra are my favorite cars!

[@rinyzk]

"oyasumi timer" is my favorite term

[@nyaaanjake]

That Gunship cassette makes me so jealous every time!

[@marky26uk]

You're one of the best reviewers on KZbin, great test comparisons, thanks.

[@iljalevol]

Man, you are great! I love your channel! If I only could meet you one day after corona-time, only for a beer or two, I'd be very glad!

[@stephanieweil583]

Did you happen to check out the MW reception on the first unit? Sony usually made very good AM receivers.

[@46danz]

The japanese sony one,looks good too..

[@kevinhoward8410]

Regarding the sound quality from the UK model, I had a cheap boombox back in the 80's that sounded pretty thin. I upgraded the speakers, which helped, but not as much as I had hoped. Finally, I replaced the 330uF output coupling capacitors with 1000uF, and this made a noticeable improvement for a pretty cheap and simple procedure. Might be worth a try, if you're up for a bench project. I've seen you do videos with component replacements, so I think this would be a doable experiment.

[@vasilis8208]

I think another problem is that the speakers don't seem to be ported, so the low frequencies from the back of the speakers can't get out.

[@davidhall410]

This guys got a great voice for recording/radio/tv

[@BandanazX]

Most underrated KZbinr ever! That outro! Sony ES! Inside jokes. So much win here!

[@jiasunzhang8001]

It's sad. After all these years Sony still decided to do the "sell the best staff only in Japan and much less one to the rest of the world" thing.

[@abelq8008]

I guess Japanese consumers are generally more saavy?

[@dthtr1]

The sound quality is not bad but I think recent devices look flimsy, ancient boomboxes are more solid.

[@TassieLorenzo]

These modern products are inexpensive devices to be fair. For three or four times the retail price, I am sure Sony could produce a very nice unit in a metal case --- but would there be any interest? Sony produce plenty of higher-end speakers, I am sure they could slot in some nice coaxial drivers with silk dome tweeters, instead of these full range 3.5-4" jobbies that seem to be in these.

[@scrunkykat]

That got me out of nowhere. "Oh, it's cocaine-- NO, it isn't."

[@isleifoterogarcia4478]

Is very pleasant to let him explain all that technology in a good positive way. Just I love seeing al your videos because I always wanted to try Any new gadget or know about curious things on the old ones. Keep up the good work.

[@slamshift6927]

I will say that the CFD-S70 might have a smightly weak signal, but the autoscan is wonderfully sensitive. Nice when you live in a rural area and very few FM stations come in perfectly, but most come in well enough to do the job. Important for a decent little emergency radio. (Also just scored one at a thrift shop for $4. Not bad!)

[@vasilis8208]

I have one of these and I find that unless the FM signal is pretty strong, it starts getting noisy with FM hiss. Then you have to switch it to Mono.

[@bla5tfm]

Thanks for the review... after all these videos about cassette tape decks, I'm slowly being nudged to go look for one, as soon as budget allows me. Just 1 question: what is your opinion on decks that load the cassette vertically (tape head goes up/down) vs horizontally? My experience back in the days were cassettes get ruin or the player has a harder time turning the spools if the cassettes are played horizontally for some time. I suspect it was because the tape gets spooled to one side inside of the cassette because of gravity which causes it to stick. Particularly on longer play times (90 and 120) cassettes. Not sure if it was just my players. I had 2 players that loaded the cassettes horizontally, including the one in the car and seemed to get the same issue on both. I would end up either rewinding the cassettes on a player that loaded them horizontally, or use the ball-pen technique to loosen them back up. Anyway, thank you for your reviews.

[@lordwolffurry582]

"No, no its not cocaine" Tell it to the judge Techmoan.

[@panpaletkalg2550]

"tell it to the judge sunshine"

[@SPAZZOID100]

LordwolfFurry legalize it

[@jamesleslie4833]

*hands Techmoan a test cup* prove it!

[@miekkb]

was it only me hypnotized by the clock there ?

[@kenshinflyer]

That reminds me--Mom has a Sony CFD-V27 model, more akin to the black boombox, where the CD and tape drives are on top, though it's much simpler (none of that huge LCD screen) and has a manual FM/AM tuner. She bought it some years ago.

[@MrLasersound]

Love this guy, he knows what he's talking about, and his professionalism is brill to a point of now you know or not!!!!