For the time being, I think the best thing we can do is to keep vintage decks running. Even if cassette culture were to go as far mainstream as vinyl, the brilliant Japanese engineers who designed the great equipment of the 70's/80's/90's have mostly either retired or in some cases passed away, and it would take some time to either catch up to or surpass the quality of those great old decks.

9:52 i'm 15 years old and I enjoy Hearing Cassettes. Since I have a Sony Walkman some of my class find it cool

If I remember correctly, Technics / Panasonic / Matsushita had to put an absolutely herculean amount of effort into reviving the production of their SL-1200 turntable a few years ago, even though they even still had some of the original production equipment. For a company to revive its line of higher-end cassette decks, which are significantly more complicated than turntables, it would likely take even more money and effort than that, and the cassette decks would likely be prohibitively expensive, much like the SL-1200 is. Because the market for cassettes is much smaller than vinyl and also dependent on tape manufacturers, unfortunately I think it is unlikely that these companies would decide to spend the money on reviving cassette deck or mechanism production.

You’re right! Vintage can be difficult. I’ve had my Yamaha K-540 for two years now and just got it running right. It’s not super high quality, but it does great! I’d buy a new deck if it was medium or high quality instantly! I bought a box of 10 of the fox C90 tapes and a Dirt tapes player combo based on your recommendation. I’m trying to keep the culture going. You inspired me to keep pushing. Keep learning and getting the recordings better. It finally made sense last night. Tape makes music feel more alive to me. I find myself moving and singing and enjoying the music when I listen to tape. I’d love to try LP but it’s so expensive right now. Analog music seems to have soul. Thanks for your videos. I’ve watched a lot of them! I’m glad I found you. Have a good weekend, friend!

Have to confess I have bought almost as many cassettes as records and CD's in the last few months. So glad I had my tape decks reconditioned a while back. Hopefully, cassettes will not fade away.

A newbie here! I bought a vintage walkman last year that also functions as a recorder and obviously it doesnt sound great but works fine and its simple enough for me to have this little hobby so I record on vintage tapes for my personal use ❤

New pre recorded tapes are most times awful. Tape hiss, no Dolby B, low volume recordings. New Tape players are awfully! Again no Dolby B/C, cheap tape movements, unable to record on type IV…….. This is not a tape comeback. Go vintage when you wanna enjoy tapes. Vintage player like a Sony or Nakamichi tape deck. Old tapes from the 90’s like TDK, BASF or Sony tapes do the perfect job on a good deck.

Great summary of the state of current affairs. And let us not forget: the cassette medium has suffered from cr*p products pretty much througout its existence. Due to a lack of any alternative it's what everyone had to deal with. Now, with no serious market to speak of (from a commercial point) all that is left is cheap rubish. And mechanical devices are very costly to produce due to labour costs in 2022: it's much easier to spit out millions of circuit boards with some chips without any human intervention. Personally I get most of my kicks from thriftstores for my cassette hobby. With a proper 90's deck even audio cassettes form the 70's can sound excellent.

I have personally repaired, restored and collected over 50 cassette decks (so far) in countless hours of work. I still have every single cassette from my childhood and youth. All lovingly and meticulously labeled and numbered. I still record new tapes with great fun. So I think it's safe to call myself a Tapehead. And not even I would buy a new tape deck. No matter how good it may be. Why should I?! What I associate with the cassette is inextricably linked to memories. And that applies not only to the cassette itself, but also to the devices with which it is recorded and played back. What I mean to say is, that the production of new cassette decks is not just a niche market, but a niche market within this niche market. And the manufacturers know that very well. They will therefore give a s*** and invest money in new, high-quality devices. There is simply next to no market for it.

The number one thing we need are good tape heads. Apparently that is the case now. From there on my desire is that there will be an either OEM or open source complete mechanism with real synchronous motor(s). Actually if you make a 4 motor deck you hardly need any mechanical mechanisms, but I digress. Once you have an OEM or open source mechnism, you can let the cottage industry and the Chinese (who will come up with their knock off mechanism versions but still have to buy the heads) have a go with it. It is not easy though because it is much easier and more profatible to pump out DACs with the semiconductor companies offering the applications on a silver platter.

I would love to see Nagra do something. They still refurbish and service their old tape recorders, and even if they're R2R they have the know-how. They've also latched on to the vinyl trend with their new reference turntable. One can always dream... :)

The Compact Cassette was forgotten about, unfortunately, for a long time, and that affected a lot of the manufacturing. I held on to a lot of cassettes (mixed tapes & albums) that I recorded from 1981 onward. I also used high quality Type ll or IV from TDK, Maxell, and Sony; they still play as well as they did back then. I was lucky to have bought new, one of the last Sony WMD6 Professional Walkman machines back in 2002. I used it occasionally to keep it working and kept it in its original box. It works and sounds fantastic with my old cassettes, which were mostly recorded on an AKAI GFX90 3-head deck that I bought in 1981, and lasted until 1989. I then got an AIWA 3-head deck which was excellent as well; that one lasted from 1990 to 2007. I still have about 20 unopened Maxell and TDK Type II cassettes that I bought in the early 90's. I became a big fan of the Sony MiniDiscs when they came out, and for me, they became the new cassette. Unfortunately they didn't catch on, and were forgotten about as well. I still love my cassettes and minidiscs!!

As a user and lover of vintage cassette decks, I would also like to add that IF you have the capability to SUPPORT the repair shops that can help keep our beloved decks in service, that is also a support of cassette culture. Without the techs and shops that earn a living from this skill, we will run out of quality decks in a hurry. Call them up or stop by, maybe they have some advice on what to buy and maybe they have some serviced decks that they can sell. Thank you!

I think so. If large companies decide to invest in the production of high quality cassette decks, it is normal to expect good sales and profits. Just make an account. In the late seventies a medium cassette deck (now considered high quality) cost between 350 and $ 450. The reason for this is mass production. Now such a cassette deck will cost a minimum of 1500/2000 €. For this reason, production is unlikely to be mass and these devices will remain only expensive toys.

I'm so grateful we have you to explain to us REAL things about this wonderful technology. Another great video from you.

We need a simple DD motor for all cassette player. Personally I think belt-drive mechanisms are too out of fashion. Of course the price is much higher but for those crappy players on the markets now, we could pay more to get a lowest W/F 😅

truly grateful for you summing up my feelings on all of this in this vid. i've said numerous times, there's no magnetic north, no reference point, despite tapes having the potential to sound incredible. i'd like to suggest all of us forming a "NATIONAL TAPE ALLIANCE" something clean and straightforward where information is vividly organized in sections, including a map of refurbish centers, advice on tape production, deck maintenance while also working toward reverse engineering the quality components. it's about coming together and making it happen. there are more than enough people who'd love to see tapes be a regular part of the physical media world. or just get all the signatures needed to get sony or whoever back in the game. a full blown cassette resource reference point. i feel something very well organized could help. just a thought. but again, this is such a well put together video and it's awesome to know others really get it.

Thanks for your review. You are absolutely right however analogue sources should never die as they are truly natural with their original sound.

I do agree with you and would love cassettes to come back with the proper gear. I bought a 40 year old boombox fully serviced and i love it reminds me of the retro 80s im now looking out for a good deck player which is not easy to find but i think for now we have to depend on vintage gear as everything is crap for now. Love you channel.

Money aside, somebody start a crowd fund take the Nakamichi Dragon and CR-7A, using the design specs of both to create a hybrid machine. And while we're at it, create a Metal Type IV Tape again! Once you make a successful machine and tape, use that as a template to 3-D print almost every part to make it more affordable. Hire J-Corder for any customization and probably United Home Audio for manufacturing. That's my dream for the future cassette culture, to have resurgence of a the highest quality decks reimaged for today.

I hope this is resolved soon! Vinyl would be even bigger if they would market the "decent " to "fantastic" gear first instead of marketing a "crap" player to a "newbie"! Same with our cassettes! We have to remember, analogue formats greatly depend on the quality of the equipment it's being played on since everything (including the environment) effects analogue playback!

As an old fart, I still play around with cassettes because I never stopped. I still have a cassette deck that I bought back in '82, along with many hundreds of cassettes, some dating back as far as the 70's. I even still have a vehicle that contains a cassette deck. But I am definitely an exception among my peers rather than the rule. If the cassette is actually going to thrive today, rather than simply survive, the number one thing it will need is genuine interest among a sizable proportion of the youth of today. Cassettes made a lot of sense when I was a teen back in the 70's for a few different reasons. The biggest single reason was that almost every car had a tape deck and cassettes allowed us to take our preferred music with us wherever we went. Young folks spent a lot more time in cars back then, in part because there weren't nearly as many other options vying for our free time. Of course the Walkman came along and expanded the reach of music even further. In addition, there used to be a lot of great content produced for radio broadcast back in the 70's, 80's and 90's that was not available anywhere else. Again, being able to capture such content onto a cassette allowing us to then play it back at home or in our car whenever we wanted to was a real bonus. Finally, the whole phenomena of making mix tapes became significant in a sense because it served as a powerful form of social statement long before social media existed. Most all of these things were reflective of a lifestyle that more or less no longer exists today. The world has changed dramatically since I was a teen back in the 70's. Obviously music is still a big part of the lives of many these days, both young and old alike. But now music is competing with a plethora of other things vying for our attention. Back in the cassette's heyday, it was not uncommon for teenagers to save up money so that they could buy a hifi system. In part, this was likely because so many of us spent far more time listening to music than watching TV or any number of other things going on today (there certainly weren't things like the Internet and of course KZfaq sucking up our time, lol). In addition, this format thrived back then in large part due to the convenience it provided. But in today's world, the cassette no longer represents real convenience. It will be interesting to see how the cassette fares going forward, especially as we continue work on extracting ourselves from a global pandemic hoping to enjoy more of what the world has to offer. The bottom line is that if any format (and not just the cassette) is going to not only survive, but also to thrive these days, then it is going to need to capture the hearts of the youth of today. Without that happening, the remaining old guys still playing around with cassettes simply won't be enough.

I love the format. I have Denon & Yamaha cassette decks I maintain myself. I will try to keep my gear & any vintage gear I purchase in condition but I have instinctive feeling it will be difficult to sustain into future. I do not expect cassette revival like LPs as markets are quite distinct. I will enjoy tapes as long as artifacts last .. or I do. You will find me 30 years from now parts hunting I am sure.

Dear Guido i DO LOVE cassettes i hopefully { want to hope } that these problems will be overpast . Nice video as usual Nick here much love from Greece and dedicated fun of your great channel 🙂

I totaly agree with you, but maybe there's a hope: Yes, new cassette decks are crap, I'm polite, new recorded cassettes are crap, we all agree on this, but most of new vinyls are mainly crap too and a bunch of record players are crap as well. And it doesn't stop hipsters to buy viiiiiiiiiiinyls and fancy not so good record players to listen mediocre music, so... To be honest I would love to live in a better world where people look for quality things. For my part, for now I'll continue to rely on my old machines and my own recordings. 😉

But i ain't gonna give up. Buying 50 cassettes per month

Among the problems with cassette tape and machine revival (which I fully support) is the difficulty of making new Dolby noise reduction chips. Although the patents have expired, design and fabrication of the devices is not trivial, and not really possible on a small scale. Inclusion of HX pro would also be desirable. Then there is the problem of restarting manufacture of high quality heads. . . . . There are many parallels here with the state of analogue film photography.

Lucky me went to the garage after watching your video an found about 60 Type II and 4 Type IV of my old Cassettes (TDK, Sony, Scotch, Maxell and BASF) from the 80s and 90s in pretty good shape. Now listening and test-recording :-) Thank you for your interesting videos!

I'm an old guy and have returned to both Vinyl and Cassettes, but in reality when all us old folks are gone, I think these technologies will fade away. It's hard to beat the simplicity, quality and ease that digital format provide. I enjoy it, but my return to the past is because I lived it and want to re-live it. Does this make sense? The new generation of listeners are growing up to digital only. I'm not sure if there will be anything after digital, but when this new gen of listeners gets old, what might they seek? Since they didn't grow-up with tape, CD and vinyl I'm not sure, but I'm pretty sure they will also want to re-live their past experiences as well, but it will probably be different.

Great video I have a direct drive three head Akai tape deck which sounds phenomenal still to this day. I'm 51 now and grew up with cassettes and vinyl. I would support quality in this area as I always have in other areas of audio. This video has inspired me, I also have a Nakamichi tuner deck one which was a real reference quality tape deck for car audio. I think I'm going to install it in my car. I never sold it, l pulled it out of the car l had in the late 80s and put it back in the box and saved it. I've still got heaps of cassettes all packed away I'm going to pull them out and start playing them this could get scary lol😂 🎧🙏👍

We indeed need good gears for today. Would love an updated D6C (or new (with corrected disc gear) DD series walkmans) even knowing we won't get one ^^ I think I always associated the words cassette and freedom. - portable medium - time from power-off to actually playing content :

Hi, I have working on new magnetic recording technology for the last 3 years, it works very well with my testing of the old 8 track cartridge format and ready to do a run of prototypes. Ones this is done I plan to do a range of cassettes decks with this technology, I have emailed you the links a few months ago, when you were doing your video on type II tapes.

I am so happy I didn’t get rid of my nakamichi dr2 deck and it still playing like a charm….

I wish I could trust someone to refurbish some of my vintage equipment that is starting to act up. Some of my high end tape decks are electric switching and controlled instead of manual push button. They are starting to get finicky and will even stop recording half way through for no reason at all. One time it is flawless and the next time it just drops. I have one single deck and 3 dual deck machines. I have a single deck that I ran inputs through my Teac open real through the amps and out into my single deck cassette machine to record high quality copies of vinyl and whatever else I want . The Teac has really good amps that add an amazing warm texture to the music. It is my favorite. I spent hours going through and rebuilding it. I have a TEAC A 4020 s open Reel machine. It was top quality in it's day for a home machine. I love the sound out of it and use it like a preamp for my turn table. It does a great job of adding a warmth to analog recordings. It is hard to describe to people that have not experienced it. Head phones kick the sound up another notch when you monitor through it.

Cassettes were a great portable medium to record vinyl 40 yrs ago before the compact disc became mainstream. I still have an old Nakamichi BX-300 which makes great recordings. If you can get hold of an old Nakamichi, Revox Studer or a Tandberg you’ll get great recordings.

Good perspective on the subject .

I do have the Ford JBL Reference Standard Demonstration cassette duplicated in real time metal bias. I use it as a reference for newly acquired decks after doing any repairs and running a less valuable test tape prior. Probably a few copies still out in the wild, Ford had a few reference standard tapes made back in the day and they are superb quality.

I'm fine with a mid level deck. I've been waiting patiently. I won't buy the junk they have out now because I know I'll be disappointed. I would like to see a video about the vinyl downturn.

Great video! I've been discussing about these subjects in forums for some time. I buy lots of pre - recorded cassettes, mainly new releases from Bandcamp, but also discogs, local record stores etc, but also some NOS or used old PRCs. Couple of labels from Bandcamp that do release fantastic music, their cassette quality is garbage-can level, sound is dull, one channel is always recorded much lower than the other. Might be the medium, but I think it's the replicator company they are using that is total crap, and the label probably never listens to these cassettes. On the other hand, there are some labels from Italy, the Netherlands etc, whose releases are always top notch. I stopped buying from the aforementioned two labels, and it's a shame...

On the contrary, I think this is an excellent opportunity to completely abandon 60's tech and come up with a completely different way of doing things. How about completely redesigning things with the aim of producing something more in line with all we've learned over the last 60-70 years. What about something with the following ideas We re-design the cassette from scratch to make it a bigger to accommodate 1/4th inch tape. The same cassette shell is used to allow for both analogue and digital recordings in different recorders. The moment the tape is inserted into the deck, let the deck extract the tape a little bit apply the correct tension to it to eliminate any noise caused by pressure pads. Then have the heads engage the tape. For digital machines, the tape can be fully unlaced from the cassette a-la DAT or VHS. Usage of thinner stronger tape to facilitate longer recording times. Now formulations to get the maximum bang for the buck, make it sticky resistant, fungus resistant, etc Like VHS, usage of only one side of the tape = thicker width tracks = better s/n ratio and better dynamic range Faster playback speeds with new tape formulations to allow for better sound quality. And so on.

I have some vintage decks but purchased a TEAC W-1200 deck new and its not bad. I have had it for a few years now. It makes great recordings and I have not had any issues.

3D printing and the Maker community. That is where the only hope for new tape transports lie. Then, the only supply issue is quality blank tape and quality tape heads. Maybe a metal backplate to anchor the 3D printed pieces. There is a Dolby B piece of software to digitally encode/decode audio for Windows 10 ( It's on the Windows Store for like $15 ) Once the Eternal September crowd loses interest because of the crapola that is flooding the hobby now, the DIY crowd may be the only hope.

I am 25 and I have fallen in love with cassettes. My father grew up in the 70's and he has a collection of cassette tapes from his favorite music and he also loves cassettes. I have been searching for a decent/good cassette tape just to record some of my favorite songs on. Do you have any recommendations? Thank you very much and I also love your channel.

That is it. Without artists, hobbysts and collectors engaged in cassette culture it would probably be long dead. Deep in my heart I would like to believe we will see a bright future for cassette culture. There would be no need to it becoming a "Vynil alternative" thing (and should never be) but at least we could have sort of solid "on demand cassette tape production", maybe some companies producing alternative parts for cassette decks maintenance and small wave of young cassette technicians (hardest parte maybe).

The Semier SM 336 is actually surprisingly good quality and loud for the size.

Interesting video. Cool T-shirt! Where can I get one? Merch store? BTW, I bought one of the Ricable I2S cable you recommended a few weeks ago. Sounds great between my PS Audio SACD Transport and DirectStream. Thanks!

Actually ( vintage) Cassette decks are selling really well on E-bay ...and when friends visit me many people have never actually seen a tape deck in action ...and want one ...so demand is there...

Wow, what passion!!! 👍

You have right in every point. This is sad, becouse is lot easier building good streamer in this days than good quality deck.

Hola me gustó tu video,te escribo en mi lengua,así me puedo expresar mejor. Estoy totalmente de acuerdo en tu reflexión,sigo siendo un enamorado del formato analogico y el cassete además de ser una experiencia distinta,tiene mucho de nostalgia y un sonido muy muy agradable.

Hi Guido you are absolutely right. I bought a Teac W-1200 recently and it has already gone wrong. In contrast my Nakamichi cassette deck which is over 30 years old sounds fantastic!

I picked up the cassette reissue of Metallica And justice for all a year ago. Was surprised it didn’t sound too bad on my Alpine car stereo. Haven’t played it on my good deck though

I totally agree with your perspective of the market. I want to add that we miss new and affordable Chrome and Metal tape cassettes. Those dominated the market 40 years back. What’s the problem in producing them again ….. don’t know. They are the key to high quality recordings market . As you said producers will record more on cassettes when they live up the required quality. Buying new-old stock TDK/Sony is too expensive to make sense of it all. I think cassettes are key and more medium/high quality cassette players with come after. Just a thought… cheers for your great channel 👍

I bought a Denon 3 Head Cassette Deck at a Church for $30, and it released in 1989 works perfectly

I just got a Technics RS-M44, list price in 1979, $400, but I got it refurbished for $50. Works very well, for its age. I think I will record my vinyl, like I did back in the 70s and 80s. I would love to see quality gear and quality blank tapes come back into the market. I doubt if I will collect prerecorded cassettes, either vintage or new. I'm happy recording my vinyl.

Fortunately, you can still buy wonderful cassette decks from 70/80 years at good prices. About two years ago I managed to buy a JVC KD-95 in great condition for about 250 €.

Hey! That’s a pretty dope into!

I'm sorry to say that I'm not convinced there is sufficient demand for high quality cassettes and cassette players/recorders now to make most manufacturers sit up and take notice. With a high quality deck, I still remember how impressed I was with Dolby-B pre-recorded cassettes when they were readily available many decades ago. However, with so many other formats and options available now, I'm not sure if there will ever be room for them again.

I really like cassettes, and my allure for them is different than other people, I am autistic and im always seeking out a particular audio sound and I end up listening to a lot of old japanese city pop, synthwave etc because some of those newer artists try and recreate an analogue asthetic sound in their digital recordings and I really like that. I also grew up towards the end of the cassette, I never had any myself but my dad and mum had plenty and I enjoy the feel and the sounds of the mechanisms and the ritual of taking a cassette out and putting it in and all the associated sounds. While there is vintage gear they go for a lot of money so for some people the modern cassette players are all they can get. I wish someone would take the 1 mechanism we have and just make an upgrade kit for it. And maybe from there it'll attract the attention of manufacturers. we are also seeing the general problems with capitalistic manufacturering processes, nothing is built to last and in terms of audio the mainstream music industry is very keen on things like DRM, streaming etc etc the music industry went balistic in the 2000s when everyone was ripping CDs onto MP3 players until Apple's iPod with its DRM that got the thumbs up from the industry.

I’m glad to hear that many more analog cassette tape equipment & tapes will be disregarded by youth & be out there for us to find it! Kp

I like cassettes but I have to say I do not see cassettes having the same mystique as records. Until they do gain that mystique they will remain a third or fourth option. I would need to see a significant hi performing new deck before I would look away from vintage gear. For now I will just stick with my Braun C3

i have just spent the last few weeks servicing my old Sony TCK-611S 3 head Dolby S Deck that i intend to give to my Son as i already have a TCK-711S and Sony TCK-6AES 3 Head Dual Capstan Decks along with my Revox B215, the 611S was just gathering Dust so i thought that i would give him a treat as he was telling me that his old Aiwa 2 head Deck needed fixing i can not wait to see his face when he hears what a Good Cassette Deck Sounds like

Strong points made

Back in the day I had a choice between going with cassette or reel-to-reel. I went with reel-to-reel. With cassettes originally being created to record dictation and the like it seemed at the time that manufactures were doing everything they could to extract as much hi-fi sound as they could from the format. But, you can only go so far with the format. The first thing to go is the transport mechanism. Back then I recorded from my turntable directly to the reel-to-reel deck. The reel-to-reel always sounded great with very little difference between what the turntable could produce. These days I rip CDs to FLAC files and play them back via an HDMI connection to my Hi-fi system. Best of luck with the format.. but I do not see myself buying another cassette tape deck.

i've just brought a vintage Onkyo cassette deck for $300 so looking forward to connecting it to my Onkyo stereo

I think tape.is fantastic, I have a Luxman and a JVC tape decks,and use Maxell and Sony tape .

What about that Tascam 202 mk7? Released 2018, I believe. Is it any good?

One hour on each side two hour cassette tapes awesome! Mix tapes are so fun!

I'm sorry to announce this, and also in trouble regarding my annual URSSAF declaration... but RTM didn't confirm the new decks, nor the eventual new type IV, at least for this year! Also regarding cassette culture since you are there to show good decks, and the technicians are starting to refurbish good decks not cheap unfortunately but they worth it, we're still in an incresing sells, RTM fox C60 are out of stocks (By units), which is a good news somewhere! And the last informations regarding the analog sound quality are confirmed! Some studios are making new masters 15IPS with the new studio normed EQ IEC/CCIR for audiophile and ATR/NAC/RTM bets on the cassette tape for second masse analog support (Vinyl at first)! Now we need to promote references record for them even if it's true that we cannot capture the tape correctly, we can give direction throught youtube for the reference sound of type I & II with our top decks like others are starting to do!!!

I love my old cassettes, I still have some from my childhood. I have recently bought a vintage tape deck, fully reconditioned. I agree with what you say, some of the new gear out there is crap. The only good thing I have found is a Sony boom box, which I have also recently bought. Its the only good thing I could find out there these days. A lot of products of today do not stand up to that of the 80's early 90's. Sad state of affairs.

Decks are going to be further down the line. The first things needed are high quality walkmans. And high quality doesn't yet mean top quality sound, it means reliable, easy to use, mechanically easy, tested before shipping, decent sounding models. The sound being a bit lo-fi is ok. That is something expected and even sought-after by the buyers. Hiss won't be a major issue, noisy motor and varying speed is. Eating the tape is very bad. Then you want small tabletop model capable of stereo recording from external source for mix tape making. Bluetooth connectivity to headphones or speakers. No need for internal speakers. After that you need the proper decks for consumers. The part where cassettes beat vinyl hands down is portability and recording. Those are the parts that people are going to be sold on. A player that can be used in your pocket is something vinyls can't compete with. Yet the sound and experience is still clearly analogue. Cassettes are small and cheap enough to be impulse buys. People aren't willing to pay for anything they can't hold. CDs are in sound quality for most people indistinguishable from good streaming, just slightly more cumbersome.

I’ve been in the market for a walkmen, boombox and cassette stereo deck. Unfortunately they’re either expensive or not sure if they work. So it’s really a crap shoot rn to find my way to play my 2 milk crate of cassettes.

there is only one solution. Find a good Deck, take care of it and save it ! Mechanic is gettin more and more expensive. It was cheaper in the pastime because of the built numbers, of course !

I agree with your concerns but i want to remind you that there are economic forces at work as well. The cassette comeback is also fueled by business and technology leaders who see a growing market with young people and I believe will start producing gear that equals or surpasses the mid range decks of 1980s at a reasonable or introductory price point. There is a good analogy with vinyl. The young newcomer to vinyl will typically start with a pretty vintage turntable but yet one that produces a pretty good sound so even at an entry level he or she will be pleased, get some older records and be amazed at the new medium and share it. Some of these vinyl newcomers will want to upgrade to a better turntable and will also discover that the cassette is the only medium that can record vinyl and maintain the warm analogue sound that so many crave. Like in all industries everyone finds the level of quality that is right for them. I believe the resurgence of vinyl will fuel the resurgence of the cassette. Eventually we will see someone take a vintage tech like a Linn or Rega and bring it current to a modern format. I believe we will see some well funded lover of cassettes get a tech team together and rebirth a TEAC or SONY decks with USB connectors like your Italian company. Even Nakamichi decks may see a rebirth as the demand and pricing for the vintage decks keeps growing. Keep the faith!

Interesting presentation and I come from the cassette days .. 1970s era and I still have all my old Vinyl that I still enjoy - I was considering investing in a cassette deck - sitting on the fence about a TEAC V3000 boxed and in excellent condition with new belt and capson motor -- but I also note Tascam have introduced a new 202MKVII Dual cassette deck albeit with a chunky price - and TEAC have released Teac W-1200-B - sadly but understandably both made in China .. but with new gear there is warranty support and assume parts availably - I am tempted towards the TASCAM -- but the TEAC V3000 Vintage deck is also pulling me .. head scratch / risks with the vintage gear for sure - some peace of mind buying new ... any thoughts and greetings from Ireland

There's gear, but the better ones for sale on ebay are often not calibrated, etc. Still newbies can easy find references online, channels like yours for example. It's niche indeed, but I'm sure it's fun for newbies.

They haven't made a new Super 8 camera for over 30 years yet Super 8is still here and still popular. Tape isn't going anywhere soon. I do agree that old hands such as Sony, Panasonic and TASCAM could work with tape manufacturer s and come up with a decent solution that doesn't break the bank for the consumer

People have been expressing the same fears about vinyl for years -- as far back as 2014, the "experts" were proclaiming that the proliferation of cheap Crosley-type record players would cause the end of the vinyl comeback, due to so many people being turned off by their poor quality. But in fact, the exact opposite happened -- vinyl record sales have continued to increase every year, while those cheap players still make up almost 90% of the turntable market. So I think the same is true with cassettes -- having all those cheap players and recorders is a good thing because it helps to attract newcomers to the format, even if their quality isn't very good. And when they're ready to upgrade, I believe my videos and VinilicaMente's video that you participated in have shown that the currently available decks from TEAC and TASCAM can satisfy those looking for audio quality that gives a good representation of what the format is capable of.

i have a feeling that cassettes are in TRUE DANGER dolby is never making noise reduction for cassettes again and the mechanisms are gonna get worse and WORSE i think that well known brands need to start designing their own components to make new decks a bit better then other garbage brands that we mostly see nowadays

I do not think that we need to worry about the future of cassettes. I consider that new decks aren't really necessary. Have you tried the external tape head preamplifier for cassette decks from Nereneas? It will blow your mind.

i gave my old nakamichi dragon tape deck a second live. it was burried in the 'yesteryear' boxes... until i saw on ebay what they go for this days. in a way i converted all my old (relevant) tapes first to recordable cd and later onto the hdd of my pc. but i have to say, i really have a lot of fun playing them again this days. sure, the quality of some sucks badly. others survived amazingly well. but after all, i have to say - the reason i gave the stuff a second live was a band i very much love... not around anymore, but one of the old members released all the 'old' material on the mediums they came out originally. initially i sat there with a box containing vinyl, audio tapes and cd's... it wasn't funny really. but the good thing - it got me restoring all my old equipment. i never had as much fun (after PITA fixing gear) to listen to music since. i always kept my turntable. sth i was sure wouldn't go away. i don't regret spending many hours and about $150 to repair my tapedeck and actually as a result spending another $250 to fix my old revox 'band machine' and revive old tapes. i fully get the video above - and it was the best thing i ever did for myself and my happiness. is it insane??? i assume it is in a way. did it make me happy on an insane level personally - yes it did.

Cassette are my Favorite format

In last couple of years I found 2 decks . First is AIWA AD-F 810( 3 Head Dual Capstain) and it was wonderful,but few months ago I found TECHNICS RS-BX 828 (mid 90's model) and I was blown away!!! With good source there is no diference in sound quality. So GO VINTAGE!!!

I can now confirm having the ability to make 768Khz/PCM(DSD512) input file, that still not as good as a cassette, but quiet close. I start to confuse between the two, but high are definiticely still cleaner on the cassette. 1.5mghz should be ride of the cassette , so we have time, also even when it will come, it's just unuseable, size is to big, better use a cassette less more cost. Regarding this they could ride of the RTR 15ips near DSD8192 (to confirm)

Yeah I readopted vintage. Problem’s servicing & tape stock. NOS is gonna run out. I stocked up on NOS. Recording is whole pt of cassette/it was what we did back i/t 70s/80s. U bought ur vinyl then taped them 2 protect the record. In my day then, seeing how good ur tape-recordings could b was pretty-well the pt in the audio arms race.

I just bought a new deck and I love it

This is why I dissuaded my daughter from going down the cassette rabbit hole. Newly manufactured decks are glorified boom box quality and cost over $300. Newly manufactured cassettes are trash. New old stock is treated like collectors items. Not worth it when you have CD-Rs. I was cassette freak for years and jumped to CD-R as quickly as I could. Never looked back.

I push cassettes. And here's why I tell peolle. Unfortunately Our Goverment Wants us on our phones 24/7 and They don't want us on cassettes because when we're on cassettes we're alone and the phone is off .... They don't want to be disconnected from you .... plus you subscribe to a $10.00 stream service for rest of your life 40 years and that's $8000. Or you can buy two old decks. And make 50 mix tapes and your set for life for about $500. And cassettes unlike cds can be played 200 times before wear. Cds get scratched after 7 plays. So it ALLL Comes Back To Cassettes

I just sent back crap CrO2 cassettes to Thomann, the same company that sells RTM. They immidiatly understood my point and gave my money back. It’s a shame that Analogue Fidelty quit their chrome tapes. For new decks: isn’t there also a problem with Dolby licensing? If new decks are being made in the future, what’s the point without noise reduction capabilities? Especially after watching your video, i worship my Akai GX 75 and Tascam 112…..

Maybe you should explore pure acoustic recordings (1920s) vs electronic recording (1930s +). People like the old analog sound because they are used to it. Cassettes were always an inferior medium. Compare them to a reel to reel at 7.5 IPS. Where the cassette excelled was convenience. The modern smart phone is the modern cassette in term of convenience. As to keeping the old cassette decks working there is a couple big and unsolvable problems. First is the tape heads can't be replaced because the spare parts are gone. Same with all the rubber belts and pinch rollers.

Agree even reel2reel have current version being produced

It's just a matter of time. The cassette thing is getting slow because even back in the days cassette were considered the kind of crap to play our vinyls when at the holiday beach with our "sports" without even rewind button lol. Come on, many of us are able to afford a decent deck or a cute D6C, as I did, only as adults, and are actually discovering the full potential of this stuff after 30 or more years. The cassette medium is still victim of so many discrimination, and main fault is its own. The totality of pre recorded tapes were total garbo made quick as possible with a denigrating attitude from their producers, something today we buy in bulk for cheap bucks to make our cassette wall, while recording and listening to our cute tdk sa or else. Tbh I'd like some feedback from the producers of the past; Teac, Sony, whatever. Some constructive topic with the community to work in a new and exciting direction, after so many changes, like dolby nr license gone and so on. Someone should take the challenge and the rematch, instead to give empty field to greedy noobs who don't even know what their are doing.

I started my tape recorder journey in '68 with an 8 track tape recorder that was just so-so. In '72 I switched to Cassette using type II tape exclusively (never tried normal bias). In all my years I never bought a prerecorded tape because of the poor quality tape used to make them. I made tape recordings from vinyl record albums and CDs. By '80 I had switched to Metal (type IV) with a noticeable improvement in high frequency extension. In the '90's I started recording w/DAT (Digital Audio Tape) mostly. The DAT format was superior to Cassette in all regards except there weren't players made for cars. Too bad! These days I still make occasional CD or DAT compilation recordings of my favorite songs from various sources including streaming. And so I'm moving into the future of Audio very slowly. P.S. I forgot to mention the best of all recording formats - Reel to Reel !!!

It´s not even hard to get good old equipment. I watched eBay the last few months and bought quite a few Sony WM EX 670/674. They almost all needed a new belt and also had corrosion in the battery compartment but nothing you couldn´t fix. Only one player has a very muffled sound and i dunno why. Out of curiosity it is the one that looks brand new like barely ever used that doesn´t sound right. I think there´s an issue with the head or electronics behind it but that´s beyond my repair skills. I´m familiar with electronics, i mean i´m an electronics technician for industrial engineer, but that´s a whole different world to be honest. I´m able to do repairs on old tube radios but SMD technology and microcontrollers, well i don´t even have the right equipment to troubleshoot. But as i said, for the most part it´s only neccessary to buy a new belt, carefully clean all the pulleys and put the new belt in. Also making sure the belt is all the way straight and not twisted, otherwise it will cause some noticeable wow&flutter. And that´s it for the most part. I also replaced all the old pinch rollers as i had issues with azimuth on a few units and the others didn´t look that much better. So with the new belt and pinch rollers, it´s probably servicing another 20 years of music. I made some recordings with my 3 head home deck and i´m really stunned how great it can sound. Once i was laying in bed, wearing some true hifi headphones and listening to my own recordings, i totally forgot it was playing a tape. Without a direct comparsion, i think most people won´t even notice it.

I can agree the new cassette players and even the nearly $500 teac/tascam decks are crap. So you have to get vintage gear from eBay. Unfortunately these are 30+ years old and often not in working condition. I have purchased several high end boomboxes lasonic trc 931 Panasonic rx 5600 etc and replaced belts cleaned heads capstans and rubber restored pinch rollers and idler wheels. Well they seem to work fine for a few hundred cassette plays. Now some tapes play back fine and some don’t. Keeping a high end cassette player working is a pain in the ass not to mention is it the player or the cassette that’s the problem. This is so sad as I love handling the cassettes and am aware they can sound fantastic. Unfortunately achieving this is almost impossible until we get new high end cassette decks for under $500. I agree most will give up. Heck I love the little buggers mainly because I love boomboxes. Unfortunately I’m about to be forced to give up as I can’t get a working player that isn’t junk. I’ve always said if someone just started remanufacturing a coveted boombox of the 80s and it was priced right I’d buy it instantly

im new on this culture but i find it very difficult to buy something just sound decent for price. old sony walkmans are very expensive and i dont know they are working properly and most of modern cassette player are crap. so i have to choose between buy expensive walkman that old 30yrs and dont know gonna working or how to fix or buy crap new portable players i dont have a high expectation for player but i just want to record my favorite mixs and play them in my hand phsically. if thera are something between 200~300$ sound decent new modern player then it might be much better i bought sony cfd-s401 and mulaan b-1000ew for start but hope there are more options!

All i have is a Sony cfd-g50 and a Realistic scp2 cassette player. Very basic but it sounds great and is full stereo. I like to download audio book and music from KZfaq and put it on cassette tape.

Some companies are producing serious, top quality turntables. Most of these turntables are not cheap, but they get customers. Would a company producing a top quality tape deck have enough customers to justify the expense? The first problem is the transport, then there's the problem of Dolby chips (Dolby B, C, S) AND dbx chips. Such a tape deck should have every type of noise reduction that was available in vintage tape decks. Dolby HX Pro should also be included for those that want to record new tapes. It could be done at price, but how many fans would pay the price? I would say that the transport is the most difficult obstacle. We could copy Dolby and dbx processing using digital processing, but the transport is still a big problem.

How about dirttapes taperoller+? I dont have one but they claim to have stereo audio and they have a nice minimalistic design. Edit: just finished the video 😂

Just My Preference I Think If You're Looking For High Quality Cassette Decks And Particularly Brands I Recommend Either Onkyo Or Denon Because There Reliable Affordable Very Easy Too Clean And Most Of Them Are Not Auto Reverse Plus They Sound Amazing.