Super USB cassette capture player absolutely destroyed by a vintage Sony Walkman

This was sent in by a viewer to see if I could work miracles. Unfortunately it isn't easy to fix a bad design. Save your money, don't buy one of these.

[@thirty704]

I have one of these and could not figure out how to put the belt back on. You saved my life and a lot of lost time with the opening @5:23. Thank you!

[@PaulJCost1]

It was a pleasure to watch this! Thanks man. i do still record my tapes and listen to them on my Sony EX 678 walkman which i recommend to anyone who really stands out for the real deal of tape quality. My tapes are recorded on a Technics RS B655 and they sound even better than the source using some BIAS tweaking and its a Direct drive Deck too... There is no noticeable W&F on these Decks and the EX 678 just had a brand new belt in. I Still Rock tapes and i will Rock them as long as i want... These Recording devices are garbage for sure, not even worth the money and the time waiting for them to arrive from the post... Just go with the right stuff, a REAL WALKMAN from SONY or other good brands.

[@thomasraden]

Those were the days when you could buy a metal type cassette tape and record on it with Dolby C or DBX and it almost sounded as a CD. Until it revealed itself when you get the dropouts from the tape, in case you had reused it. Its a real tech miracle that you can get up to 20 kHz from a tape speed of 4.75 cm/s.

[@12voltvids]

There were some decks that got very close to CD quality.

[@HamtaroEL]

Even the decent superferrics got CD quality with tapes like Maxell XLI-S, TDK AR-X, Sony HF-ES and of course decent cassette decks.

[@tacofortgens3471]

Most I got from a tape was 18khz

[@tharkthax3960]

That pioneer sounds superb despite the bog standard tape. I still use cassettes myself, and I have two technics M10 decks from 1979. They've been restored, and I love the way they perform. The vu meters are class. As always - great video 🙂

[@marcjerry5604]

sorry to be offtopic but does anybody know a way to get back into an instagram account?? I somehow forgot the login password. I would love any assistance you can give me!

[@jeffreygatlin2039]

@Marc Jerry instablaster =)

[@marcjerry5604]

@Jeffrey Gatlin I really appreciate your reply. I got to the site on google and im trying it out atm. Takes a while so I will get back to you later when my account password hopefully is recovered.

[@marcjerry5604]

@Jeffrey Gatlin it worked and I now got access to my account again. I'm so happy:D Thanks so much, you saved my ass !

[@jeffreygatlin2039]

@Marc Jerry glad I could help :)

[@mindshare2000]

Too late, I already bought one. It wasn't "turning" but thanks to your video I was able to open it up, see the belt had slipped, reconnected it and voilà, it works again! Thanks.

[@ahtania]

I enjoy your videos a lot. Do you know how to disable a cassette deck flippy (autoreverse) head (prevent rotation)? 2 ribbon cables going to it. Thought unplugging one might work but no.

[@walkmancollectormexico2604]

I LOVE THE ANALOG SOUND IS MORE WARM

[@darrendelima2909]

I agree, analogue tape sound is nice :), even digitised in the video (What you hear on the video is a digital MP3 recorded to an analogue tape then recorded and digitally processed on a PC, before being further digitised by KZbin's compression)

[@sawajiri100]

What frequency u use for Cassette Test Tape 1kHz?

[@alcoholisfreedrink]

i had one similar to this. These things sound awful. Mine had weird crackling noise in headphones. Awful piece of shit. Old low-end grundig walkman sounded heck of a lot better.

[@DaXande135]

My low-end Sony Walkman would also beat one of those USB capture devices for sure.

[@mark-andrews]

Thanks for the video, I feel the compassions made are fair. You make it clear the three devices have different costs. Yeah I would much rather use my old personal stereo but the belts are gone, so I have one of these devices, the one I got the belt fell off the mechanism after the second session of use, after rewinding a very sticky tape,.You showing the belt being put back on was so helpful to me thanks, it is now working again Not the best of devices, but the model I have does Bluetooth to any decent Hi-fi so listening to the tapes itself is good, yeah the recording, I probably wait and hopefully get my old Panasonic cassette player fixed.

[@jasejj]

I'm trying to remember how much an auto-reverse personal stereo used to be back in the 1980s. I know the Sony one I had with an FM radio from 1990 was £50 (around $150 today). The cheapest auto-reverse I can find in the 1990 Argos catalogue in the UK was a Toshiba costing about £35 (so around $100 today). These can be bought for $10 if you look hard enough. It's hardly surprising they're not very good! Although as I recall, even the cheap 3-button efforts from the 80s/early 90s (which would be comparable with this unit) at least managed to keep a fairly steady speed... But I certainly would agree that even the cheapest of the cheap tape decks from when they were mainstream would trash this little unit. And it's sometimes difficult to give such decks away.

[@12voltvids]

I think the old walkman sounded better. The Pioneer well that was overkill. Can you imagine what a good 3 head deck like a Nakamichi with that digital noise canceling would sound. I used to use DBX because I hated tape hiss. DBX did a great job at the expense of compatibility, but the digital noise removal in that pioneer is fantastic, and it of course works with Dolby B and C encoded tapes as well.

[@usererror1969]

Great video! I really like that Pioneer

[@robertiebert]

Thanks, this just saved me buying a new usb cassette!

[@aurthorthing7403]

If you have a 440 tone tape you can use Audacity to see the frequency it's playing at. It has a tone generator, too.

[@12voltvids]

Yes I know. I can just look n my scope and see the frequency, and I beat the tone with the frequency generator and then you can clearly hear the pitch difference. That is actually the way I tune my guitar. Tune the open A string, and then the E D G and B strings from that one.

[@vs-cw1wc]

Wonder if you could do some digital processing on the file captured from the walkman and approach the sound quality of the Pioneer deck

[@12voltvids]

Never tried.

[@NotMarkKnopfler]

On all the decks it sounds like the tape is creased at the beginning. It gets better as the tune progresses.

[@12voltvids]

You have good ears, the tape IS crunched at the beginning.

[@goyadressunofficial]

Definitely some dropouts there.

[@Suedeash]

Quite a few tapes have dropouts at the start, especially if they were manually assembled in the factory. I heard that it was due to fingerprints and other imperfections on the leader tape and earlier sections of the actual magnetic tape, although in most countries I believe tapes were completely assembled by machines

[@vwestlife]

Pioneer actually did make two 3-head cassette decks with their Digital NR system -- the CT-S670D (only sold in Europe) and the T-D7 (only sold in Japan).

[@12voltvids]

That would be a nice deck to have.

[@richardsmejkal798]

That Elite pioneer deck is certainly a keeper. I didn't know any were made with digitized playback. Enjoyed the comparison video.

[@12voltvids]

I am sure the guy that gave it to me is kicking himself now. Yes it is a good deck one of the better decks I have. Despite it only being a 2 head, it is not like I record anything anymore.

[@manueldi_77]

My setup to capture tapes is a JVC TD-V562 and a Zoom H1 recorder. The quality is quite good. The deck is direct drive with 3 heads and a closed loop dual capstan. The Zoom H1 is also a very nice "field recorder".

[@tomil2002]

But I do it too with Tascam DR-05.Tascam records mp3 up to 320 kbps or 44,1/48/96 kHz - 16/24 bit linear PCM format WAV. Line-in input, manual or automatic.Quality perfect.The new Zoom H1 with USB port has perfect control. Manual level control with potentiometer or encoder.The Tascam DR-05 has a plus and minus button.Tascam has a bigger screen and that's great.

[@coondogtheman]

I thought about getting one of these but I think i'm going to heed your advice and not get one. all of my current cassette machines still work so I can just hook one to my Sony digital recorder which records from line level audio to 192kbps stereo mp3 format.

[@DECIMA1]

Thanks for making this video!

[@andrewlittleboy8532]

Crikey, that thing sounds absolutely dreadful!

[@stphinkle]

I wonder if that hole is for rebranding in which the factory sells this device OEM to other companies and they insert their own label for custom branding.

[@mymixtape3582]

Is there a way to change the speed? The tuning is way too high!

[@upsidediy3945]

The daveinci, of electronic repairs. That's a nice device, does have some cheap looking thing to it. Perfect for some stereo deck recordings, usb converters/capture cards should do the same thing with a player, thanks for the video.

[@Pyridox]

I had one of these cassette digitizers. I wound up just connecting my old Sony cassette deck to my PC audio input using a RCA to 1/8" audio adapter cable using Audacity. My multi-meter reads frequencies up to 40 Mhz.

[@12voltvids]

Sound card in PC sounds great.

[@MidnightVisions]

I've worked on these devices before and you will never get rid of the noise because there is no filtering on the power supply within the circuit. You can add a .1mf cap across the motor + - terminals, and across the devices op amps, that will be the best you can do. Removing the main 1458 op amp and replace it with a NE5532 or NE5534 will greatly improve the audio quality.

[@12voltvids]

Yup, was going to do just that, and see if it will make it any quieter. Results will be filmed and posted if it makes any noticeable difference.

[@SeanBZA]

Would also suggest taking the motor power leads and adding in series chokes to both, along with some 470pF ceramic disc capacitors soldered from each lead to the case, like most of the old manufacturers did to reduce motor noise. Probably not going to fit this in the envelope though and still keep minimal lead length.

[@12voltvids]

@@SeanBZA A .1 across the motor actually increases the noise and motor speed. .01 does nothing neither does adding a choke. The problem is the head wire runs right around the motor and is connected right beside the motor power. Most of the noise is induction into the preamp.

[@MatyTVArchivos]

What song is this? Great video!

[@12voltvids]

Encouraging News by the musicbakery.com

[@agatestringfam2740]

Awesome video you got there.😎

[@Synthematix]

When minidisc came out i threw all my tapes in the bin, i can hear a very high pitched whine in this video dave, to stop motor noise i use a ceramic capacitor from the motor to ground think its 100pF, as you say analogs so much better lol

[@ashura44444]

YOUI JIUST SAVED MEMAN, I DO'NT HAVE ENOUGH MONEY TO REPAIR MY CASSETTE, I BOUGHT A CASSETTE CAPTURE WORTH 20 DOLLARS, THANK YOU, NOW IT IS WORKING

[@MrGauravmatta]

What is that screwdriver 🪛 called which you used to adjust speed I have the one from which you opened up this thing

[@kyoudaiken]

Several questions: - In the slowmo footage when playing the tape, it looks like you are recording in 1080i which is interlaced. Why? Maximum mode of Camera? - Do you turn self-tapper screws counter clockwise before tightening them? You do it so quickly, I can't see it. - I have a similar era Pioneer tape deck, with one drive. The torque is very low on this although the ribbon belt looks good and tight. I can't find a way to dig deeper into it. Currently I don't have the model number close to me. But any advice?

[@12voltvids]

No the camera can do 60p @ 1080, and 30p in 4K. It is all about file size. It tapes much longer to render out those ridicules file sizes, and even longer to upload. When I did that 1 hour 4K video driving up the mountain, it took more than 24 hours to render and several more yo upload the resulting file. 60p is also a bandwidth pig. 60i uses about half the bandwidth and no reduction in picture quality.

[@kyoudaiken]

@@12voltvids Ah. Then you should check if you have a deinterlacer in your filter chain, because I saw the typical interlace bobbing. Or maybe it is caused by the slow mo effect. I don't know. I have the first 16 core AMD Threadripper and I can confirm encoding 4K30p or even 4K60p is a pain in the butt. I hope next gen Ryzen will make it much faster. We lack hardware for 4K. :/ Not to mention internet bandwidth. (Upload)

[@12voltvids]

@@kyoudaiken I shoot interlaced and output same. This saves bandwidth. I did a test shot. 60 seconds at 60p took about 200 megs. Now not quite the 1 gig a minute of 4k but still far too much for repair videos. By comparison same 60 seconds at 1080i is about 80 meg file size. A little less than half the file size and both are 1920 x 1080 files. This is why broadcasters use 1080i. For that matter why interlaced scanning was developed in the first place. Saves 50% bandwidth.

[@kyoudaiken]

@@12voltvids Yes. It was originally used to reduce flicker on CRTs. Pretty neat invention but annoying to convert to progressive scan on digital displays. Do you upload as interlaced to KZbin? And KZbin itself deinterlaces it?

[@12voltvids]

@@kyoudaiken Initially it was developed to save bandwidth as transmitting 60 progressive frames would take more than the 6mhz that was assigned to TV if the day. Remember that there was only vhf frequencies available so doubling the bandwidth would have cut the band from 12 channels 5 in the low band and 7 in the high to 3 channels. FM band was already reserved and channel 1 was in the 6 meter radio band so was never assigned for broadcast after initial testing was done. Lowering the frame rate to 30 made the crt flicker badly. Yes yt deintetlaces video on their end. I upload in same format I shoot.

[@Wildman9]

In this case ,the less you spend the less you get.📺📻👍

[@douglasallen9428]

My very first portable radio/cassette player was a Philco branded unit - it was a model 800K given to me by my aunt, and the only problems I ever encountered were faster than normal playback (around 3 to 5 percent fast), as well as scratchy controls - but, for a cheap unit (and the fact that I was just a kid), it really wasn't all that bad...... until the motor completely crapped out.

[@fflynnful]

Did you get to measure the wow and flutter while you had it? In my old days of working in a shop repairing tape decks, we would almost always set a cassette deck 2 or 3% fast. Most car stereo cassette players were set from the factory at between 3 and 4% fast. To most ears, a little bit fast is less objectionable than a little slow, most cheap decks would not hold the speed very accurately.

[@kitten2mail]

What would stop it from all of a sudden not playing tapes? Turning, have I broken it?

[@kitten2mail]

Found the issue, band had come off. Thank you for helping me figure out how to open the back :) No one else has a video like this

[@olnnn]

It sounds like there is some high-pitched background whine in this video.

[@Lachlant1984]

I heard it through my speakers, but not my headphones.

[@alcoholisfreedrink]

are there brand new cassette players available that have feather touch controls anywhere?

[@kevinh96]

Tascam still make tape decks, but they are expensive and have no Dolby noise reduction, only Tascam's own noise reduction circuitry. Vwestlife here on KZbin did a video review of Tascam's current 202MkVII a year or so ago. A similar deck is also available from TEAC, the W1200, (same company as Tascam so not surprising) for around the same price.

[@alcoholisfreedrink]

@@kevinh96 I have seen this video but thank's for mentioning. This Tascam will literally be destroyed by my sony tc-k71 and aiwa ad3600

[@codebeat4192]

Tip: If you want to digitize tapes, buy a Tascam recorder, they are awesome. I have the Tascam DR-07, older one but absolutely amazing. Buy a second hand quality deck and record it with the Tascam, no computer required, no long cables and no extra noise etc. It can make high quality recordings at 24-bit wav and high quality mp3's. Record directly on SD-card. Recording is as easy as counting 1-2-3, plug it in, press the record button and press play. ;-)

[@tomil2002]

I've been doing this with the Tascam DR-05 for a long time

[@d.logic1]

I'm working up the nerve to fix a couple of tape decks. Where can I source some belts without spending a fortune?

[@fixerup3112]

eBay

[@SeanBZA]

Got one of those, found it works better running off USB power when using it. No batteries required. Yes a meh cassette player, but works well enough for the price paid for it. Works well though for doing quick conversions.

[@12voltvids]

Thats what they are designed for. A quick conversion.

[@juddery]

The fact that the shipping to you, cost more than the awful quality player is worth, makes me want to slap my forehead and shout DOH! lol

[@WARDANT1]

Mine chewed two perfectly good tapes. The same tapes play perfectly on a couple of beat boxes, a Sony mini HiFi & a Marantz PMD 502 pro deck. The latter is now hooked up to my PC. Needless to say the usb player was sent back. By the way all the metal on the case is chrome plastic.

[@12voltvids]

I wasn't referring to the chromed plastic case, I was referring to the chassis which is metal, or at least partly metal.

[@rwdplz1]

I have a Sony WM-EX70 I've been trying to get working, but when it works, it sounds like the audio in underwater. Replaced belt, replaced both pinch rollers, cleaned head, new battery, no luck.

[@PaulJCost1]

Can be Dry and dead Capacitors.

[@SeanBZA]

If it is a Sony replace every small SMD electrolytic can capacitor you see, especially any with a voltage rating under 6V. Famous Sony thing, can be over 30 or more to do, and if it starts to smell like fish you found the leakers.

[@lesrogers7310]

Could also be head alignment. If it is a long way out it will also crease the edge of the tape.

[@Madness832]

I got one as a gift, few years ago. It had motor noise bleeding into the audio, which was really pronounced when playing it w/ no tape (even registered on Audacity's VU meters). And since I already owned several old Walkmans, I just tossed it.

[@12voltvids]

The noise gets in 1 of 2 ways. Could be the brushes on the motor sparking, and creating ripple into the power rail, or just the proximity of the motor to the head. With the rotor spinning around, every time the armature by way of the brushes switches from one coil to the next there is a kick as the magnetic field collapses. The head, being very sensitive picks up the magnetic ripple and amplifies it. The old Sony WM10 with the flat BSL motor were famous for picking up a slight whine from the motor.

[@DaXande135]

And there are many people out there, that think that a cassette really sounds as crappy as those USB capture devices.

[@12voltvids]

A cassette in even a cheap old deck sounds better than this thing.

[@user-zi7is7qe3z]

Why Pioneer deck he got mostly extremely hot after a play after 30 minutes?

[@Capturing-Memories]

It's not worth spending $17 on shipping a piece of junk. But oh well, the beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

[@robertgaines-tulsa]

Either the source audio is funky, or all those players have bad flutter issues even the Pioneer. It might be just a crappy tape with drop out distortion. It isn't constant, but you can hear it in the cymbals.

[@rawr51919]

Source tape was funky. That and it's very old.

[@crashbandicoot4everr]

I've seen the same USB cassette digitizer by a lot of brands. It's Chinese crap of course but for the price you can't expect anything better. The noise reduction of the Pioneer is indeed incredible...

[@12voltvids]

It is the best I have heard.

[@SmoshTheMovieHDRipmkvsYouTubeC]

Well at least I'm happy that there are cheap products that make it easy to transfer/listen to old cassette tapes, everything is expansive, even old decks are selling for hundreds

[@12voltvids]

Old decks are free if you know where to look. (Not eBay)

[@dglcomputers1498]

I had a larger version of one of these things and it never played at the right speed, no visible pots on the mainboard either so couldn't correct it annoyingly.

[@12voltvids]

Was probably an adjustment on the motor itself.

[@Hi-Tech-Ray]

I personally don't like these legacy retro/re-build audio devices with these built in USB interfaces as to which both PCs and MACs have a very decent sound cards with line level inputs built in where you could simply hook it up to any analog audio source and to have satisfactory results when digitizing old tapes and records period! However when digitizing vinyl from a turntable with a magnetic cartridge you either need a phono pre-amp to hook up between the Turntable and sound card input or to the record out on a receiver which is playing the sound from the turntable! As a DJ who uses Serato DJ Software, this works for me either way! So in turn, I prefer using an audio component compared to using these newly cheap devices with USB!

[@roberthorwat6747]

Man that Pioneer is awesome!! The walkman isn't bad either. And yes I agree! Fifteen bucks buys you garbage.

[@ricfair9919]

Was this even worth the $17 shipping cost...

[@iTechOSyoutube]

The thing is, students like me who love Cassettes don’t have the money or budget to invest in a dedicated Cassette player, let alone a deck. Plus, this transfers to a computer very easily, and saves a lot of time.

[@peacearchwa5103]

I just acquired, at a thrift store for under five bucks, this exact ezcap 281 USB cassette capture unit new-in-box. I'm a veteran audio buff with some home audio cassette decks and several personal players, most Sony Walkmans. The first part of your video was very helpful in understanding the mechanical and electrical aspect of these uber-cheap devices. However, your comparison of the same music using the Pioneer home-audio deck and the Sony Walkman was a bit unfair because your audio output levels were higher for the Pioneer and Sony. I also thought it unfair that at 35:45, after having played rather long segments of this selection on both the Pioneer and Sony, that you only played about 20 seconds on the USB player including a very abrupt flash-cut. My biggest concern on these cheap ezcap USB machines is quality control inconsistencies and unknown life span. The unit I acquired exhibits the noise issues you described, including an annoying thumping sound perhaps from the capstan or pinch rollers or motor. However, my unit's playback heads and amp produce quite good frequency response, a real surprise to me, and on some tapes the machine's speed stability and w&f levels were acceptable though not by any means exemplary. Using Audacity, I transcribed a few test recordings of good-quality tapes (CrO2 pre-recorded titles of pop, jazz and classical). When playing back these test recordings using the foobar2000 media player, which can display frequency equalization as well as dynamics, I noticed usable frequency response on the playback up to 12 khz on all three of the tapes, up to 14 khz on two tapes, and on one (a Deutsche Grammophon opera tape) foobar 2000 showed the tape heads tracked all the way up to 17 khz. A really poor player with truly mediocre tape heads would not capture frequency response above 8 khz. While I don't think this made-in-China "super USB cassette capture" machine is a serious challenge to my good walkman players from Aiwa and Sony, the second half of your video review seemed to exhibit confirmation bias as well as the likelihood that your unit didn't have as good of heads and playback electronics as mine. As mentioned though I experienced similar noise issues when the machine was connected via USB but turned off. Overall I've given your review a "like" for thoroughness and because I want to encourage you to continue making video reviews like this. Thanks!

[@12voltvids]

It was crap. A deaf man can tell you that.. It is noisy, and it doesn't matter how good the head is or what the frequency response it, the sound is utter crap. Go find a cheap walkman and plug it into the audio in on your PC.

[@peacearchwa5103]

@@12voltvids It's noisy and thumpy, but I may have gotten a rare unit which was tweaked in terms of quality control - tweaked so it would seem like a good product to a potential investor. I'm simply pointing out that on the ezcap218 which I possess, the tape heads are better than they deserve. It's pathetic that some Chinese company can't use the heads and audio output chip (which are decent at least on my unit) and combine with much better noise isolation from the motor and use a halfway-decent transport. This might triple he price to a whopping $50 but it would be far more useful for sound quality than the utterly overpriced "It's OK" Bluetooth cassette player being sold for $90 by "NINM Labs". So at least in my case, the ezcap 218 unit doesn't sound like utter crap but it's not as good (in terms of S/N ratio, wow & flutter) as my Aiwa and Sony units from the '90s. I'm simply offering my observations, YMMV. Thanks.

[@MetalGreggNY75]

I bought that Super USB cassette to put on my computer a live concert that I had on CD-R. I dub the CD-R to a cassette as a back up in case the CDs went bad. I never used the Super USB because I just never got around to it. Good thing I didn’t use it….I paid $20 for it.

[@joeozbourne3079]

who plays this music?

[@12voltvids]

All the music I use on my channel is Royalty Free from musicbakery.com

[@scaleop4]

one thing to note this can be powered from usb with no batterys

[@PaulJCost1]

But its not worth it anyway.

[@scaleop4]

@@PaulJCost1 yes your right

[@xaenon]

@@PaulJCost1 It astounds me how people are keen to digitize their analog music collection, buy the absolute cheapest hardware they can lay their hands on, and then are disappointed that their stuff sounds bad. The tragic thing is you don't need to spend a whole lot more to get decent equipment. But it's unrealistic to expect good results when you buy the cheapest thing available.

[@12voltvids]

@@xaenon sound card in the computer sounds great.

[@xaenon]

@@12voltvids I was referring to the cheap little cassette player. I'd never consider buying a $15 cassette walkman, even to just listen to my tapes, much less digitize them. Cheap cassette players have the worst transports imaginable, and I won't risk a cheap player shredding my tapes.

[@svenschwingel8632]

I usually use a 3kHz or 3.15kHz test tape for speed setup. That way, you can also check W&F according to IEC or DIN while you're at it. Although this device needs no measurement. You can hear the W&F must be at least 2% or so ... 🤔 Although your method with a dual frequency source has something 😊 And yes, that "Super USB" is far from super. Any well-maintained deck from ebay for 50$ with your already-present integrated AC97 sound card will be way better at digitizing compact cassettes.

[@12voltvids]

Many new computers no longer have audio in ports. My new one for example has only 2 usb, ethernet, hdmi and that is it.

[@svenschwingel8632]

@@12voltvids in that case, I would invest some 30 bucks in a dedicated USB sound adapter 😉

[@fadhlematrook1248]

the pioneer is pioneer its quality

[@12voltvids]

That pioneer is one of the best sounding decks I own.

[@theanalogguy1988]

I agree with you save your money and don’t buy one of these type of cassette player, it’s better if we get the Sony one. We knew already the quality of Sony Walkman Walkman nowadays is totally crap can’t compare to any vintage Walkman tbh

[@ianforfun1]

I really enjoyed this video and it was pleasant test music I believe it is Dave Crusin and the tune sounds familiar but instantly recognised the writer and playing style as him. As for that Sony machine, it is garbage and if the cassette music content is worth saving surly your customer could do better as you did with your setup? Thank you and I'm learning all the way.

[@12voltvids]

Actually it is Jack Waldenmaier (Musicbakery.com) royalty free music.

[@jacob_n_r_z8755]

Is it recording in stereo?

[@12voltvids]

Yes

[@jacob_n_r_z8755]

@@12voltvids so the headphone jack is also an output for recording?

[@12voltvids]

@@jacob_n_r_z8755 yup

[@jacob_n_r_z8755]

@@12voltvids but the quality is bad?

[@12voltvids]

@@jacob_n_r_z8755 yes sucks

[@Nantawat_Kittiwarakul]

Been there,done that,and totally agree with you. This piece is CRAP,period. Buying a decent cassette deck or even a used walkman would be a much,much better choice.

[@Retroaria]

18:20 Maybe the noise is coming though the USB cable?

[@12voltvids]

USB is digital, and thus immune to noise.

[@Retroaria]

@@12voltvids 350/5000 Thank you, I didn't know that. I asked because I found this tip on youtube. The USB speaker boxes on my computer were powered by the USB of the PC itself and so produced an absurd noise / interference. It was enough to connect the USB power of the speakers in a cell phone charger (separate from the PC) and the noise disappeared. It worked for me.

[@ciprianwinerElectronicManiac]

I also have one of these USB tape players and it sounds terrible, the speed is fine but the wow&flutter is also terrible, I adjusted the azimuth one too many times and while it sounds somewhat listenable on one side, the other one sounds muffled so I guess it's the head's fault, also the azimuth drifts when you tilt it, I've put a sponge at the bottom of the tape to increase tension and that somewhat helps but stay away from this things...

[@GayDXer1217]

Something generating a high pitched buzz in video.

[@12voltvids]

Fan in the monitor or scope.

[@fadhlematrook1248]

the sony is sony i lov it thanks

[@pliedtka]

I miss my Aiwa, but it was rather expensive Walkman with Dolby. Finally some cool deck - that's the Pioneer that has DACs and digital processing inside. A 3Header Direct Drive Dual Capstan with Digital processing would be kind of cool. How much was the Pioneer originally if you remember. You're an evil man, just for fan... of course it won't stand a chance. Well for $15, I would expect this to be a piece of crap. Sometimes $15 at Value Village can get you a decent tape deck, but I would stay away from dual cassette wonders. I even have Sony dual deck with Dolby S, yes the S thing, but the belts have disintegrated - the mechanism is rather cheap. I have to fix my Nak, needs new capstan motor - the speed is all over the place with very high W&F. It's not the CR-7, Dragon - not even close but 3 heads do the job very well, on TDK MA-X it will go to 21-22kHz -3dB. Like all Naks it has a bit of bass boost especially if playing tapes made on other machines. Dolby C tracking is really good on Nakamichis, no breathing the way some decks play Dolby C encoded cassettes, too bad HighCom from Telefunken never took off as it was quite a good noise reduction system.

[@12voltvids]

I should bring out my professional walkman and do a shootout with that.

[@pliedtka]

@@12voltvids This one, you have the Professional - noooo!!!. Actually I would be very interested if you make video using this machine. There was another Pro Walkman other than the Sony, but really can't remember. Marantz - maybe.

[@jannataadani3016]

Why you recommend to not buy this stuff, I think its is more simple than the old stuff.

[@ronniezzzz]

you need a spudger tool mate

[@12voltvids]

Thats a real tool? I thought it was just something big clive made up!

[@CPUTests]

The only thing I noticed is that your vintage Sony walkman has the speed a little bit slow but in terms of audio quality is really superior to that Super USB cassette player. That USB player has too much wow and flutter. It is very noticeable. This is not the way to put your cassettes on digital files. I'm sure the best way is to use a real hi-fi deck with quartz lock speed and dual capstains to ensure the best performance out of a tape. Best regards.

[@12voltvids]

That is a real possibility that the old walkman is slow. It is 1986 vintage and has the original belt in it. I am quite surprised that it works as well as it does.

[@GayDXer1217]

Even the Walkman doesn't compare to the pioneer. But even the Walkman blows that little capture device right out of the water.

[@12voltvids]

The Pioneer has to be one of the best sounding tape players I own. It was given to me by a friend that is kicking himself now.

[@DaXande135]

All those new USB capture cassette players are mostly crap! Simply connect the line out from a tapedeck or even an older boombox to your line in on your computer, and ready! Even those old boomboxes had a better quality!

[@rogeriorogerio1007]

Dunno, but I think even your shiny pioneer sounded muffled. Get an original flac of that song and do a comparison.

[@12voltvids]

I have no idea what deck recorded that track onto the tape. One I was working on at one point, but it is also a very old tape, and the music came from MP3, not my original CD of the track.

[@AThreeDogNight]

So your saying $15.00 won't buy you much. LOL!!!!!!!

[@12voltvids]

Pretty much yup.

[@SPL1080P]

I am not satisfied This item because Low Sound And Background noise

[@zx8401ztv]

The ones for transfering records are bloody horrible!!, poor quality a.d.c with low bit rate and far too much noise :-(. Before my hearing went crap i used a soundblaster pro and my old pioneer tape deck to transfer my tapes, and an old Jvc JL-F50 direct drive magnetic record deck for my records. After tinkering in cool edit pro to remove clicks, the sound was very decent. I also fed the sound card with a lower impedence drive, i didn't want stray capacitance killing the top end frequencys or sparkle. Drive impedence does make a difference.

[@12voltvids]

Soundblaster pro. Wow I remember that. I had one in my pc, and it sounded great.

[@MrDachshund99]

God this thing is a piece of crap. I opened it up after it was playing my tapes too fast, but when I played something with the back open to adjust the speed it somehow began playing at the right pitch/speed. So I went to put the back on and now it doesn't even work at all - nothing spinning. Something clearly broke off just from having a look. Ha.

[@lesrogers7310]

Those USB cassette players are absolute junk! The owner would have done better to borrow a semi decent deck from someone.

[@DrDroogkloot]

Why not buy a secondhand nakamichi? Way better than this crap.

[@12voltvids]

No need to go that fancy. Any old home deck will sound superior to something like this, but hey they are only 15 bucks. For some people that really don't care about perfect sound, all they want to do is transfer some old tapes to their computer, and they are from the apple world who know nothing about sound cards, and just want to plug it in. It will do the job.

[@DrDroogkloot]

@@12voltvids you call it fancy. I own two decks. The bx2 bought for 27 Euros works perfectly. Great sounding deck. The other needs some more work. It makes some motor noise in the background. That is a 78 vintage deck.

[@HDXFH]

Many of those USB ones are too cheaply made

[@kyoudaiken]

I mean you get what you pay for. I would not buy something below 300 USD or just try to get vintage, refurbish it and use that.

[@zx8401ztv]

HDXFH I've seen quite a few of the record transfer via usb types. A Bloody horrible load of old shit that i would not even give away to my worst enemy (can you tell i hate them lol). Noisey and lack of sparkle in the music, like dolby was left on with a non dolby tape. The adc in them is 150% shit, and the deck is a shitty ceramic setup. Ahh that feels better, i've vented my hatred lol :-D

[@user-zi7is7qe3z]

And i listening over 2 big box cartons with tons of tapes from a friend of my father, with a deck named 'CT-W530R Pioneer' by friend itself the who decks my father buys they are fooly quality. Mihai Dragulin knows who model of tape i need, to they do not again manufacturing again, 18 deck tapes died was a bad model design. Pioneer is the best, after Grundig, it last 2 years, now Pioneer how years will to? 3?

[@816athlon64]

The wow and flutter is terrible.

[@12voltvids]

Well it is a piece of crap.

[@HDXFH]

Not even USB powered, utter junk

[@scaleop4]

it is powered by USB i have the same one.

[@vk3hau]

scaleop4 still junk!

[@scaleop4]

@@vk3hau yep it is junk ,sounds like crap that's why i don't use it anymore. cheap garbage

[@12voltvids]

Sure is. Can be powered USB or batteries, and will operate as a digitizer. Will do a test of "That" feature tomorrow and we will see how the A-D converter sounds not using the tape deck.

[@jaymartinmobile]

Please recognize this player has a niche. Imagine a family where the Grandfather just passed away and in cleaning out the attic they found a bunch of old tapes Grandpa recorded of himself telling about his childhood, the wars, and whatnot. The family no longer has a tape recorder but wants to preserve this legacy, so rather than pay hundreds to have a professional service digitize the tapes they pick one of these up and record them into the computer. They don't want to spend hundreds on a cassette player that they are probably never going to use again, and their laptop computer doesn't have an audio in as many don't these days anyway. This isn't great for music but it's good enough for voice and the tape hiss/motor noise can be removed somewhat successfully in Audacity using built-in tools. No it's not the Audiophile solution but you wouldn't be spending $15 for that anyway. And hey, you can give it to the kids when they break their iPod and tell them this is what you had to use when you were a kid.

[@12voltvids]

I know exactly what it is, but many will buy it and be disappointed. It was sent to me by a viewer and will cost him about as much as it is worth to get it sent back.

[@spikester]

In an AvE voice... gahbage. Too many craptastic products attempting to cash in on the retro craze, when the reality is finding a decent used deck isn't too difficult.