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According to Youtuber Techmoan there is only one company making actual cassette playback mechanisms anymore and the mechanisms are not great. Any device claimin

According to Youtuber Techmoan there is only one company making actual cassette playback mechanisms anymore and the mechanisms are not great. Any device claiming to be able to play standard audio cassettes sold in recent years is built on one of these barely acceptable mechanisms. Does anyone have a counterfactual to that? edit: typo

starkparker 3y ago
To emphasize this, Techmoan does thorough mechanical and electrical reviews of cassette decks across eras, and had largely critical reviews of similar new portable players and recorders, such as the We Are Rewind: https://youtu.be/WleZGWAebsY https://youtu.be/WleZGWAebsY Many—not all—of these criticisms are based on the fact that the only new mechs coming out now are the same budget Tanashin mechs from shitty 90s decks: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nezGOVOpHtc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nezGOVOpHtc This effectively sabotages any new deck, from a $20 Amazon white label portable to a $40 Walmart Sony to a $500 Teac with the same fundamental reliability and quality problems. Unlike turntables, which demand precision but are fundamentally simple machines, cassette mechs are complex mechanical devices and nobody wants to make things like that anymore.
- neuralRiot 3y ago
  The playback relevant parts are not that complex, a good motor,and speed control, capstan/ flywheel the pinch roller and a rigid enough chassis to maintain geometry. You hear people complaining that things like that are not made anymore but if they were they wouldn’t buy them anyway.
secretsatan 3y ago
The article seems to confirm it at the end, mentioning off the shelf components and that it won’t out perform the competition.
KerrAvon 3y ago
based on the audio Techmoan has posted, “not great” is probably an understatement. “fair” to “poor” is what it sounds like.

starkparker 3y ago

To emphasize this, Techmoan does thorough mechanical and electrical reviews of cassette decks across eras, and had largely critical reviews of similar new portable players and recorders, such as the We Are Rewind: https://youtu.be/WleZGWAebsY https://youtu.be/WleZGWAebsY Many—not all—of these criticisms are based on the fact that the only new mechs coming out now are the same budget Tanashin mechs from shitty 90s decks: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nezGOVOpHtc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nezGOVOpHtc This effectively sabotages any new deck, from a $20 Amazon white label portable to a $40 Walmart Sony to a $500 Teac with the same fundamental reliability and quality problems. Unlike turntables, which demand precision but are fundamentally simple machines, cassette mechs are complex mechanical devices and nobody wants to make things like that anymore.

neuralRiot 3y ago
The playback relevant parts are not that complex, a good motor,and speed control, capstan/ flywheel the pinch roller and a rigid enough chassis to maintain geometry. You hear people complaining that things like that are not made anymore but if they were they wouldn’t buy them anyway.

secretsatan 3y ago

The article seems to confirm it at the end, mentioning off the shelf components and that it won’t out perform the competition.

KerrAvon 3y ago

based on the audio Techmoan has posted, “not great” is probably an understatement. “fair” to “poor” is what it sounds like.