[Editorial] Compact Cassettes galore, again and again! The vintage audio trend gains momentum!

I have already dealt, on several occasions, with the incomprehensible and paradoxical renewed interest in an audio format that was definitively considered defunct, the old Compact Cassette. I talked about it in several editorials: January 2019, February 2019, July 2021 and February 2022. Frankly, I had hoped that this bubble of interest would deflate quickly but no, the trend is slow but continues. In the USA, for example, after a 28% increase in sales between 2021 and 2022, in 2023 they remained practically at the same level, i.e. there has been a total of 436,400 albums sold on cassette. These numbers might have encouraged several companies to enter the fray.

At the very recent CES2024, FiiO - traditionally very active in the field of portable digital audio - presented its new portable cassette player, the CP13. It is a simple player, without digital connections. The price should be around €150. It's not even cool looking, and for €150 I would like it to make a good coffee too.

More ambitious and sophisticated, albeit at the same price, is the French portable player from We Are Rewind, which is compatible with Bluetooth headphones and speakers, has a 2000mAh battery and also allows you to record from a minijack line input. This object, like the FiiO CP13, is also available in different colors.

However, the object that most struck me, for its originality and design, is the IT'S REAL non-portable player from the Chinese firm NINM Lab, based in Hong Kong. It's actually a Bluetooth speaker that incorporates a cassette player, an evolution of an early model called IT'S OK. It also offers a “fake” cassette that allows you to connect other devices via Bluetooth, acting as a Bluetooth 5.0 receiver/transmitter. While it is working and communicating, connected to your phone or other device, the cassette wheels spin as if they were those of a real tape. Not only that, but inserting the Bluetooth receiver/transmitter into some other traditional tape player (for example that of a car) automatically transforms it into a source that can manage a Bluetooth stream. Of course, the whole thing also works just as an external Bluetooth speaker connected to a PC or phone/tablet. From an audio point of view it offers a stereo line output on mini-jack, it has two small speakers, plus a sort of subwoofer. It can't record tapes. Of course we asked for one to test, but only because it's an irresistible toy.

Finally, it cannot go unnoticed that the blank Compact Cassettes, the ones to be recorded, have become available again on Amazon; a 5-pack of legendary XLII High Bias costs €250, a bargain ;-) but if you settle for an equally classic and popular UR, €16 will be enough. Instead, around thirty euros will be needed to purchase a five-pack of TDK D, the ones that were used at the time to record university lectures. A pretentious BASF Super Chrome II, on the other hand, will cost you more than the CD or vinyl you would like to duplicate, around €30. In short, there are almost all the big names of the golden era, and they offer both basic and top models. Up to you to choose how to waste your money.

Let me remark that, for example, for the price of one of those portable players, today you can get a very respectable pair of active speakers, or even a more flexible system like the Lonpoo LP816 music center that I have reviewed a few weeks ago. The comparison, in terms of flexibility of use and sound quality, is obviously impossible. Moreover, and above all, who would ever put a large and heavy object like one of these portable players in their pocket? They weigh in around 400/500 grams (1 lbs), which is ridiculous if you consider that with 100/150 grams of a smartphone you can carry with you, in high resolution, all the music in the world. And I'm not even thinking about the size and weight of each individual cassette. Crazy.

I am amused by the madness of this world, and I'm fine with everything, as long as someone doesn't pop up and say that the sound of a cassette has a particular charm, which can't be found in digital sources. I already wrote 27 years ago (January 1997) that the compact cassettes should have been burned in a large collective bonfire, today it is truly nonsense.

DISCLAIMER. TNT-Audio is a 100% independent magazine that neither accepts advertising from companies nor requires readers to register or pay for subscriptions. If you wish, you can support our independent reviews via a PayPal donation. After publication of reviews, the authors do not retain samples other than on long-term loan for further evaluation or comparison with later-received gear. Hence, all contents are written free of any “editorial” or “advertising” influence, and all reviews in this publication, positive or negative, reflect the independent opinions of their respective authors. TNT-Audio will publish all manufacturer responses, subject to the reviewer's right to reply in turn.

January 2024 editorial

The Vintage Audio Trend Gains Momentum! Are Compact Cassettes here to stay?