In this video I unbox a modern Tomashi Portable Cassette player and put it through it's paces. Awesome cassettes are available to buy at: www.cassettecomeback.com
UPDATE (OUTDATED - SEE UPDATE 2) - Received my Tomashi F-116 last night, this is definitely an interesting little player with some potential. The speaker is tinny but can get VERY loud - definitely totally fine as a novelty or background music thing. Learning from this video, I tried recording as a muuuuch lower volume from my source; its not all distorted like in the video here, however it's still pretty miserable sounding, though not due to distortion. The permanent magnet erase head is rather noisy, and ESPECIALLY on batteries for some reason the player has trouble maintaining full speed when recording, which means that if you record on AA batteries, it will then play back quite a bit faster and make everything high-pitched. Also, while (especially with a little tinkering with azimuth adjustment screw) playback is surprisingly pretty decent, even with correct volume - and despite being stereo - the record quality feels pretty poor. It's rather focused on mid ranges, even though you CAN hear low-end and high end in there, it just doesn't produce a nice recording. I didn't buy it for this feature so im fine with it, but its a little disappointing - maybe tinkering with the circuitry could clean that up a bit though. There's quite a lot of noise on the headphone out circuit too on top of the tape hiss - even when its in 'Play' but just running over the tape leader (so no magnetic signal at this point), there's some potent noise coming through. Dont bother playing Dolby B tapes on these though which goes without saying - but especially on these units. They are a little heavy on treble, but Dolby B makes it even worse than a basic walkman. So basically - yeah, for playback its alright without a dolby-enabled tape (which means pre-recorded cassettes will probably sound pretty bad). I don't regret buying this at all - but I do sincerely hope they keep improving modern cassette walkmans because this IS a hopeful and decent attempt. Also, it may look cheap and plasticky, but I think it's charming and cute looking. Feels decently made too - it actually has a bit of weight!
Thanks for the great review. I have purchased the Tomashi F-113. It looks the same but it doesn't have the speaker. The sound is great much better than I expected. Highly recommended.
UPDATE 2: It's 3 weeks later; my Tomashi F-116 doesn't work anymore, lmao - in fact, I never quite got it working decently well. From day 1, the lack of anti-rolling mechanism was absolutely atrocious because the very slightest movement caused incredible wow and flutter and speed fluctuations. The tape mechanism was incredibly weak, and an ever-so-slighly stiff cassette reel would cause it to slow way down or halt all together. Auto stop did not work right out of the box, recording was horrible, and my attempts to grease the gears and clean the belt did nothing to improve things. Switching the playback head brought the volume way down, but improved sound quality by a large margin as it brought the screechy treble down and improved the bass response by a large margin, however unfortunately the head was a couple of millimeters taller. This means that while it was compatible physically and electronically, mechanically it pushed down on the tape just a hair more than the original, and the weak-ass tape transport couldn't handle this tiny extra bit of pressure and would cause tapes to run slow or stop frequently. Over time, the buttons quickly stopped sitting in a nice pretty row and started to get wobbly quickly, grease oozed out of the 'piano keys', and they now all rest at different heights and are all crooked and ugly looking. The mechanism is chunky feeling and very unpleasant when pressing keys, and the whole thing just feels like crap. You can't really listen with the player in any other position other than keys-up or the tape misaligns with the head and everything becomes really muffled or the speed changes. Its really slow at rewinding and fast-forwarding, and I find that it over-tightens the tape which exacerbates playback issues. For comparison, a day ago I received a Sony Walkman WM-FX36; a pretty cheap all-plastic 90's cassette player; definitely not high end. Aside from all of the bells and whistles that the Tomashi lacks, from a playback standpoint this well-used, never-serviced lower-end walkman curbstomps the tomashi. It needs a new belt as the one inside is original and its got minor issues related to that, and yet it STILL handles jostling and movement MUCH better, has far lower wow and flutter, and a stiff tape doesn't stop the player from running at full speed. The headphone jack is much quieter, and the treble/bass extension and balance is worlds better. So basically, even an old-ass inexpensive walkman with an old belt is till a better buy. Please,spare yourself the headache. Forget the tomashi - its ALMOST promising, but its manufactured so, so poorly and has no anti-rolling mechanism which makes it facedly useless if you aren't just sitting at a desk.
Yeah, I've seen these Aliexpress cassette players and was also browsing eBay for Walkmans under $100. As much as I refurbish old electronics, mostly video game consoles which include rebuilding optical drives, restoring an old Walkman to play like new might be right up my alley instead of dicking around with one of these cheap Chinese devices. I'm always open to suggestions to specific models though.. I love the aesthetics of the 1980s models, but they probably do not sound as well. At some point, I may design a new circuit board to use modern, higher quality electronics.
@@rylanthompson5844 Tape mechanisms are complicated, but not really any more complicated than a floppy drive, or a CD drive, especially the front loading variety. But... after putting more thought into this, I probably won't be getting into cassettes because I've been realizing old CDs of that era sound WAY better than more modern reissues of them. But if you do want to get into cassettes, portables tend to sound worse than decks because the smaller, lighter parts are more prone to things like flutter. If I were to get me a tape player for my apartment, honestly, I'd get me a mid-late 70s top loading tape deck for the cool factor, and the purely analog electronics which would be extremely easy to improve upon.
@@ulfrinn8783 interesting.. so older CDs sound better than new ones? That’s odd. You’d think they would sound better today. Also have you refurbished a cassette player before? And where do you learn to do all this stuff??
My first cassette player in 1983 was a house brand from Sears. It did not have a rewind button, but I did not care back then. I was amazed by audio cassettes -- now much, much, much more music can fit on a tiny 128GB micro-SDXC card!!!
I hope someone does a spec test or tear-down on it. So we can see the W&F and frequency response curves with different tapes (Type I, II, IV). Thanks for the review.
@@serratusx please keep in mind that portable cassette players from back in the day also had high W&F, especially the cheaper ones. Remember that not everyone could afford a top of the line Sony D6C or something like that
@@RealEpikCartfrenYT yes I realise that but all the demo reviews I’ve seen on here are far worse than even the cheapest players back in the day. They are more like novelty toys than something you would really use to play music
I love your positivity it's refreshing in this cynical world we live in these days. Yes the wee cassette player does seem ok . I have an Argos bush one from mid 90s that has a FM radio that is similar. When I travelled in Canada hitchhiking for 6 months I took it and few cassettes with me and it still works fine, these type cassette player are great for camping , and yours can record diary, thanks for posting
Just got one of these as a Christmas present today. Pleasantly surprised. Much better quality than the cheapo mono units out there. Hope it holds up well enough to enjoy for a while.
I have a nice Boots personal stereo radio cassette recorder. And it has stereo speakers built in. I wish one of the manufacturers would copy or reproduce something from the past so it could be a new product up to the old quality and design. I'm sure it could be done. The beauty of the unit you just reviewed is it can be used in a car easily with the USB power and 3.5mm output.
This is great news Tony. My 80s Walkman is hard to beat but I'm always hoping for something like this. A cheap and decent back up. I listen to a lot of audio books too so might get one of these and put it through its paces. I love the idea of the recording feature which my particular Walkman doesn't have. This might be worth it alone for me.
Thank goodness it's stereo and not mono or pseudo (same sound from both, mono x 2; same in both channels). If you look on the right of the unit (when it's in front of you) there's a 'finger nail' tab or slot for opening it easier; it might also get better over time after some usage. Nice that there's no motor whine also. The sound via headphones/output wasn't too bad either. (Plus unlike the earlier originals it has a rewind and record. These didn't appear on players of the day, of course). An alternative name (to cheekily bypass the copyrighted name) 'A walkabout tape player/recorder'; yes I'm quoting someone else - can't remember who though. The built-in microphone was clear enough for voice also!
Hi Tony! Great to see you back on! Interesting little player! I think Techmoan has a wow & flutter meter on hand, I wonder if he'd be willing to test out the player/recorder for you and give you the results.
Nice to see a personal stereo as u say without massive amount of motor noise and stereo, for me taking the speaker away and the record function and adding bass boost would make it perfect! - The only downside of the video was u didn't show us the inside - would have loved to see the workings and see what they used inside - buy hey another fantastic video!
Well, that was a pleasant surprise! Regarding the music recording, I'm going to bet that input socket is mic level rather than line level which would explain the massive overload. It seems to record acceptably via the inbuilt mic so I'm assuming the record circuitry is doing a half reasonable job, especially given the price point of this unit.
Ordered one about a week ago after seeing this - also looking to replace an old and long-dead-and-gone WM-FX315 I had some 8 years ago so it could be fun to compare them. I'd love to see some wow and flutter measurements though - while I couldn't care less about Dolby NR, I do however care about Wow and Flutter and motor speed / consistency. Also, I wonder if the output circuit could be improved with some minor mods - hardly any risk if it fails, given the low cost.
I also have two portable cassette recorders including my Audiotronics Classette 148B cassette recorder which was made for schools, and my Superscope Storyteller cassette player and it was a playback only unit and it was designed for kids, but I am aware of this one.
This has boosted treble? That's good, maybe I'll get one. A lot of older walkmans have bass boost switch, but in my experience I never use it. On the other hand, I sometimes need the treble boosted (tape somewhat worn out, tape spent some time near a magnet, recorded with wrong azimuth and so on).
Got one on order, just the waiting game for it to arrive, update it’s arrived looks like same model you got, I’m impressed with it for the price, speaker built in is crap but with decent headphones sound is good, if asked would I recommend buying this unit my answer would be yes.
Do you consider there's any issue in having the speaker so close to the cassette in these units? I picked up a cheap and nasty player in Tesco for a laugh and the back of the speaker was a few mm from the tape when the door was closed.
I wish they could make a stylized portable player like the ones sony made in 80's. There is potential for really cool designs. From the looks of it seems to be in the right direction. Also, they can do without the record function and built in speaker...
I recently bought one of this for my walkman collection, the only issue I got was the plastic flywheel I guess, with C90 tapes big amount of Wow and flutter, but really clean sound no noise from the motor, and real Stereo head Player. BE careful, no working record security tab, a little error and you could damage one of your valuable tapes. But really a bit hope. 73
Of course the sound will sound distorted when you put line in into the mic input. You should try headphones out from the Sony, turn it to 3 or maybe 5 in volume and then record the signal on the cassette recorders mic input. Try different settings and I am conviced that you will find a level that will make the recording sound decent.
Even the headphone output will probably be too loud for a mic input. The headphone volume will have to be set so low the S:N ratio will be awful. The best way to do it is with an attenuator.
2 questions... How much hiss when you press play without a tape in it? Cheap amps will make a loud hissing noise, sounding just like tape hiss. It should be completely silent. 2) if you plug in the USB cable, will it charge nimh batteries?
Try using a stereo mic similar to the mic system on your Sony Digital recorder and plug into the cassette recorder and making a live recording of music to test the recording ability.
I don't think there was enough tape on the box. They should have used more. As for the actual player, I don't really need walkman but it's nice to know the option for a new viable player exists should the need arise. That's if the door opens. I'd still be more likely to buy a refurbished Sony though.
Seems allot better than my brand new GPX: CAS337B Portable mono head Tape player/ recorder I purchased few months ago brand new @ Fred Meyer's. Sounds better too. Both, the fact that it plays in stereo and no noticable w.o.w. and flutter or speed irregularities.
Doing reverse inflation calculation, this would have cost 15 quid in '92. Back then I would have wanted something a bit fancier if that was going to be my only walkman, but I would have been more than happy to pay that price for what it is, as a backup unit or whatever. This is possible because it's been directly bought from Alibaba though, no doubt the same machine is being sold in some rebadged version for twice as much or more.
If you look at "specifications" for Sony Walkman players, you do not see W&F mentioned. There was a reason for that, but they still sounded decent when playing most tapes.
They don't record hifi by a long shot, I'd be careful as there's a magnet right next to your tape. Cheap an cheerful, back in the day I'd have used it as a portable music box as I did in school😎❤️👍
I just ordered one from the Tomashi shop on AliExpress. Just the thing to play back all the type 0s I had as a kid, so I can digitise them. How good is the USB connection?
The USB connection on this is just for power. You can't digitise with this. Probably the reason it sounds decent is because it doesn't have this and Bluetooth.
Depends if its shielded or not. If tony touches the magnet with a nail and it doesn't attract it then it will be ok. If it does try to stick then it may cause problems.
I've got, and regularly use, an early 2000s Radio Shack mono cassette recorder with a similar built in speaker. It does not seem to cause any problems regarding partial erasure of the tape.
Well, that's a surprise. I'd have bought one for £20 just to have a play, but I already have a couple of proper Walkmen and a shoebox player so I have no need. They deserve some sales. I deleted my earlier comment, but you should check it in your emails (if you get email notifications for comments), just in case you didn't realise.
Mine's also have this one, audio sound quality not quite good despite real stereo. Too noisy for usage with ordinary earphones/headphones unless you have some special headphones eg. KOSS Porta Pro which can dampen tape noise and also improving the sound quality as well. Also, you might need to use 3.5mm mini amplifier to make this decently cheap cassette player sounds better.
Tony, I wonder if the company makes other cassette decks/recorders of higher quality - perhaps with Dolby B (or better?). I'll check them out with a Google search. Thanks for a most interesting video. I was impressed with the wow ans flutter performance. It sounded very steady to me, so it must have a reasonable motor and solid engineering for coupling to the cassette.
Almost tempted....though I have two 90s "Walkman type devices". If this can record stereo with external mini mics.....not that I would ever record a concert onto cassette...oh no....
It's a shame for the money you can buy a decent Walkman off eBay in full working order like I recently have Still sounds like a decent start, be nice if they could stream line it
My mum saved a 1985 alba aquaman in a clear out of stuff from my nans it is one of the best cheap alba branded stereos I have heard sounds decent and it is made in Japan there are also unisef branded versions so I guess that is the maker off it .most the cheaper ones I have sound average .The Sony Walkman I use the most is the wm b52 sports Walkman though I do like my sanyo,s as well most often overlooked but nearly all decent sounding .
This is based on some old voice recorder/dictaphone. I still have old AIWA TP-VS7... somewhere. They had built in speaker and microphone. Back then they were mono.
Could someone explain to me the difference between mono and stereo? I've been wanting to get into cassette tapes/players and I have all of my dad's cassettes from the 80s but he unfortunately doesn't have his Walkman still :// but idk which cassette player to even get at this point bc all the ones ive seen are mono and thats apparently not good??? 😅😅😅
Stereo has distinct audio for the left and right. Mono uses the same signal for both. A mono player will play a stereo tape, but the channels will be mixed together.
Dude, that's a "microphone" input, not a "line" input, so, the input volume needs to be pretty low. But hey, it looks like even the recording is in stereo (at least from the input jack), right? 😉 Also, what if you plug in headphones and record something? Is it gonna "monitor" the input to the headphones? 🤔
@@CassetteComeback It may use the power light as a record indicator too, not that a signal light is going to be too much help it it does you could only set to a blinky blinky light and still not know if the tape is saturated to the point of distortion. I'm also gonna guess a permanent magnet for tape erasure. Those make the recording sound like a far off jet in the background. Anyway as you said you didn't buy it for its surperp recording abilities anyway, that is sarcasm for anyone who took me seriously LOL.
@@wer123456 I was referring to incoming signal like two head decks use for the LED style peak meters. Not monitoring what's been recorded like a three head deck. The two headers would give the indication of too much incoming signal. Early shoe box recorders that had manual or ALC (auto level control) had a light that indicated the recording signal strength the brighter the light the higher the signal, some manufacturers used a mechanical VU meter, typically no numbers just a red area the showed too much recording signal.
That thing awfully reminds me my panasonic RQ-20K. Ergonomics, button places, even that batteries storage is kinda same. Ofcouse 1995 desighn is better, Play button is big and its not mono. there is a on belt catcher at back to hang it on hip or other clothes. and many more details, but general look is kinda is there.
17:25 earrape recorder :P line level source into a microphone input as others have said. 8:56 playback is indeed surprisingly good! odd that it has a power LED though, silly. you know when it's on because you can see the tape turning!
The old Littlewoods Index stores used Tamashi as a brand name for cheap nasty personal stereos around 2000 or so. The logo was almost identical other than the spelling. Yes it sounds like a typical £9.99 stereo of that era. I *certainly* wouldn't pay nearly £30 for one but it's not a total disaster.
Littlewoods and Index, I thought I'd heard of this Tomashi before. Which sounds like it might be Japanese. I remember in the 80s and 90s, Dixons and Currys giving their cheap stuff Japanese sounding names, like Saisho and Matsui.
@@michaelturner4457 Not Tomashi in the case of Index, but the very similar Tamashi - there are numerous examples on sale on eBay at any one time. Neither brand has anything to do with Japan of course, just trading on Japanese reputation. Interestingly, looking at the examples on ebay one or two of them seem to have packaging suggesting that Tamashi may have been an actual company in their own right (had a website and multi language manuals) so with that in mind this new recorder looks to be a knock off of that company given the similarity of the logos! ETA yes there definitely does seem to have been a real Tamashi company and the exact same logo is in current use by "Techo Tamashi", a company which is based in the Philippines but uses Japan in its name. So I'm beginning to think that this is/was a legitimate Japanese manufacturer (there were plenty of small companies from there that made cheap portable stuff) which had a licence deal with Littlewoods for some odd reason. And Tony's item is a knock off of a company that still has some presence out there perhaps.
Actually you know what, I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that the Tamashi company was/is a rebranding of the Crown Radio Corporation, who were Japanese (a very old company at that) . Why? Well, Littlewoods stopped selling Crown stuff at around the same time they started With Tamashi, both companies made a point of putting "Japan" under their name despite all the stuff being made in China, and they sold a very similar line of small consumer electronics. They used a wide range of brands down the years (Lasonic, Unisef etc) and as far as I am aware the parent company (which began with M but I can't remember it now) is still around.
