Good new Walkman-style cassette players?

Started by ritualabuser, May 04, 2022, 12:09:20 AM

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ritualabuser

Was wondering if anyone had a recommendation for a new Walkman-style cassette player. Would be nice to deal with something where the components aren't 20+ years old, and I've been having a string of bad luck with recent ebay purchased of old Walkmans. Judging by a lot of the reviews, it seems that everything available now is cheap Chinese crap that breaks immediately or never works in the first place. Price isn't an issue, so long as it's reasonable and corresponds with the quality.

Soloman Tump

#1
I bought one of these in August 2020 and it has not yet chewed any tapes up.  I run it off rechargeable AA batteries and it does the job for evening strolls around town catching up on tape purchases.  

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B076PFJKRJ/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

It picks up interference mega easy from a mobile phone and there can be additional "noise" but it depends how picky you are over what you are listening to.  If I want to listen to something super detailed then I play WAVs through my phone. Also, if you are picky about sound quality then tapes probably aren't for you.  Once the batteries start draining, the sound quality degenerates into an LFO style drone.  I did not notice this the first time it happened on a walk - I was listening to pitched down dying battery tape squeal for ages!

I was a bit sceptical because it is very cheap, but so far it has lasted longer than I expected and still does its job.  Have not tried the record to MP3 function.

My only other obvious gripe is the buttons that stick out - they are easy to knock when in your pocket.  Also the volume dial is a bit fiddly to adjust.  But not really major issues because of the price tag.