Retro cassette players

CASSETTE tapes are experiencing a renaissance of sorts with the current generation of music consumers being exposed to the old format of music playback thanks to the likes of artistes such as Ed Sheeran and Eminem bonding over them, along with movies such as Guardians of the Galaxy prominently featuring tape players and mixtapes.

That said, cassettes are not as widespread as they were, with most mainstream musicians opting for digital releases and equally, tape players are not being manufactured in the sheer numbers as three decades ago.

However, music lovers can still get their hands on both, particularly tape players, which are rarer than the two, as there are still companies out there bringing new devices into the niche. Here are a mixture of vintage tape players still floating around and new ones that were very recently released.

Fiio CP13

Compared with the utilitarian design of old school portable cassette players, modern ones are more stylish but there are those that combine the two as seen with Fiio’s new CP13.

Slightly smaller than its modern peers, the players are certainly portable and pocketable. A relatively straightforward player, the CP13 has no advanced features such as equalisation settings or noise reduction. Instead, it has an onboard battery and volume control.

The device’s sound quality is lean with trebles and a punchy bass. Through certain headphones, the sound can come across flat.

Sony WM-EX190

One of the old school Sony Walkman series of portable players from when the company was actively in the tape player game and when tapes were more common. These days, it is slightly hard to find one, especially those in working condition.

The WM-EX190 is designed as simplistic as possible without auto-reverse, tape-type selector, noise reduction, LCD display, and no menus.

As utilitarian as possible, the player has the basic Play, Stop, Fast-Forward, Rewind, a bass boost and an AVLS switches.

The stock headphones are the exact quality as one would expect from stock anything. It is highly recommended that decent headphones are used with the WM-EX190. The player is also rated to run for a little over 20 hours on AA batteries.

Sony WM-F5 Sports Walkman

Now 40 years old, the WM-F5 is the first “sports” walkman that was created specifically with outdoor activities in mind. As striking now as it was back then, Sony continued using the bumblebee yellow colour in later sports models.

Like mentioned earlier, early tape players were meant to be utilitarian and the WM-F5 is a testament to this ethos. Its casing was developed using impact-resistant plastic that was extra thick. It was extremely rugged and being made for sports, it was also splash proof due to the soft rubber seals on every opening. Due to its capabilities, the WM-F5 is highly sought after.

Turntable Lab Lofi One Portable Cassette Player

Released by Turntable Lab, this device pairs the old-school pocket tape player design with slight upgrades in functionality. The Turntable Lab’s Lofi One Portable Cassette Player is able to play cassettes and it has a USB outlet to connect to an external power source.

It also features a built-in speaker on its front panel allowing users to listen sans headphone

We Are Rewind WE-001

The WE-001 is not the slimline Walkman of the 90s. It is a larger device with some weight. The player includes large, user-friendly buttons and an easily accessible volume rocker. It also has a Bluetooth switch. Though it has auto-stop on playback, it does not have automatic features like auto-reverse or stop on rewind.

For its sounds, it dips into the warmer end of the spectrum, but as there is no noise reduction, the treble is reasonably extended.