Are all new personal stereos doomed?

I was hoping to have better news - but nope, it is what it is. I have to call it - the likelihood of ever seeing a good new cassette 'Walkman' ever again is so close to zero…I’ll just say it’s zero.

I have to thank YoungSung Jeon (our man in Korea) for going to all the trouble of making a two hour round trip to pick this up from a store and then sending it on to me.

While I had hoped that this would have shown that it's still possible for a company to make a reasonable quality cassette "walkman' type device in 2021 - it demonstrated the opposite. However this result does have a value of its own. Rather than fruitlessly buying each new device that comes out only to get the same results - we can see that the problem lies with the mechanisms that remain available.
Since it seems extremely unlikely that anyone is going to start making a new high quality personal stereo cassette transport ever again - we can now draw a line under this period of history. Finding a newly manufactured high quality cassette 'Walkman' has now become as impossible as finding a newly manufactured high quality Edison Cylinder player. Things move on. These devices have passed into history. As a result you now either choose to buy an old one with the understanding that you deal with whatever issues come from making that decision - or you just don't get one.

00:00 Old man
01:54 What’s in the box
03:49 Buttons
05:14 First impressions
07:10 Quirks
08:14 Bluetooth
08:53 Audio Tests
11:19 You can’t polish a …
15:52 Wow & Flutter & more Wow
16:41 How to spot & avoid these
19:52 The truth hurts
20:49 Patreon Credits

CORRECTION:
The test audio track used was misnamed - the correct track details are
English Country Garden by Aaron Kenny

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Regularly asked question
Q) Why are there comments from days ago when this video has just gone live today?

[joeblankenship]

Doesn't seem like this "cassette comeback" is going to happen until somebody starts manufacturing decent cassette mechanisms.

[f.herumusu]

The design looks like Braun developed a walkman for Ikea ...

[andrewlittleboy]

Amazing we've become a world where something is destined for e-waste before it ever makes it to production!

[MuzikJunky]

The last and best Sony Walkman that I ever bought was from around 1989-1990, and it had a digital tuner. It never broke or wore out, and it STILL works! Peace.

[nickinportland]

Techmoan having to describe KPOP history made my day.

[ykkfamily]

"I suspect that I was going around carrying number of pictures of Korean ladies, Misses would be wondering what is going on" hahahahaha made me laugh. Thank you worth wile video already

[computer_toucher]

That era of Sony was all engineering marvels of miniaturisation, especially those Walkmen. Brilliant industrial design, the curves, etc

[Sylvivi]

If only Sony started re-releasing a Walkman with actual cassette compatibility..

[DarrellS]

So pretty much modern cassette mechanisms are the Crosley of the tape world.

[HunterKiotori]

I'm not into K-pop, but I like how you went the extra mile to explain the significance of the special edition tape. I thinks it's cool having something that is a kinda flashback nostalgia.

[greendryerlint]

You've motivated me to dig out my old Sanyo personal stereo and see how it does. It was nothing too special, but did always sound good. One innovative feature was it came with a "tuner pack", which was a cassette-shaped tuner module that you could drop in and listen to AM/FM stereo. It had contact pins for power and it didn't use the tape head for the audio signal, and the case of the player had cutouts for the thumb wheel for tuning and switches.

[rogerszmodis]

There’s probably like 1 factory left in China that makes all of the cassette mechanisms.

[mazochungo]

"Sony knew what they were doing."
So do you, sir. Thanks for yet another comprehensive review, and for your advice and experience. You help us appreciate old equipment even more.

[fluffyjello]

Seeing an old British man open up K-Pop merchandise is quite a fun thing. And tbh the market they're aiming here which is the K-Pop teens who like the groups that are included in the mix. Most of them will probably not care about quality or even listen to it too much. Most would buy these for the novelty and merchandise factor, like owning the product and supporting their favourite groups. So yeah, the people behind these items know who they're targeting at.

[Nytalite]

I have my mom’s old Walkman, a WM-FX425 from approximately 1988. While its original belt had failed and had to be replaced, it works incredibly well. Additionally, I bought one of those cassette-to-MP3 machines before I knew it was just the belt in the Walkman, and it was defective. It would just play regardless of what you did with the buttons.

[farmhouse]

That thing gave me heartburn. Sony really did make one hell of a product, didn't they?

[peshozmiata]

"If the motor's on display, better run away" is a good way to remember it

[darkdoescosplays]

It's the shame about the quality, as I really love the design. It kind of reminds me of 70s design but miniaturised

[flipperthepenguin]

Gotta love the branding of the "It's OK". At least it doesn't pretend to be better than fair to middling.

[chrispritchard]

Thank you for this video. I still listen to Classic FM with a 90s Sony Walkman with headphones through the night. The sound quality is streets ahead of the DAB radios around the house, and is amazing that it all runs off a single aa battery. The cassette still player still works, which is a testament to Sony’s quality. A shame this one tested does not come up to scratch. Thanks, once again Mr T.