I've owned one of these W-1200 decks for the better part of 2 years and I've honestly been very happy with it. The features these decks have really make it or break it and I've found the parallel recording, the DNR noise reduction and especially the pitch control really useful features. I have better decks around from the likes of Nakamichi, NAD and Technics which are superior but don't have the feature set the modern TEAC and TASCAM decks do. If you're going to buy one of these, it's for the features, not necessarily for the discerning audiophile that's going to pick it apart. Nothing says you can't have more than one cassette deck either. One for the features, one for sonics.
@golen053 жыл бұрын
The only thing which I don't like about this is that both of the decks don't have auto reverse.
@richardbrobeck23843 жыл бұрын
Good to Here I like making my own mix tapes I have one of the early Sony Walkman's my coworkers and Students where I teach get thrill out my Walkman !
@BoboButYouCanCallMeTom3 жыл бұрын
Honestly, if you want audiophile you shouldn't even go for cassette at all the only real option would be digital 24 bit 96khz with a good converter and good clock. Maybe master tapes.
@xmlthegreat3 жыл бұрын
@@BoboButYouCanCallMeTom what about 32 bit for that much better dynamic range and miniscule possibility of aliasing?
@BoboButYouCanCallMeTom3 жыл бұрын
@@xmlthegreat Haha yeah true for the real nut jobs! Although in all seriousness practically. The noise floor in even the most treated room and well isolated room is going to be higher than the range you have with 24 bit haha. Aliasing has basically been fixed with dither. 32 bit is good for internal processing but is not needed for listening even in the most critical situations.
@millmoormichael66303 жыл бұрын
As a musician this is my wet dream.. folks getting back to tapes, cd’s and vinyl
@psrfpsrf3 жыл бұрын
Hello Michael, getting backto tapes, CDs an Vinyl is not overall correct. Tapes and vinyl was an analog storage of music signals. The amplitude of the noise signal was, is in both case transfered in an analog strength of the magnetic orientation of the tape particles or the grove depth an sideward peak. On the CD the noise signal and amplitude was first/is cutted in steps of 44khz and transfered in a digital value. The only problem was with the first CDs that a „private“ digital copy method was not available and a copy on cassette tapes need the same time like copying from vinyl, apart from „big“ advantage that a pre-selection of song numbers on the CD-Player was possible an the copy of on CD in one step. No lifting the Turntable arm song by song and leap nonpreferred songs and start and stop of the cassette recorder for each song. By the way, I will not go back to these terrible times when I was copying about every 3 years my vinyls, later the Cds on new tapes for several hours and days for my car stereo, because the used ones begun to wine and jam or create tape spaghetti. Today I have all my portable music on USB-sticks or on my smartphone, about 42 GB in ACC 320, more than 4000 Songs which is music for 10 days non stop or the volume of more than 150 cassettes a 90 minutes. To add or remove songs is a work of minutes. And finally the quality and the depandabilty is superior.
@icopaseticMHF3 жыл бұрын
I've never given up on cds or vinyl. However usually I'm listening to FLAC copies. But I threw out all my tapes 20 years ago. Maybe I just never had a good player - but I have no desire to try again
@geraldscott43023 жыл бұрын
Tapes and vinyl yes, but nothing digital. Digital is the worst thing to ever happen to music, video, and still photography. I would also like to see a retun to magnetic tape for video. Digital is totally fake, and sounds and looks fake.
@psrfpsrf3 жыл бұрын
Gerald, sorry but than you must say any copy is a fake. The kind of storage method is different, but a copy is a copy and any copy can be manipulated. Even old photos were manipulated with the begining of photography.
@Di3mondDud33 жыл бұрын
I never left CDs, too perfect even to get files for my new phone or old ipod.
@langam70173 жыл бұрын
Really nice to see that there's good, new cassette decks around. I hope this is just the beginning of a new trend.
@ACommenterOnYouTube2 жыл бұрын
Panasonic RX-D55 more like a boom box type deal but its descent
@ACommenterOnYouTube2 жыл бұрын
@She-Wolf Just paid $10 for (7) Maxell UR90 cassettes and $25 for (5) Maxell UR90N cassette's made TODAY but not here in the US.
@cirrus19642 жыл бұрын
@@ACommenterOnKZfaq how many CD-R would have got you far better sound?
@ACommenterOnYouTube2 жыл бұрын
@@cirrus1964 its NOT about far better sound, its about nostalgia.
@hypnoz78712 жыл бұрын
as long as rich old man want nostalgia then yes there will be cassette decks don't worry.
@markm00003 жыл бұрын
I really like the 90’s styled transitions.
@digitalvinyls35443 жыл бұрын
I would say 80`s style
@vwestlife3 жыл бұрын
@@digitalvinyls3544 It's a radio weather report jingle that's probably from the 1970s.
@Dan-mq8in3 жыл бұрын
@@vwestlife Talk about flashbacks! I remember hearing these on KCBS newsradio to announce their weather forecasts in the late 70s/early 80s.
@digitalvinyls35443 жыл бұрын
@@vwestlife yes, I sad, it's older than '90-s, probably late '70s, yet, it's sounds like '90s Windows system sounds :D
@spicemasterii67753 жыл бұрын
Haha. I wanted to say that too.
@andycristea3 жыл бұрын
Good review, as always. You nailed it with the older decks. While they used to be higher quality than this one, they require maintenance that is out of reach for most people, needing specialized equipment, skills and experience to bring back to their former glory and specs. You could get an old high end deck and have a much worse experience than with a new one like this.
@lesrogers73103 жыл бұрын
Love the way that on the alignment tape the label isn't 'aligned' at all well.
@wrockage2 жыл бұрын
YES!
@RetroJay19743 жыл бұрын
I used to be obbsessed with tape decks around 20+ years ago. Then I stopped bothering altogether and put the tapes into storage. Recently when moving house I wanted to go through the tapes again, I began looking for secondhand decks which I have been very lucky with so far. But I refuse to touch all the modern cheap junk. I am really happy these Tascam and Teac decks are available in this day and age. Thanks for uploading these reviews :)
@mickeylilly60573 ай бұрын
Which older decks do you recommend?
@sexytasmin3 жыл бұрын
Hi Kevin I have just purchased a Teac W - 1200 . Thank you for the recommendation it performs very well. Best wishes from Worcester, UK.
@EfficientTrout3 жыл бұрын
very underrated channel. nicely done video with prior research about the product
@dr.behrends93783 жыл бұрын
I can only hope that more companies decide to ramp up their tape business. Especially for blank tapes, as well. I still buy quite a lot of music casettes every month.
@BaldTV2 жыл бұрын
im kind of older and i am very happy, that we dont have the cassettes anymore (and discettes, and SCSI-cables, and mouses with ball)
@dr.behrends93782 жыл бұрын
@Instant Karma If there's a need for those things, why not?
@nielsvanderwaa9539 Жыл бұрын
@@dr.behrends9378 there is no need, there is a very small demand because people like "vintage stuff"
@shitmandood Жыл бұрын
@@nielsvanderwaa9539 Well there can be a need. I’ve got a demo tape mailed to me by a guitarist back the late 80s or early 90s. You can’t buy it anywhere. I made a digital copy, but the tape actually sounded better (when I had a tape player). I’m sure there’s probably 1000s of such tapes out there in the world, that the digital listener will not even be made aware of because it isn’t on Spotify. Likewise I find gaps on Spotify where I have music that it appears it’ll never have. So in a way, the analog method fills in these gaps. Note: If all you listen to is crappy mainstream, then the above doesn’t apply.
@slow.poetry10 ай бұрын
@@nielsvanderwaa9539 There's no need for mechanical watches either yet they generate billions. There's thousands of niche products, cheap and expensive (no one needs Bugatti's). If Sony doesn't lose money on their 500€ turntable surely they can also produce a new walkman.
@ubergeeknz3 жыл бұрын
Nice to see them making what seem like reasonable cassette decks again. I wonder if in a few years there'll be really high end decks again like the Dragon. Imagine how good a deck could be made with another 20-30 years of technology behind it...
@CedarPark6043 жыл бұрын
The "open box' listing is probably that way to stop retailers who might sell this product from having to compete with the prices of the manufacturer selling direct on Bay. They can claim they don't have to match the prices because it's 'open box'.
@vwestlife3 жыл бұрын
Also I think maybe it had something to do with TEAC changing their U.S. distributor. Maybe as part of the agreement they weren't allowed to sell their stock from the old distributor as new, so they're selling it as "open box".
@iiiiii14493 жыл бұрын
@@vwestlife I bought one from the teac store on ebay a year ago and it was the same best offer thing. Open box but looked new.
@supermasterPIK3 жыл бұрын
the third song
@supermasterPIK3 жыл бұрын
16:27 Sting?
@michaelskramii22453 жыл бұрын
The sound of a tape being put in a deck makes me happy. Thank you for the informative ( concise and cool ) review. Much appreciated.
@Fluteboy3 жыл бұрын
**CHULUNK!**
@Eyerex3 жыл бұрын
I miss the old days of walking past a HiFi shop and seeing some of the new decks they had in stock :( plus you couldn't beat spending the day going through your records and making some tapes for the weekend
@starsiderelics95213 жыл бұрын
We became the masters of dropping needles onto the separation grooves between tracks to start recording a specific song halfway through an LP
@johnjaleco56833 жыл бұрын
Where's a good place to buy blank cassettes ? I'm in the UK ?
@Eyerex3 жыл бұрын
@@johnjaleco5683 All you see these days are the generic Maxell tapes which are ok'ish but not sure where i read but Richer Sounds may have blank ferric tapes which were meant to be pretty good
@johnjaleco56833 жыл бұрын
@@Eyerex cheers , and I'm guessing that they're not as cheap as they used to be . Normal is ok for me as I'm not as picky quality wise as I used to be .
@Eyerex3 жыл бұрын
@@johnjaleco5683 I miss the days of going into Boot's and seeing a whole wall lined with every make and types (next to the beer making kits)
@gdoug15293 жыл бұрын
After watching your videos and also videos from Techmoan on cassette decks, I had decided to tackle repairing my Sony TC-WE625 deck from 1998 that the belts had expired on. I still have some digitizing to do of old family cassette tapes and was bummed to discover that my Sony quit working. Even though it isn't a "Nakamichi Dragon", it is still better than most, if not all other consumer level decks made in the last 20 years. Now it is working like new again :)
@matterisnotsolid82953 жыл бұрын
Omg. This video reminded me of the giddyness of finding a new piece of audio equipment back in the day to add it to my system. Things just aren't the same anymore.
@davidryan64413 жыл бұрын
Great Overview....Wish more people would check out and get into cassette decks...I bought an Aiwa Ad-f450 casstte deck from a thrift Store in the UK for £20 Replaced the belts from a company in Portugal Via Ebay and Quite frankly the quality of Recordings made from both Vinyl and CD sources is amazing......Still trying to find a good Cassette Walkman ..But its great that some companies are making Cassette decks again....Thanks for posting this video.
@stevenelse10033 жыл бұрын
Fantastic review of this cassette deck I've owned one for a year now I'm from the United Kingdom I had no problems purchasing one I'm very happy with this Deck I would recommend them to anyone
@martynalner62093 жыл бұрын
I bought one of these TEAC W-1200 models in the UK back in July 2019, based on your original Tascam review video. It's been a great deck and records via USB to my computer very well. The only issue I've ever encountered is old tapes such as Cassette Singles that are glued (rather than have screws in them). They sometimes grind to a halt and the mech isn't man enough to play them further. Whereas my 30 year-old Sony Hifi can play them (but even then it might be a bit slower). I've used the TEAC W-1200 a lot to record my Cassettes to my Computer via USB.
@nigelh32533 жыл бұрын
Well, that was a fantastic review and I can't thank you enough for being so informative. That USB out at the back of the deck is a great idea as many laptops now don't have audio (line) in - the USB solves that. You had one sentence about the quality of the cassette tape - you talked about Wal-Mart tape. Taking up your point, and going off topic - I do worry about the tape side! I have 50 year old hq reel to reel tapes made by EMI (UK company) and these are fine today, but storage at high temps, etc can spell disaster. That's why I mentioned the USB - cassette tapes, great, but also store on computer in case of temp, damp, mechanical damage. Your review was brilliant!
@sexytasmin3 жыл бұрын
Thank you Kevin this was just the video I was looking for when considering this deck. Very informative.
@seancuthbert45873 жыл бұрын
I remember JVC getting around dolby licencing by using anrs. It was so close to dolby I couldn't tell the difference. I wonder if Teac could do the same. The lack of dolby could leave some people a little hissed!
@fivish2 жыл бұрын
Dolby B and C are very simple to implement in hardware.
@railway1873 жыл бұрын
I have the Teac AD-850 and I am very satisfied with it. The sound is rich and very clean (no motor humming for instance). It is not very cheap, but to me it was worth the money.
@stanleycostello7182 жыл бұрын
Me, too. I am most pleased with mine. I got it on VWestlife's recommendation.
@kevinmiller81913 жыл бұрын
Ah, I miss the '80s. Chromium dioxide, ferric, metal... What a time to be alive.
@orangejjay3 жыл бұрын
And cocaine. Lots of cocaine.
@billman63643 жыл бұрын
@@orangejjay you got that right, lol
@alitlweird3 жыл бұрын
@@orangejjay #ColumbianMarchingPowder
@zebra35193 жыл бұрын
Grandmaster flash.
@MichaelJones-nt9yy3 жыл бұрын
And don't forget ferric-chrome....
@piwex693 жыл бұрын
What strikes me is that both decks can record. How extraordinary in the world of double cassette component system units.
@3ld9193 жыл бұрын
I think you are right. From what I have seen, both decks with recording capabilities is pretty unusual. They did make them back in the day though, I have an early 90's Denon that does, but it's not common. It is a nice feature though because you have a fully functional back up deck.
@home-space3 жыл бұрын
Maybe cheaper to have exactly the same parts on both sides
@jhschmidMD43 жыл бұрын
I have a Kenwood KX-W8020 from 1990. It also has dual well recording.
@3ld9193 жыл бұрын
@@jhschmidMD4 I just ran across your deck here on KZfaq. It was featured on a channel called DrCassette in a video called "Testing 9 newly acquired cassette decks" He was blown away by it having dual recording.
@HamtaroEL3 жыл бұрын
Toshiba RT-S983 got dual record decks.
@rarbiart3 жыл бұрын
i love the variation in demo music selection.
@wolf_hg3 жыл бұрын
Whenever I feel like messing with any tape based format I almost never bother with any noise reduction of any kind. Tape hiss is a part of what makes a cassette tape just that, if you want noiseless music you can just play it off CD or stream it anyways. Although I find playing back Dolby C encoded tapes back with the system turned off gives an interesting sound signature. It is all about how YOU want to listen to your favorite music!
@hunterdavis30033 жыл бұрын
Lol I came here to say the EXACT same thing...Dolby is just a muffled mess
@SDsailor73 жыл бұрын
@@hunterdavis3003 Yup. Dolby is like wearing a covid mask. Haha. Cheers
@ronb61823 жыл бұрын
Add the bass and you didn't hear the tape hiss. If I wanted to hear hiss I just turned up the treble on my equalizer.
@kensmechanicalaffair2 жыл бұрын
Right!?
@alternatingbitmusic3 жыл бұрын
I ended up snagging one of these due to your review. So far I'm quite pleased with the deck. For me the dual record dub feature is one of the greatest features since I sometimes release music on cassette in short run. The digital counters do not sync, however, which makes me wonder if it's just the counting mechanism itself or if there actually is some subtle difference in speed between the two bays.
@stefankamann97843 жыл бұрын
I would always go for a used deck from the late 90s (Sony decks with Dolby s can be bought for around 60-80 € in Germany e.g.). If there is an issue it is nearly always with the belts, and they can be fixed easily), I still love tapes and listening to my old collection. As long as there are good 2. hand devices: better get one of those ;-) You make very nice Videos VWestlife, keep up the good work!
@l.cfootman32593 жыл бұрын
Wow! I just stumbled across this channel, and it reminded me when i was stationed in Korea while in the Army back in the late 80's. While in Korea, i bought a Nakamichi Cassette Deck player at the PX store on post. I paid $730.00 for it. I never thought I would have ever paid that much for just one piece of my Audio set up! I was just an E4, and that was most of my base pay. But, it was well worth it! it was soooo amazing, and had such good sound quality.
@apollomemories73992 жыл бұрын
It's that old adage - quality prevails.
@ChrisMannphoto3 жыл бұрын
You most likely know this already, but the difference in spec between the TEAC and TASCAM versions is explained by TEAC being the "hifi" / domestic brand and TASCAM being the "professional" brand - i.e. aimed at musicians, DJs and sound recordists. Hence the TASCAM gets the 19" rack-mount ears and the special play mode (dual monitoring) while the TEAC doesn't. And professionals would have their own cables already. :-)
@Scotty_in_Ohio3 жыл бұрын
The old "open box" tactic - I don't know about for online sales but this was very common at places like Fry's Electronics where they would simply open boxes before placing new items on a shelf and then either fold the flaps or in some cases just slice the plastic "tamper" stickers before putting the merch out. I've seen that with apple products (iPods) in the early 2000's where Apple held prices for new items at a certain level but stores could sell "returns" or open box items at a deeper discount. In your case it may have been the items that were inspected from overseas - customs may have thought it odd that new cassette decks were coming into the US and wanted to make sure that there wasn't other items in the box ;-)
@peacearchwa51033 жыл бұрын
I've seen many of the Border Security reality-TV episodes for the UK, Canada, Australia and the US. Customs officials at ports of entry routinely conduct random audits of incoming goods - opening the boxes and removing the contents to check for potential hidden contraband and/or inadmissibility of the goods. Customs officials compare boxes with the importer's customs declaration, and if something arouses their suspicions they will also open a box or two to check if any contraband is concealed within the box or packaging, or if there are undeclared valuables buried inside the box.
@matthewrichards883 жыл бұрын
That speech synthesis on the test tape sounded like the speech on Amiga workbench 1.3!
@NJRoadfan3 жыл бұрын
Because it likely uses the Naval Research Laboratory speech synthesis algorithms. Almost all 1980s text-to-speech software used it and thus had the same sounding "voice".
@RCAvhstape3 жыл бұрын
@@NJRoadfan Did not know that. I remember speech synthesis being a really huge feature on video games and home computers in the early 80s, and kind of expensive. I think for Intellivision and other home computers you often needed to buy a separate hardware module.
@josugambee37013 жыл бұрын
Reminds me of SAM for the Commodore 64
@Trance883 жыл бұрын
Glad to see there are companies still making good quality hifi cassette decks!
@fivish2 жыл бұрын
I record to a USB flash drive which holds way more than a cassette and in vastly superior quality.
@biscuitdingus2 жыл бұрын
That’s not the point of cassettes these days. I have a Sony Walkman NW A55 with a 512gb micro sd card filled with high resolution flacs and DSD, it sounds amazing, it’s convenient, and my entire music library fits into something the size of my fingernail. However I also own a Walkman WM F31 from the 80’s and play modern cassette releases through it, it’s a pain to find a specific track, it runs on AA’s which don’t last that long, and cassettes don’t sound that great, but it’s just fun to have. Cassettes are collectibles, a fun novelty now, not the most accessible option for portable media like they once were, but they’re not supposed to be anymore.
@azazelleblack3 жыл бұрын
I've never heard of you and I don't particularly have any interest in antiquated audio formats (despite growing up with them; I seem to lack the "nostalgia gene" entirely) but KZfaq recommended this video to me and the editing and production on this were so good I found myself captivated. I have no idea who you are or what you look like but you SOUND like exactly the person I want to tell me about nerdy obsolete electronics stuff like this.
@vwestlife3 жыл бұрын
Thanks!
@MickeyMishra3 жыл бұрын
Holy CRAP! At first I was like "$300!" But now? And hearing the USB OUTPUT? Not bad!
@StevenS7573 жыл бұрын
It's a nice sounding deck. Not bad for a modern one. They apparently also have Factory Refurbished ones on their TEAC eBay store for $200, which is a nice option for people trying to save some money.
@peacearchwa51033 жыл бұрын
The asking price for the "Teac W-1200 Double Cassette Deck | USB & One-Touch Dubbing (Refurbished)" is $299 today, not $200. Maybe that was a fluke.
@StevenS7573 жыл бұрын
@@peacearchwa5103 They sure did, those sneaks! I bet this video coming out had something to do with the price suddenly going up.
@peacearchwa51033 жыл бұрын
@@StevenS757 I doubt it, I had been glancing a week before this came up and the Refurb price was $299 and Open Box was $349, MSRP was $499. If I were buying one, I'd go for the Open Box rather than the Refurb since the whole idea in buying the W-1200 is to get a brand-new spanking new deck, not a used deck. That's just me, perhaps.
@DeadKoby3 жыл бұрын
Nice to know that there's a good current option for cassette playback and recording.
@doorknob21503 жыл бұрын
The "Longhorne" skin on that XP PC took me back to 2006 real hard. Nice breakdown of the newer deck. Glad to see there is still SOME quality cassette decks out there in 2021.
@vwestlife3 жыл бұрын
Not Longhorn, it's the Zune theme with a third-party clone of the Vista/7 desktop gadgets.
@doorknob21503 жыл бұрын
@@vwestlife oh yeah! I forgot about the Zune theme! Still nice.
@phuturephunk3 жыл бұрын
I haven't thought of cassette tapes in 20 years but here I am.
@hifijohn3 жыл бұрын
Haven't used a cassette in over 15 years, In the old days you used them to make music for your car or walkman but those days are long gone, I have no idea outside of nostalgia why anyone would want a cassette deck.
@Rebelz1733 жыл бұрын
@@hifijohn I still use my Sony Walkman to listen to old drum n bass tape packs
@Adam_Lyskawa3 жыл бұрын
I did. And I still don't get it. Why? This machine is decent. It shows that that ancient tech could produce listenable sound. But still - the price is reasonable only if you consider how expensive the parts and the production process of it is. So they are just basically expensive to make. To provide sound quality objectively worse than even cheap no-name digital devices. The only reason I like tape recorders is they LOOK cool and nostalgia.
@JessHull3 жыл бұрын
You always play the most interesting music, I love it.
@bentenfeb20093 жыл бұрын
Well researched material better than the time these decks were the mainstream music players back then….thanks for reliving back those days!
@RafaelPernia Жыл бұрын
I love the sound of your "intermission" blue screens. Is like a Zelda game sound.
@IMTHEBIGGESTCUNT2 жыл бұрын
I’m still running my Technics RS-TR474M2. Works perfectly and still sounds great!
@EpicTyphlosionTV3 жыл бұрын
You'd think they'd start making new tape mechs by now, but I guess it's not that profitable yet
@alextirrellRI3 жыл бұрын
I feel like we're getting there. We're only now starting to see quite the uptick in quality on new turntables, so I'm sure tape decks will get their turn if interest and sales increase.
@LatitudeSky3 жыл бұрын
One thing holding it back is what happens to all other consumer electronics: they get copied by somebody else for less. Nobody is going to invest in the R&D and tooling it would take to rebirth a good cassette deck when it's guaranteed to get copied. And at the same time, the companies who are making mediocre cheap decks are happy making those cheap decks.
@SDsailor73 жыл бұрын
So what is a good/ acceptable wrms on a cassette deck? And what is it? Anyone know? Thank you
@dashcamandy22423 жыл бұрын
@@LatitudeSky To be fair, there wouldn't be _that_ much R&D required. The intended item already existed in many forms for several decades; in the world of inferior knockoffs, a quality knockoff of a good mech should be fairly simple. The biggest problem would most likely be in sourcing good tape heads themselves.
@richardwicks41903 жыл бұрын
I clicked on this video just out of astonishment. There will be no tape decks in just 30 years. The last generation to grow up with this was born in 1990. They are 30 now, when they are 60, they're not going to be feeling nostalgia about how great those old tape cassettes were. It's a complete waste to even manufacture these. Tapes are bulky, inferior in EVERY WAY to digital, and have terribly inferior audio quality. Also, audio tapes have a limited lifespan. Digital data does not.
@apollomemories73992 жыл бұрын
I still use my Sony Walkman Pro WM-D6C. What a splendid little machine it is.
@tossedpenny3 жыл бұрын
If you take your time and search around the thrift shops and second hand stores you'll find tons of old great name brand decks, stereos etc. for insanely cheap prices.
@timecage3 жыл бұрын
With how cassettes are picking up in interest nowadays it's important to spread solid information and advice, especially since many new fans may have not even been alive when the tape era was fizzing out. So thank you for a job well done. While I wish Tascam/Teac would at least include tape calibration controls, their decks are certainly good enough for people who want new.
@Rick_Todd3 жыл бұрын
Great Video , Really looking forward to when you swap the motors out and re-test the Wow & Flutter
@jordantomblin23023 жыл бұрын
That WRMS reading is equivalent of those 90s Pioneers (at least listed in the manuals) that are often seen as the last great tape decks. This certainly seems appealing for someone like me, as I've had zero luck with buying used tape decks, and trying to find parts and belt kits are a nightmare.
@Nantawat_Kittiwarakul3 жыл бұрын
W&F is on par with some average 90's deck I had/have. So this isn't too bad at all.
@Dioxaz3 жыл бұрын
Thing is while those numbers seem correct today and will be enough for most of us, I still have beside me a very unassuming Hitachi boombox that blows both this deck and many component decks from the 90s out of the water with its 0.04% WRMS (yes, you read right). It's a TRK-W235 from 1991 that I got recently at a thrift store. I don't even recall myself that boomboxes could perform that well.
@SDsailor73 жыл бұрын
@@Dioxaz So anything with starting with a 0.0 is a good wrms? I am new too cassettes so i am trying to understand the specifications. Thank you
@stuartleckie3 жыл бұрын
I’m struggling with that with my 3 head Technics deck. Might just give up wasting time and money on fixing it and grab one of these 😃
@jordantomblin23023 жыл бұрын
@@stuartleckie I’m struggling with a Technics 2 head and a Kenwood 3 head. Belt kits for the Kenwood don’t ship to the US and the Technics has an issue with one channel not working. The RS-B series seems to have issues with that.
@TomokoAbe_2 жыл бұрын
I have a TEAC clone "Scott" and I bought it during the 80's. It still works. Perfectly. I use it to transfer tapes to MP3s.The reproduction of sound is splendid. I can buy cassette tapes for a quarter and make perfectly excellent CDs with it. Or MP3s.
@Aidan_B_Young8 ай бұрын
It’s really cool to see that companies are still making tape decks, even if they aren’t super high end.
@andriesholtzhausen51823 жыл бұрын
The Dolby level on the level indicator is great for adjusting the playback levels during servicing.
@raymondmartin67373 жыл бұрын
I have had the Japanese version of Teac W-1200, in Silver, for a couple of years, which coming from Japan, cost more than the US version, but I had good results with it.
@GaryKeepItSimple3 жыл бұрын
Nice Video. Good to see you got similar results as my Test results. The Quality Control is impressive. They were made and sent to different parts of the world and still perform almost identically.
@grantnestori64303 жыл бұрын
I am very happy with my new Tascam. I'm glad they're still being made today.
@spacedman423 жыл бұрын
I have one of these decks purchased last year so i could convert my tapes to digital. And i like this deck alot, And has even played tapes of mine that have seen much usage very nicely.This is a very nice video and very enjoyable to watch with your analysis of this deck. Thanks for sharing and subbed.
@dakisdada17112 жыл бұрын
I have a Technics double deck autoreturn cassette player and I took it to service. It's very sofisticated with beautiful features. I have many cassettes from the eighties and the nineties.
@martytoo3 жыл бұрын
Thank you. I really enjoyed this review. I think your analysis of the transport and motor was great.
@electronicengineer3 жыл бұрын
I agree with you 100%. He did a great, detailed review of the entire machine. Fred
@StariusPrime3 жыл бұрын
I bought mine in January of 2020, also a Open Box version, for $171.20 with tax and shipping. So they've definitely gone up in price. (Different seller back then.) That being said, I really like this tape deck. If this was the last dual cassette tape deck ever to be made, it could be a lot worse. It certainly does everything I want out of a tape deck. I've even had cause to use the USB output function, which is something I never intended to use when I got it.
@frankowalker46623 жыл бұрын
It's certainly feature packed. I have hundreds of cassettes, only about 3 or 4 of them are audio, the rest are for my 8 bit computers. LOL.
@TechGorilla19873 жыл бұрын
@16:10 - The absolute epitome of 80's cheesoid movie music a la Beverly Hills Cops era. Love it and hate it all the same. That nostalgia for you. You youngins take heed.
@zbutsam3 жыл бұрын
After a lot of searching : Steve McClintock - Turn on the night
@CptJistuce3 жыл бұрын
@@zbutsam Thanks!
@kaitlyn__L3 жыл бұрын
Nowadays we call that “synthwave” 😌 being deliberately a.. pastiche? Homage? To the originals. The artwork usually involves 80s cars, that shiny metal in the desert style text, neon grids, etc. Popular usually for the drum machines and FM synthesis and other such period-correct things (even if some of the producers are probably using sampled drums and modern software synths).
@jeffw12673 жыл бұрын
I can't help but wonder, though. Why is "epitome" pronounced that way?
@mjh54373 жыл бұрын
@@jeffw1267 Because we speak English correctly.
@eoslensman3 жыл бұрын
Loving the Tandy 1000 in the background, I have a 1000SX with colour monitor I bought when I worked for them in the UK in the late 80's and it's still going strong.
@thiscorrosion9002 жыл бұрын
Never owned a TEAC tape deck but I added a solid TEAC 20 band EQ to my Sanyo rack system back in 1984 or so, it really made a huge difference in the sound quality. This was the black metal TEAC "slimline" EQ with the multicolor LED or fluoro waveform display. They always made solid equipment back then. I think I saw on the web site for B&H in NYC recently they had some new TEAC stuff, including a multitrack portable recorder or whatever. They don't have much of a market presence in America anymore, though, a great shame. I'm not sure why.
@TheOriginalCollectorA13033 жыл бұрын
It would be really cool to see if new tape mechanisms are created as the demand continues to grow!
@603840Jrg3 жыл бұрын
I think the best way to go about this is to make a Kickstarter for the sole purpose of getting the attention of China-based copycats to start making their own mechanisms.
@andriealinsangao6133 жыл бұрын
China? Really?
@603840Jrg3 жыл бұрын
@@andriealinsangao613 that's where most of the world's manufacturing (and in turn, bootlegging) is based in, dumdum
@andriealinsangao6133 жыл бұрын
@@603840Jrg I know, but do you really expect those companies to make their own mechanisms? HA!!!
@603840Jrg3 жыл бұрын
@@andriealinsangao613 You'd be surprised how many stupidly niche products got bootlegged the moment their Kickstarters took off, some even making it to market before the real deal. Tape mechanisms are not out of the question and would certainly be better than that one mechanism every company is using for modern tape players
@Rick_Todd3 жыл бұрын
Cassette Comeback / If your reading this , I would really like to know your thoughts on this deck ?
@Neodestro3 жыл бұрын
yep the old is new now i hope to see 8bit or 16bit games for super nintendo sega genesis neogeo for the real console to play in my crt tv
@Fluteboy3 жыл бұрын
A lack of bias adjustment may ruin its chances. Superferrics and type II's will be fine, but the basic ferrics need that helping hand.
@rxt7443 жыл бұрын
Thanks for the review. I was tempted last year to buy a new one (TEAC W-1200 - Silver) from a Japanese dealer via eBay, but opted for a vintage good condition and recently serviced Yamaha KX-10 (Compact 3-Head Tape Cassette Deck) on eBay. Maybe for the next modern HiFi stack build. Again, thanks for the excellent review!
@clydesight3 жыл бұрын
Clear, concise and informative video. As always a delight. Thanks for the info on this deck!
@Markimark1513 жыл бұрын
Those new cassette decks are actually good quality that audiophiles at record stores recommend them. TEAC and Pioneer analog components are mostly produced by Noritsu, they took over production for motors in turntables and tape decks.
@bloxyman223 жыл бұрын
Well it is the best deck that exist now, but it is more like a "low" mid range compared to more vintage decks. Low end decks were completely trash even when this format was at peak and this is clearly way above that.
@Markimark1513 жыл бұрын
@@bloxyman22 it’s still decent, I’m not expecting it to be the best tape deck ever made, since digital audio players replaced analog sound systems. But I’m glad there’s quality cassette decks in production, because audiophiles want to playback their tape recordings on fresh new equipment!
@mjouwbuis3 жыл бұрын
Sounds confusing. What is Noritsu actually making? Motors, deck assemblies or complete decks/turntables for TEAC and Pioneer?
@Markimark1513 жыл бұрын
@@mjouwbuis Noritsu is the company that bought Pioneer’s analog machines for turntables, DJ equipment, and tape decks. They also produce high end machines like film processors, motors, analog components for certain stereos form Pioneer, TEAC, Panasonic.
@stickyfox3 жыл бұрын
An audiophile recommending cassettes to anyone in 2021 is a red flag.
@briangoldberg44393 жыл бұрын
That playback speed is pretty steady. You could definitely go in and adjust the motor to dial it in a bit. The last time I did it, I used a 315Hz cal tape IIRC.
@bassbeetz3 жыл бұрын
Nothing like the amazingly fresh technical scent of a Maxell XL2S tape RIGHT out of the package..... my friends and I still talk about how unique that smell was.... we joked about making a cologne out of it. Technically floral, and not too chemically like other, crappier tapes.
@squallywally3 жыл бұрын
Hey VW! Your video pushed me over the edge. I bought one. Teac should send you a check I bet your vid has sold several of these for them. Great Vid !
@peacearchwa51033 жыл бұрын
Let us know how you enjoy your new W-1200!
@themadatheist19763 жыл бұрын
Had a digital Pioneer dual deck rebranded as Optimus from Radio Shack around 1999.
@themadatheist19763 жыл бұрын
@@mikec9112 ya, I also had their 51 disc cd changer.
@mcribs78113 жыл бұрын
The optimus decks also accepted the 1/8 plug that worked with the Pioneer amplifiers of the mid 90’s so that the remote was completely compatible. God I miss all that old audio equipment.
@themadatheist19763 жыл бұрын
@@mcribs7811 lol, I remember that. Had it tied to my amp and cd changer.
@screamengine3 жыл бұрын
Prophetic tune... ".... You could end up in your own dome!" :) I think that deck sounds pretty damn good indeed. Warm head circuit.
@TheChinatownkid3 жыл бұрын
This video is awesome! Your reviews are off the hook, answered a lot of questions.
@groovealate743 жыл бұрын
This guy really goes out of his way to cover EVERTHING... or just about.. I enjoyed the review, and will end buying one of these units in the near future
@3ld9193 жыл бұрын
Funniest complaint about modern cassette decks at 0:47. "Not as good as my Nakamichi Dragon" What is?
@Windowsfan1003 жыл бұрын
That's unfortunately the kind of snobbery you can expect with pretty much any less common hobby. In my opinion it only discourages new people from becoming into it, but something tells me that's more or less what they want anyway.
@ARandomOven3 жыл бұрын
Sony WM-D6C is very close imo
@3ld9193 жыл бұрын
@@Windowsfan100 I'm not sure if it was snobery or just a flat out joke, but I hear what you are saying. For the few fortunate enough to own a Dragon, they are not so fortunate when it comes to the cost of keeping it up to spec, Naks are finicky as all get out and crazy expensive to own.
@3ld9193 жыл бұрын
@@ARandomOven Sony WM-D6C are crazy good portables, but are different animals than a full sized component. I've never owned a Dragon and I never will, but have owned decent 3 head Naks and when they are in good working order do sound and record fantastic. Problem is they are finicky and keeping them up to spec at their best is pricey & out of my budget. In my humble opinion.
@granttaylor36973 жыл бұрын
If anyone is interested I have been working some very new technology for cassette decks, such as adaptive noise reduction and digital bias. I am also working on a tracking system for cassettes, like what we had with video cassettes, but I have now place this project on hold due to a lack of support.
@ehlerhog Жыл бұрын
"Give me Dolby or give me death." I hear a buncha hissss on parts of this video. I prefer a chrome tape and Dolby noise reduction. Depending on the actual cassette deck I find the combination of both brings the best sound out for your listening pleasure. Way more bass with a chrome tape and not as much loss in the mid-range area, in fact I think using Dolby on a chrome cassette gives it an extra punch and crispness with less hiss getting more bang for your buck!! Of course it's been a while since I've owned a cassette deck and I still have lots of tapes I can't bring myself to throw away. Lots of memories too. You did a good job here, thanks.👍
@JeffyG2 жыл бұрын
Great review! There needs to be a reason to own a cassette deck, and there aren’t many 😉. When you look at the lengths designers and engineers went to, to create hi-fidelity, like DB-NR, MPX and metal tapes…. It’s crazy. Easy to see why CDs killed the cassette. As a musician, I used cassettes extensively back-in-the-day and still have about 60 cassettes kicking around. Anything valuable I converted to digital many years ago. Not sure why I still have a good tape deck as it’s rarely ever used.
@C.Hawkshaw2 жыл бұрын
I’ll take it
@ralex36972 жыл бұрын
Still a good way to preserve a vinyl collection
@thomasstover89933 жыл бұрын
I wish 4 track heads were still manufactured so the mechanically simple auto reverse could be implemented. Although the remote control alone might make this deck worth it. Working included remotes get a huge premium on ebay cassette decks.
@macdaniel60293 жыл бұрын
Most decks of the 80s and 90s were remote controlable, at least the basic functions. It worked via the remote control of the receiver over a cable on the back.
@davidwalls84662 жыл бұрын
I'd assume this would hold up for a couple years and give good service. A vintage deck bought from a stranger on Ebay might have big service problems. I like it.
@afzaalkhan.m3 жыл бұрын
A concise review of the Teac. Deck .Very objective with no personal basis. Reminds me of the. wonderful Stereo Reviews.
@moviebod3 жыл бұрын
A completely forensic review as ever. Brilliant! I am not sure about your choice in music though :)
@JeffCounsil-rp4qv3 жыл бұрын
I don't care if it has Dolby or not. My Sansui 9090DB stereo receiver has Dolby built into it and can be calibrated to whatever tape deck you use. In fact, I never did use the Dolby in tape decks so every tape I recorded was the same in whatever I played it in, like my car stereo or R2R decks.
@WhoAteEarth3 жыл бұрын
Honestly this seems to be a perfectly good deck to send out to market and, as demand continues to rise and price lowers, this could be the way forward in modern cassettes. Just continue to improve the wow and flutter, nothing else matters if those are off
@kijar3 жыл бұрын
the Tascam 202MKVII has been a great experience for me. I can see this TEAC model is almost the same with just a few features missing. It turned out to be a great purchase decision for me because I enjoy playing cassettes so much.
@traxonwax3 жыл бұрын
The voice at 15:20 sounds like Don Lafontaine.The music at 16:00 sounds like sports radio music. Great video as always!
@NeonNightmares3 жыл бұрын
That was a in-depth review as i've ever seen one. Great Stuff! Curious to see if the new motors actually do a better job than the already installed ones. Looking forward to it. :)
@electronicengineer3 жыл бұрын
Same here. I think that the weight of the capstan flywheel also plays a part in the wow & flutter measurements, however, like you commented, it would be really interesting to see how much the drive motor swap influences this measurement. Fred
@spikester3 жыл бұрын
@@electronicengineer Drag on the takeup reel slipper usually causes it also, and you need a bigger flywheel to reduce the flutter from it. I remember taking apart such old tape decks as a kid and getting the massive flywheels out, using them as spin tops with the motors from the same deck, watching them spin on the table for a good 10 minutes.
@spikester3 жыл бұрын
Many of those flywheels were well crafted parts... tanks.
@electronicengineer3 жыл бұрын
@@spikester Oh YES! I did that also, more than once ;-). I was great at taking them apart, just it was the putting back together part that I was not quite as adept at! Thanks for the great memory jog spikester!!! Fred
@sampalermo1232 жыл бұрын
I work on tape decks all the time and a different motor will not make it any better and the ones you find these days are cheaply made chinese voltage controlled unlike the FG types of the past. There is nothing you can do to make these acceptable as their design from the start is lacking- plastic capstan bearings is a first reason.
@jdekong39453 жыл бұрын
Wow! that was certainly thorough Kevin! enjoyed the vid. Back in the day I use to record using Dolby B to boost the top end & during playback I would turn it off. I thought Dolby was very over rated certainly for the B & C standards, music did sound awful when it was engaged during playback, money making racket courtesy some good advertising
@chrispkc Жыл бұрын
Thanks very much for your extremely in-depth review of this and the Tascam 202mkvii! If not for your review I would have just bought a cheap boombox type player to transfer my old cassettes, now will definitely look out for one of these units.
@charliebrown1408 Жыл бұрын
Came across this through the techmoan channel. Glad to see that there's more content makers out there doing there bit to keep music alive and played the way it should be 🖖🖖
@ToTheGAMES3 жыл бұрын
For everyone searching for the last song in the outro, it is: Organonomy - Streets
@kepler6663 жыл бұрын
I had a panasonic music center with double cassette decks, wow and flutter made it unlistenable and it sounded so funny it made me laugh
@mauritsvw3 жыл бұрын
Maybe it just needed new rubber belts. Panasonic's decks were usually quite well made.
@richardwhite23443 жыл бұрын
You must have had a defective unit Panasonic is one of the greatest names in audio they make very high quality equipment
@kepler6663 жыл бұрын
@@richardwhite2344 i got it used and was used heavily
@okbridges3 жыл бұрын
I like the title cards and accompanying audio, they are nice touches that add to the overall theme of the review. Will be interesting to see how much difference the motor swap will make in the performance.
@velvetpilot20082 жыл бұрын
Thank you for doing this review! If you watch other reviewers you get the idea that the only thing that can play cassettes these days are cheap boomboxes
@martinda74463 жыл бұрын
Fantastic review. Top marks...Like I was reading Stereophile.😸
@mitko_dsv19993 жыл бұрын
23:09 That surprised me. I'm from Bulgaria, though I'm definitely not the seller mentioned here.
@indecent00792 жыл бұрын
I like the parallel record feature, the JVC does not have that.. I did some testing on a pair of Yamaha decks from 86 not too long ago, they both actually exceeded the specs, 35 years after manufacture. That’s pretty amazing. And they are so beautiful to watch in action 😍.. Thanks. Only thing is they have a motor that constantly runs which I don’t prefer but, still they run 🤷🏻♂️ maybe I’ll show them off when I figure out how to work this scary medium lol
@wirralnomad Жыл бұрын
I have a 2022 open box TEAC W1200 from Richer Sounds in the UK which I bought for £310 which is $373.61, that is more than you recommend but it is the UK where everything costs a little more so it ain't that bad a deal, I'm quite happy with mine, it's way better than my sisters old Panasonic RX-DX1 that is about 20 years old now.