Honestly, considering inflation and all the problems of parts supply in a niche category, this ain't half bad. It's not really worse than a cheap 90s boombox in the same price category, possibly better. They've done well here.
@@Halterung01 It's definitely better than every cheap '90s noname boomboxes that I've seen so far. Especially the recording. I just recently fixed a Thomson dual cassette boombox from around 2002, and the recording it makes is 10x worse than this one, very quiet and very noisy with not just hiss but rumbling, unbearable.
I paid double that 40 years ago for a Sony portable stereo tape/radio combo. No CD or Bluetooth obviously. I found over the years that Sony made high quality or low. Not much in between.
25 years ago I bought a Venturer CD Radio Cassette for £30 as it seemed to be bargain. This looks to be much better for the same price despite inflation.
When I was 13, in 1986 I bought my first portable radio cassette recorder, pretty much the same setup/grade as this (no CD of course) and it cost me AU$120 (US$80). In 2024 dollars that is worth AU$380 (US$250). It took me 9 months riding a paper round to save up for. It's easy to forget just how expensive audio gear was back then before China became the world's factory and when Australia was still levying heavy tariffs on anything imported.
It's genuinely refreshing to find a modern boombox, let alone a cheap one (and from a brand I wouldn't necessarily expect much from), that can even be recommended, never mind actually called "acceptable". I'm just sad that that seems to be about the best that anyone can hope for nowadays. "It's not absolute crap? Wow! Where can I get it?" Though what's considerably sadder is that there is no high-end in the category any more - you couldn't get a great one even if you wanted to. But thank you as always, Kevin, for an interesting, thoughtful and considered video.
@@TheOriginalCollectorA1303just read a couple of people complaining about the quality of the player, with one claiming it ate their tape. I’m still interested in it though as I can’t afford a decent vintage boombox, but will not risk my valuable tapes on it.
Well it’s only $35 for a new product, a great deal considering it’s actually usable. But you can’t expect Sony ES level quality from this (unless you manage to get lucky and find a really good deal!). While I like working on old equipment, it’s nice to know a good modern alternative is available. Always good to be careful with tapes regardless of the player though.
I love your videos. I tend to find most youtubers annoying but I genuinely enjoy your videos and dont find your voice irritating or anything. Please never change your style because it is perfect as it is.
It doesn't actually sound that good. I had 2 Sony boomboxes a 90's ish CFD-101 and this CFD-S70. The speakers are just too small and the volume doesn't go high enough. I mean it wasn't terrible, just not great. The 101 and S70 were both turned into cyberdeck/streamers. With Pi4s and Android 13, but could also retropie or desktop... on battery power, anywhere. The S70 eventually developed a bad ribbon cable or something from, dis and re assembly from the mods. It will come back again, possibly. Cheap tiny audio amps that run on battery and sound great are now available on ebay.
@@pgtmr2713 When I mean it sounds good I mean it relative speaking. No it really doesn't sound good when you compare it to other options, but it's a 35 dollar nugget from walmart. It is alright for the price.
@@pgtmr2713 do they make 5-bit accumulators/whatever this uses? I figured this was one that originally went to 50 or 100 and they just capped it. Admittedly usually they pick 10, 15, or 20 but I’ve seen other non-round, yet not clean powers of two either, numbers here and there.
We used to have Onn in the UK when Walmart took over Asda, but they sold Asda in 2022. It was mainly used for cheap, small kitchen appliances and radios, with the Polaroid brand being used for televisions and more expensive products. I still use a cheap fifteen year old Onn electric kettle and Onn DAB radio, both have been superb. I'd certainly buy it.
I'm desperately hoping that adequate quality CD players come back on the market in the same way that vinyl does. I'm so tired of being burned by streaming services, especially as I still have my old CDs anyway. I was paying for a convenience that they no longer offer. Same goes with Digital Audio Players. Once we get one that offers removable storage, replaceable batteries and _physical buttons_ so that we can use it without looking at it, we'll be set.
Check the Japanese Market. They still produce a lot of high quality models. Also, recommend taking a look at the "Chi-fi" market, with regards to Moon Drop and Fiio's options.
Quality CD players are widely and easily available. Aside from many new models(mostly high-end when as a separate component) still sold, a used DVD player makes an excellent and dirt cheap(and sometimes free) CD player, often with both analog and digital output. Some also have physical controls on the unit, in addition to the remotes. Basically any player is going to have very good analog output, and digital output is going to be effectively perfect(despite the audiophile claims of high-end CD players). Some DVRs even support ripping CDs(including getting the song & album titles from the internet) to the internal HDD, such as my own older Panasonic HD dvr, though it only supports mp3(but up to 320kbps, so it isn't much of an issue) I think once I no longer use it for TV, I might just use it for music. They can also play music from elsewhere on the network, though I've found DLNA a bit upredictable. A 500GB HDD is going to hold a whole lot of CD's, even if a dvr uses uncompressed copying. You could also rip your CDs onto a thumb drive(s), to effectively turn them into a single(or few) removable storage devices - though either way it's nice to be able to play them on a unit designed with proper audio outputs, no fan noise, and a remote. If you want something portable, then any phone or audio player(some are available with buttons, though they seem to tend to be low or high-end, not the middle) with an SD/MicroSD slot would suffice. New portable CD players are also readily available, I'd imagine the CD mechanism itself is very reliable as they're effectively just a commodity item, it'd probably just come down the DAC, and memory buffer if moving around. The KLIM branded $us50 players for example look like they'd be fine. Though in this comparison vinyl isn't portable at all, so I assumed a non-portable device was desired.
I have cheap CD player in bypass mode connecting over RCA to amplifier and so the audio quality's lot better!. If there are still any CD Player's on the market with S/PDIF output capability then the sound quality can be improved greatly with decent DAC.
If you don't already buy used gear, get started! My experience is that it's still a buyers market for mini HiFi systems if you check with any regularity. Local ads have been a very reliable way for me to pick up super cheap units with great feature sets. My favourite is my little 00's Sony with cassette, minidisc, CD, FM, and aux input. It even has digital in if memory serves.
I literally just bought this player tonight based on your review. It is literally everything you said it would be. I have a record store, and I'm starting to deal in cassettes again. I needed something to test them on, and this is perfect. It honestly kind of makes me want to start collecting cassettes again.
Well, speaker technology has also advanced. I have a pair of Sony SRS-XB13 Bluetooth speakers. Best things I ever bought. I still don't understand how they made those little plastic cans sound so good. The battery life is also good.
@@SpaljeniLik The little speakers we have now are being driven very hard with a shit ton of EQ. That's how. It's rather inefficient, but nobody really cares anymore because most devices that do this have fat lithium rechargeable batteries. The actual part of the band where the speakers _are_ efficient is rolled way off to provide a frequency response that is reasonably flat by the time all the components are summed up.
@@BillAnt Yeah, just don't put them on a concrete ping-pong table. They sound like shit, and also tend to find their way off of the table at high volume, hahaha
I bought one of these a few weeks ago, but immediately ran into trouble with the cassette player. The very first tape I tried got wrapped around the pinch roller. I had tested the play, fwd and rwd functions without a tape in and the capstan and reels seemed to work fine and have decent power/torque. But with the cassette in they struggled. After experimenting, I found that the pressure plate pushing the cassette up against the heads (at the top of the unit) was likely putting too much pressure, forcing it too hard against the head, capstan and pinch roller. So all I did was slightly blend the pressure plate back. Now it appears to work perfectly, having run several tapes through. I was disappointed even though I was able to quickly diagnose and fix the problem. But I wonder if other less experience consumers wouldn't just return it or throw it away.
Indeed, I'm not mechanically inclined, and although I'd try to remedy the issue myself, I'd probably have to return it if I couldn't figure it out. I personally try to make things work before returning it though.
You make an excellent point there. I'd fix it like you did but most people would probably just move on. Another societal ill of this disposable "global economy" we live under now.
@@adamgenard3188 You expect people to know how to service a tape deck _now_ when they're almost entirely obsolete? Most people didn't know how to service tape decks when they were in every home and every boom box!
@mal2ksc haha yes you’re right, that's probably expecting too much from the average Joe. But my main point is that most consumer electronics are of such poor quality now and are so cheap that it almost makes no sense to service them which leads to high fail rates, mountains of e-waste, and a whole swath of the population that quickly move on to the next cheap gizmo that comes down the pike.
i love these real world reviews of budget products. you keep finding winners. i just setup the mykesonic record player that you recommended with my daughter and she is so excited to play "vinyls" 🤟
Onn's quality is jarringly good for a store brand. I once bought an Onn speaker because my radio was out in my car, and it sounded surprisingly good for $10, so I bought a power bank from them, and that was pretty high quality too. I think I'm just gonna go for their shit first from now on because the economy's rough, and they've proven their quality to me
I got one bro. It was the last one on the shelf and my mother told me to get it. I almost took the smaller ones without Cassette Tape and Bluetooth player.
Im Haitian by the way. So is my Mom and Dad and I tell ya it's a long trip when me and my mom went to Walmart we had to take two buses to get there. And walk the rest of the way to Walmart at Walmart Parking Lot to Walmart.
That actually sounded a lot better than I thought it would. For 35 bucks, that's not a bad option for people who don't want to mess with hoping to find an older piece of equipment without paying an arm and a leg.
Radios like this are a godsend to campers. I have an old Durabrand that kicks around my campsites, gives just enough entertainment and i dont mind if it gets destroyed. May pick one of these up as a JIC replacement or to just sit in the storm shelter.
@@volvo09 Exactly. I find them having batteries instead of being rechargable so much more convenient too. I can pick up some C batteries from a gas station, it's harder to wait on a recharge. Plus, if I do have a generator or inverter, I have that option too.
This is actually quite decent, even though it’s not a brand name boombox, I’m glad that Walmart has a cheap boombox that can play CDs and cassette tapes with acceptable audio quality! I just want people to be able to play CDs, since there’s now a resurgence of CDs, and there’s an affordable CD boombox on the market.
I bought one based on this review. Update: Received in the mail earlier this week. I really like it, I use in my kitchen when I’m cleaning, it gets quite loud, the mega bass switch is responsive, only used the tape deck so far, but for what it is, I think it’s a good deal.
Considering that most every modern radio (car, home or otherwise) uses an all-in-one receiver chip (like the Si4734), it's almost as much effort to disable the AM as to keep it
@@TucsonAnalogWorkshop The problem was that ignition noises were interfering with AM reception, so rather than allowing you to get bad AM reception and complain, the automakers wanted to quash it entirely. It has nothing to do with the cost of the radio.
I saw this at the store two days ago and considered it, but I know modern tape mechanisms are sub par. After seeing the performance, though, this looks like a better option than I had thought. Thank you for reviewing this product!
My big question was whether it actually played back the cassettes in stereo or not, having being burned by that once in the early 2000s. You answered it perfectly!
I have gotten fake stereo machines too. I was glad to see this one was stereo. And the playback quality was better than I expected. Too bad the recordings turned out distorted.
Hey VWestlife, I found your channel a few months ago, and I watch every new video. I mainly loved your 78rpm Shazam recording video (my grandpa's a folk singer, and has a TON of 78s, and I even have a few, inspired by..you!). I also love your videos on tech for music, and that style. Can't wait to see the next video you make!
I've been pleasantly surprised with a lot of the Onn stuff. I've got several of their 4k Android TV boxes. My wife picked up on of their Bluetooth speakers and it's great sounding for $16. This seems like a pretty decent buy for the money.
Same with the ONN 4K streaming boxes, and I've got one of their stereo soundbars on a clearance deal for my 2nd TV, and it sounds just fine for the money. Also all their USB C/Micro cable, HDMI cable, USB C to 3.5mm adapters, SD/Micro SD cards, surge strips, & USB flash drives have worked fine for me as well. Walmart really is pumping out some decent stuff for money with the ONN brand.
Quality wired headphones aren't that expensive, especially if you're talking in-ears. I have a pair KZs that were $25 when I bought them and a Simgot EW200 set that was $50. The Simgot has a more flat sound colouring aiming for the circa-2016 Harman curve while the KZs have more of a V-curve to them.
I have the onn 1080p 165hz gaming monitor and it's been my daily driver for 3 years now. after being on nearly all the time all I've had to do is turn it down to 120hz bc the screen was turning green.
@@Code7Unltd If my phone still had a headphone jack, I'd still be using wired headphones, man. Not that I'm going to really appreciate the mids while working in a very loud factory. Or 'flat sound colouring'.
I already have the Sony CFD-S70 but the ONN with Bluetooth and the cassette door window appealed to me. After watching your video, I went to Wal-Mart and snatched one. I must say that for the price, it's a good performer. Not perfect but I have other decks for playing cassettes. This is for portable use. Mine had the issue with tapes playing a little fast as well. I took all the screws out but could not get the two halves to separate completely but got it far enough to reach the speed adjustment on the motor. I did not have a test tape, I just did it by ear and I'm satisfied with the results. Thanks for posting the video. Brian from NC.
It's certainly more reasonable than trying to find an old boombox and running a line-to-cassette adapter through it, and sounds better to boot. I'd probably use it almost exclusively in either AUX or BT, and maybe occasionally CDs full of MP3s if I wanted a completely standalone rig. The radio would get some use for sporting events, though.
You know if you just want bluetooth, they have $35 speakers that are more portable, sound better and use rechargable battery or batteries. Just using 6 C batteries will run another $10 and they never lasted that long either. A portable bluetooth speaker dies, and you can plug it in and be charged in a couple hours, costing way less.
Can they please make a VCR.👍 There are many of us that have dozens of audio and video cassettes with nothing to play them on. Wise is the company that would bring these units back, I'm sure there's still a market for them. Great video Sir. Thank you.
Nobody makes new VCRs anymore (the last ones were made around 2016 and the company that made them quit due to a combination of a lack of sales and an inability to get parts). However, you *can* get a good used one off of eBay...if you shop around *very* carefully. I was able to get a 1995 JVC VCR that was one model newer than the one I had in the mid 90s that works perfectly. But if one looks like junk, avoid it. If they don't show that it works or if they say 'don't know' or don't say...avoid. Don't go for one that's older then the 1990s. I saw a lot of really neat looking ones from the 80s that were obvious relics and if one *did* work it's highly likely that the heads are worn out. I actually know how to fix VCRs and I know that means nothing if parts cannot be obtained.
@@fixman88 thanks for the info. I have to argue one point. Before there were VCRs, the parts had to be designed and then made. I believe that classic cars from the 20s 30s 40s need to have parts made to keep them running. So I believe that parts for VCRs can be made by an adventurous company.
Yay! Always love you radio/stereo reviews. In the past I purchased a radio based on one of your reviews and it's one of my favourite radios I have ever owned and I started buying radios in the 70s!
I just got this for my birthday and honestly it is so cool to hear my old CD's in a system that is faithful to the original experience. These new bluetooth sound systems often mess up the quality of older recordings. This is where its at, and with all of the cool legacy features like cassette and CD along with the more modern bluetooth functionality, I cannot recommend it enough.
03:00 We bought a used car for my 18 year old today. Tried the stereo, got FM working. He saw the button marked AM. Said "What's AM Dad?". To be honest I didn't have a satisfactory answer other than to say it was already obsolete when I was his age.
AM is hardly 'obsolete'. FM has better sound quality but less transmission range. AM can sound surprisingly good with the proper equipment. A Class 50 Kilowatt AM station (like WBAP 820 out of Dallas) can reach across the country at night. AM can even be Digital (HD Radio can be on AM or FM).
Seeing a Sony boombox brings back fond memories for me. I used to have a Sony boombox back in the 90s. The quality was great and it lasted me 15 years of heavy use. I remember it took 6 D-cell batteries so most of the the time I just plugged it in.
I'm still waiting for when brands like Sony take boomboxes seriously again. Imagine a CD Cassette with speaker technology from their Bluetooth speakers. I guess they don't have a market, but I mean I would buy it!
I bought one yesterday for $20. It does what it says it will. AND it’ll let me record cassettes off of the radio, Bluetooth, aux and CD player! Can’t complain!
When i got "back" into cassettes back in 2012, i bought an early 90's Sony CFD-V10 CD-radio-cassette box. It's the simplest possible with only basic features, the cassette deck has a permanent magnet erase head and full auto stop. I believe it's an in-house Sony mech and still running on the original belts. These days i use it as a kitchen radio and it does the job well, sounds and looks pretty good compared to many of the newer egg-shaped ditos. It's nice to see some still put some efforts in making these, eventhough they will never be what they used to. Never heard of the brand Onn over here in Scandinavia, but it's probably available under some other obscure name.
Some of the noise floor with the tape deck could be attributed to the type of permanent magnet erase head used. Blue permanent magnet erase heads, like the one in the Onn (often labeled 230AN) tend to act like sandpaper towards tapes, hence the "rubbing" noise you may hear during silent portions, while the silver (usually labelled 6PA) heads you may encounter in a better quality boombox, such as a Sony or Panasonic, are typically enclosed in metal and thus have a quieter erasing so the noise floor won't be as high. That being said, I too was blown away when I discovered I can use chrome tapes in cheap boomboxes despite manuals often saying the boombox was not meant to record to type II tape.
You can use a fresh type II tape, but you won't be able to play it back correctly on most decks, because it will be recorded with 120us EQ, it will sound dull on a deck with auto tape selector. You have to tape over the ID hole to fix that. And if you're re-recording a tape, expect the previous program to be still audible in the background, because the erase head was not designed to properly erase type II tapes. You have to bulk erase the tape before recording it on one of these.
Mostly cassette boombox today uses DC BIAS on recording (even a blue permanent erase head) the recording sound quality is very poor.... im using a DC BIAS boombox cassette recorder and a SONY CFD-S70....compare,,, the sony is still the winner because of AC BIAS recording....
The erase head is only used when recording a cassette? I don’t like the idea of a head acting as a sandpaper if I plan on using this to play my tapes on the go.
@@vwestlife I've had issues with previous programs not erased properly with permanent magnet erase heads. Depends a lot from the tape. The ones I had problems with might have been true chrome tapes. It was decades ago when I last tried to record on type-II tapes on a boombox that is not officially capable of doing so, so my memories about it are a bit fuzzy. I definitely remember having insufficient erasure of metal tapes on my Kenwood mini hifi which has AC erase and AC bias, but does not support metal tapes - yet. I need to repair the deck in that one, and while doing so, I'll add metal tape compatibility. It has auto tape selection between type I and type II, and it has the footprint for the metal tape ID switch and some unpopulated jumper links, resistors, etc. needed for metal tape support. The service manual even tells what voltage the bias oscillator should output during recording on metal tape. Pretty sure they just copy-pasted the guts of a standalone tape deck into this mini hifi (RXD-700). The CD player section is the same story, it has unpopulated RCA jacks on the edge of the board, so it was quite surely designed as a standalone 3 disc CD player. So it's not the usual deal of a mini hifi, with a single board containing everything, it is truly a component system in a common enclosure with a common power supply. Its tape deck is quite unique for a mini hifi for not having ALC. But it is weird because it doesn't have manual recording level control either, nor a VU meter. It records at a fixed level, 0dB on a CD will give about +2dB on tape IIRC. And because the karaoke function is achieved by the same IC that provides the equalizer, and they wanted the user to be capable of recording their karaoke performance, all the graphic EQ, bass boost and everything is wired in the recording path. So I had means to control the recording level by adjusting all three bands on the EQ together, and if I wanted some treble boost on my type-I tapes, I could easily achieve that.
Now THAT is an actual Cassette player competitor on the market that doesn't sound like trash. A real positive surprise. My biggest gripe really is the digital volume controls. There's nothing i hate more than stepped volume levels because they never really work well. Either the steps are too small or too big where they shouldn't. Other than that the sound is pretty good for the price. Yeah the bandwidth on AM is sadly also very narrow on most cheap radios (especially the compact DSP radios) but sometimes you have the option to switch between different modes. I don't mind it getting a little hissier if i can tickle more higher frequencies out of an AM broadcast ;)
The easiest way to get in between volume levels is to move the whole thing closer or back it off a bit and use the inverse square law to your advantage.
3:03. That’s an uncommonly heard song right there, Don’t Let Go the Coat by The Who from their underrated 1981 album Face Dances. Worth a listen for sure. For the record, I despite listening to that song for years, I still have no idea what it’s about!
I had a little radio like this from walmart that I used for years, it had a stand for a sideways phone and bluetooth so I could watch videos with bluetooth over the speakers. It was a lifesaver when I was broke with nothing to watch like a tv.
Very interesting to see this review. It's funny, I just received a JVC 7000 Series FM stereo, no MW, Cassette CD, USB, and Bluetooth portable receiver, which has good reviews, 9.9 and 10, for $149.95 plus shipping from Amazon. It's 12W per channel, 30 memories on FM and remote control. Volume level is pretty good. I know it's a higher price bracket, but has a lot of features for the price. 😊
Pfft, that "no, this is not 60 minutes, and no this is not a sex manual" joke was unexpectedly droll for a test disc! Not to mention the silly ray gun toy sound.
Just bought one after watching the review. Decent boombox for the price. My only gripes are the cassette player plays slightly fast, and the speakers are a little quiet (definitely not meant to fill a large room or a noisey room).
12:36 Playing a Databits video on the kind of Android cellphone most of us have half forgotten at the bottom of some drawer, unused for long years. Lovely.
That’s a good cassette deck for something made recently. Also if you have to use electronic equipment to detect tape flaws then they’re not that obvious so not a problem for the average listener.
Wow! I was very nicely surprised with this portable CD/Cassette “boombox”. I think the overall quality is not bad at all, hopefully it will be durable, bit even if not, it is cheap enough that it can be replaced with a new one if something went horribly wrong and it couldn’t be fixed. I already have two portable CD/cassette boomboxes so I’m not in the market for a new one, but I’ll definitely recommend it to anybody who wants to either play some old tapes or wants to get into that as you mentioned. Great review and video, thank you for sharing it with us! 😊
This review made me check out my old AWIA CSD-ED20 from 1997. Tape deck still sounds good. The digital radio still works but being an AWIA it steps in half steps instead of full steps. The audio pot is noisy as is the switch mode switch for tape/radio/CD. Clearly they need cleaning. The CD player works fine but has very low audio. That might be related to audio pots needing to be cleaned. I don't use it much mainly just for the radio. And it only has an FM tuner no AM. I think I paid around $90 for this in 1997.
I found a Sony CFD-S05 at a garage sale a number of years ago for $15 and it works perfectly. It’s similar to the S70 and I still get a lot of use out of it.
The "look inside" does not look bad at all. Nice board. Okay lots of SMD components but this does not mean a lot as even expensive studio equipment uses lots of SMD today... Perhalps the tape would be a nice unit for modifications, adding DIY AC Bias, replacing the ugly auto record level by potentiometer and a cheap and tiny led level meter which may also gives a beautiful vintage look...
Some of the cheaper ONN models have surprisingly good FM reception. I use the countdown timer on my round clock radio when going to bed. Sound quality isn't critical, as it's set at low volume.
I bought one of these to use in my garage. $35 for a guaranteed working casette tape player that isn't going to eat my tapes is a steal. I use this thing a lot. Within 30 minutes of first use, I ordered one at the walmart site for my 82 year old grandma. She plays the casettes and CDs i get for her at thrift shops, and she loves it too. I can't say enough good things about this unit!
Good video, I very much appreciate your calm and un-sensational manner. You must get headaches over US television. I have no media to play on such a device, so thanks for testing anyways...❤
@@polaris911 Yep! And they were trash compared to these crappy “Type 0” cassettes like Certron, Sentry, Gemini, Melsonic, SIM, Memex, Computron, Broadway, Big Ben, Star, Hoyin, Audio Plus, and hundreds of others were complete garbage.
The truth is that both boomboxes leave a lot to be desired in terms of final quality. I imagine them being used in environments such as a grocery store, a mechanic's workshop, or a flower shop, where the only thing that matters is listening, regardless of whether it is Hi-Fi. I personally see both of them as utilitarian, at the level of pocket radios.
Agree your verdict.Plays tapes and cds well enough with radio and blue tooth so could be used with a smartphone for streaming. $35 for that, you really can't complain. Obviously for recording it's best to use a seperate "hifi" deck but then didn't we borrow our folks or older siblings when we had a boom box as kids? You bet!
A surprisingly decent showing in a segment that has become sparse and disappointing overall. That sony boombox has really thin sound sadly, especially if mega bass is off, so good to see that this sounds at least as good as it did. Looking around online seems that Best Buy still also sells a cassette boombox under the Insignia brand that I hope you'll check out next and compare to the Onn and the Sony
One thing to check for on new CD players is if they can do gapless playback between tracks. I noticed some of them will insert a gap where there shouldn't be one. Even high-end new CD players can't seem to get this right.
Thanks , I may buy this. I suspect the memorex clown tape isn’t the highest quality to use with this comparison against a type II tape. But it is perhaps still fitting for this level of gear.
Honestly, considering inflation and all the problems of parts supply in a niche category, this ain't half bad. It's not really worse than a cheap 90s boombox in the same price category, possibly better. They've done well here.
@@Halterung01 It's definitely better than every cheap '90s noname boomboxes that I've seen so far. Especially the recording. I just recently fixed a Thomson dual cassette boombox from around 2002, and the recording it makes is 10x worse than this one, very quiet and very noisy with not just hiss but rumbling, unbearable.
You do a more thorough and honest review of a $35 boombox than most do on $1000 headphones, danke schön amigo.
That's insane for $35 especially in 2024
I paid double that 40 years ago for a Sony portable stereo tape/radio combo. No CD or Bluetooth obviously.
I found over the years that Sony made high quality or low. Not much in between.
25 years ago I bought a Venturer CD Radio Cassette for £30 as it seemed to be bargain. This looks to be much better for the same price despite inflation.
When I was 13, in 1986 I bought my first portable radio cassette recorder, pretty much the same setup/grade as this (no CD of course) and it cost me AU$120 (US$80). In 2024 dollars that is worth AU$380 (US$250). It took me 9 months riding a paper round to save up for. It's easy to forget just how expensive audio gear was back then before China became the world's factory and when Australia was still levying heavy tariffs on anything imported.
$35 would be reasonable to ask for just the speakers, amp, and Bluetooth! It's almost like the radio, CD player, and cassette deck are free extras.
VWestlife effect? My local Walmarts were all out of stock, but I ended up with the similar ONN $25 FM/CD. Remarkably, it's also not horrible.
Your dry humor always makes your videos entertaining!
I was so disappointed that this might not be able to access more than 999 audio tracks from a single CD 🤣
It's genuinely refreshing to find a modern boombox, let alone a cheap one (and from a brand I wouldn't necessarily expect much from), that can even be recommended, never mind actually called "acceptable". I'm just sad that that seems to be about the best that anyone can hope for nowadays. "It's not absolute crap? Wow! Where can I get it?"
Though what's considerably sadder is that there is no high-end in the category any more - you couldn't get a great one even if you wanted to. But thank you as always, Kevin, for an interesting, thoughtful and considered video.
Pretty good for a budget system, it’s better than I expected. Perfectly usable for everything, at least the quality is acceptable.
It’s good period considering the new alternatives. Either this or test your luck with a 80s/90s player at twice the price.
Definitely, I have some older systems that obviously need work like belts or a good clean, but this is solid for a new product.
@@TheOriginalCollectorA1303just read a couple of people complaining about the quality of the player, with one claiming it ate their tape. I’m still interested in it though as I can’t afford a decent vintage boombox, but will not risk my valuable tapes on it.
Well it’s only $35 for a new product, a great deal considering it’s actually usable. But you can’t expect Sony ES level quality from this (unless you manage to get lucky and find a really good deal!). While I like working on old equipment, it’s nice to know a good modern alternative is available. Always good to be careful with tapes regardless of the player though.
Seems like very good value for money. Oddly enough, your stereo test CD segment ended up testing my own laptop's speaker separation. It passed!
I love your videos. I tend to find most youtubers annoying but I genuinely enjoy your videos and dont find your voice irritating or anything. Please never change your style because it is perfect as it is.
And no “shocked face” clickbaity thumbnails either. I bloody hate those!
He is one of the few hosts who comes across as very genuine & knowledgeble & not snarky. I also dig his humour ❤
In case you don't know them, Techmoan and Technology Connections will be right up your alley!
@@ItsDrMcQuack Thank you. I watch Techmoan yeah he's good too. Anything to do with retro tech is my cup of tea 👍
Agreed-- i wish all youtube was like this.
I'm astonished it could sound that good considering it is a cheap stereo from walmart. Good review as always.
It doesn't actually sound that good. I had 2 Sony boomboxes a 90's ish CFD-101 and this CFD-S70. The speakers are just too small and the volume doesn't go high enough. I mean it wasn't terrible, just not great. The 101 and S70 were both turned into cyberdeck/streamers. With Pi4s and Android 13, but could also retropie or desktop... on battery power, anywhere. The S70 eventually developed a bad ribbon cable or something from, dis and re assembly from the mods. It will come back again, possibly. Cheap tiny audio amps that run on battery and sound great are now available on ebay.
@@pgtmr2713 When I mean it sounds good I mean it relative speaking. No it really doesn't sound good when you compare it to other options, but it's a 35 dollar nugget from walmart. It is alright for the price.
@@pgtmr2713 I figured the volume limitation was because those tiny speakers would distort with any more haha
@@kaitlyn__L Digital it stops at 32
@@pgtmr2713 do they make 5-bit accumulators/whatever this uses? I figured this was one that originally went to 50 or 100 and they just capped it. Admittedly usually they pick 10, 15, or 20 but I’ve seen other non-round, yet not clean powers of two either, numbers here and there.
We used to have Onn in the UK when Walmart took over Asda, but they sold Asda in 2022. It was mainly used for cheap, small kitchen appliances and radios, with the Polaroid brand being used for televisions and more expensive products. I still use a cheap fifteen year old Onn electric kettle and Onn DAB radio, both have been superb. I'd certainly buy it.
Asda are still selling an "CD Boombox". No cassette on it unfortunately though.
Yup i have an Onn DAB radio from Asda that I bought 11 years ago and its still going strong.
If your kettle from asda has lasted 15 years that is a survivor
I'm desperately hoping that adequate quality CD players come back on the market in the same way that vinyl does. I'm so tired of being burned by streaming services, especially as I still have my old CDs anyway. I was paying for a convenience that they no longer offer. Same goes with Digital Audio Players. Once we get one that offers removable storage, replaceable batteries and _physical buttons_ so that we can use it without looking at it, we'll be set.
Check the Japanese Market. They still produce a lot of high quality models. Also, recommend taking a look at the "Chi-fi" market, with regards to Moon Drop and Fiio's options.
My impression is that many good quality CD players are still available in the used market.
Quality CD players are widely and easily available. Aside from many new models(mostly high-end when as a separate component) still sold, a used DVD player makes an excellent and dirt cheap(and sometimes free) CD player, often with both analog and digital output.
Some also have physical controls on the unit, in addition to the remotes. Basically any player is going to have very good analog output, and digital output is going to be effectively perfect(despite the audiophile claims of high-end CD players).
Some DVRs even support ripping CDs(including getting the song & album titles from the internet) to the internal HDD, such as my own older Panasonic HD dvr, though it only supports mp3(but up to 320kbps, so it isn't much of an issue) I think once I no longer use it for TV, I might just use it for music. They can also play music from elsewhere on the network, though I've found DLNA a bit upredictable.
A 500GB HDD is going to hold a whole lot of CD's, even if a dvr uses uncompressed copying.
You could also rip your CDs onto a thumb drive(s), to effectively turn them into a single(or few) removable storage devices - though either way it's nice to be able to play them on a unit designed with proper audio outputs, no fan noise, and a remote.
If you want something portable, then any phone or audio player(some are available with buttons, though they seem to tend to be low or high-end, not the middle) with an SD/MicroSD slot would suffice.
New portable CD players are also readily available, I'd imagine the CD mechanism itself is very reliable as they're effectively just a commodity item, it'd probably just come down the DAC, and memory buffer if moving around. The KLIM branded $us50 players for example look like they'd be fine.
Though in this comparison vinyl isn't portable at all, so I assumed a non-portable device was desired.
I have cheap CD player in bypass mode connecting over RCA to amplifier and so the audio quality's lot better!. If there are still any CD Player's on the market with S/PDIF output capability then the sound quality can be improved greatly with decent DAC.
To be fair many DVD players make very good cd players, personally i still use the Philips AK630 my mom bought new in 93
I know it’s part of that audio library you bought but 6:39 gave me a rush of nostalgia for Classic Game Room ❤
I miss good old boomboxes and mini hifi system when i see you posted a new video about a boombox I clicked right away. You're the best.
Panasonic routinely still sells micro system, though the only physical media format is CD.
Exactly, it's rare nowadays electronic manufacturers release new boomboxes and stereo systems.
If you don't already buy used gear, get started! My experience is that it's still a buyers market for mini HiFi systems if you check with any regularity. Local ads have been a very reliable way for me to pick up super cheap units with great feature sets.
My favourite is my little 00's Sony with cassette, minidisc, CD, FM, and aux input. It even has digital in if memory serves.
I literally just bought this player tonight based on your review. It is literally everything you said it would be. I have a record store, and I'm starting to deal in cassettes again. I needed something to test them on, and this is perfect. It honestly kind of makes me want to start collecting cassettes again.
There is a BIG difference in the size of the speakers.
Well, speaker technology has also advanced. I have a pair of Sony SRS-XB13 Bluetooth speakers. Best things I ever bought. I still don't understand how they made those little plastic cans sound so good. The battery life is also good.
@@SpaljeniLik The little speakers we have now are being driven very hard with a shit ton of EQ. That's how. It's rather inefficient, but nobody really cares anymore because most devices that do this have fat lithium rechargeable batteries. The actual part of the band where the speakers _are_ efficient is rolled way off to provide a frequency response that is reasonably flat by the time all the components are summed up.
@@SpaljeniLik - You answered it yourself, with those plastic cans with a little acoustic base magic. heh
@@BillAnt Yeah, just don't put them on a concrete ping-pong table. They sound like shit, and also tend to find their way off of the table at high volume, hahaha
@@SpaljeniLik it really hasn't lol
I bought one of these a few weeks ago, but immediately ran into trouble with the cassette player. The very first tape I tried got wrapped around the pinch roller. I had tested the play, fwd and rwd functions without a tape in and the capstan and reels seemed to work fine and have decent power/torque. But with the cassette in they struggled. After experimenting, I found that the pressure plate pushing the cassette up against the heads (at the top of the unit) was likely putting too much pressure, forcing it too hard against the head, capstan and pinch roller. So all I did was slightly blend the pressure plate back. Now it appears to work perfectly, having run several tapes through.
I was disappointed even though I was able to quickly diagnose and fix the problem. But I wonder if other less experience consumers wouldn't just return it or throw it away.
Indeed, I'm not mechanically inclined, and although I'd try to remedy the issue myself, I'd probably have to return it if I couldn't figure it out.
I personally try to make things work before returning it though.
You make an excellent point there. I'd fix it like you did but most people would probably just move on. Another societal ill of this disposable "global economy" we live under now.
@@adamgenard3188 You expect people to know how to service a tape deck _now_ when they're almost entirely obsolete? Most people didn't know how to service tape decks when they were in every home and every boom box!
@mal2ksc haha yes you’re right, that's probably expecting too much from the average Joe. But my main point is that most consumer electronics are of such poor quality now and are so cheap that it almost makes no sense to service them which leads to high fail rates, mountains of e-waste, and a whole swath of the population that quickly move on to the next cheap gizmo that comes down the pike.
is that a common problem with this cassette boombox
Wow! Thanks for playing a clip of my recent video via Bluetooth!
One of the rare cases that Chinesium works! I applaud ONN for this effort.
i love these real world reviews of budget products. you keep finding winners. i just setup the mykesonic record player that you recommended with my daughter and she is so excited to play "vinyls" 🤟
I love the Japanese classic new on sale sticker on the thumbnail.
Onn's quality is jarringly good for a store brand. I once bought an Onn speaker because my radio was out in my car, and it sounded surprisingly good for $10, so I bought a power bank from them, and that was pretty high quality too. I think I'm just gonna go for their shit first from now on because the economy's rough, and they've proven their quality to me
Pretty decent device for that money.
I got one bro. It was the last one on the shelf and my mother told me to get it. I almost took the smaller ones without Cassette Tape and Bluetooth player.
Im Haitian by the way. So is my Mom and Dad and I tell ya it's a long trip when me and my mom went to Walmart we had to take two buses to get there. And walk the rest of the way to Walmart at Walmart Parking Lot to Walmart.
Very impressive given the price and the fact that is is just the Walmart "great value" brand (Onn that is).
That actually sounded a lot better than I thought it would. For 35 bucks, that's not a bad option for people who don't want to mess with hoping to find an older piece of equipment without paying an arm and a leg.
Radios like this are a godsend to campers. I have an old Durabrand that kicks around my campsites, gives just enough entertainment and i dont mind if it gets destroyed. May pick one of these up as a JIC replacement or to just sit in the storm shelter.
Yeah, good enough to be listenable without sounding horrible, and it's no big loss if you forget to put it away and it gets rained on.
@@volvo09 Exactly. I find them having batteries instead of being rechargable so much more convenient too. I can pick up some C batteries from a gas station, it's harder to wait on a recharge. Plus, if I do have a generator or inverter, I have that option too.
@@Leon14344_ I'd use NiMH rechargeable C cells and get the best of both worlds, aside from power density.
This is actually quite decent, even though it’s not a brand name boombox, I’m glad that Walmart has a cheap boombox that can play CDs and cassette tapes with acceptable audio quality! I just want people to be able to play CDs, since there’s now a resurgence of CDs, and there’s an affordable CD boombox on the market.
I bought one based on this review.
Update: Received in the mail earlier this week. I really like it, I use in my kitchen when I’m cleaning, it gets quite loud, the mega bass switch is responsive, only used the tape deck so far, but for what it is, I think it’s a good deal.
It doesn't sound too bad. I'm surprised that the radio's not FM only.
The newest Sony 5.1 A/V receiver I bought for the living room after my old Denon died only has FM, no AM.
Right? Especially considering how much AM is being fought and and forcefully removed everywhere, Especially on Car Radios.
I still listen to AM talk. Its so sad the powers that be are trying their best to get rid of it.
Considering that most every modern radio (car, home or otherwise) uses an all-in-one receiver chip (like the Si4734), it's almost as much effort to disable the AM as to keep it
@@TucsonAnalogWorkshop The problem was that ignition noises were interfering with AM reception, so rather than allowing you to get bad AM reception and complain, the automakers wanted to quash it entirely. It has nothing to do with the cost of the radio.
I saw this at the store two days ago and considered it, but I know modern tape mechanisms are sub par. After seeing the performance, though, this looks like a better option than I had thought. Thank you for reviewing this product!
Can’t have a boombox without that high speed dubbing and some mega bass though
that's a lot of value for the price. i think this'll be my next corner-of-the-workshop boombox.
It looks pretty decent for $35. I really enjoy your videos, sir.
"I have my little zapper!" That warmed my chilly heart 😊
I’ve been quite satisfied with all the onn brand products I’ve purchased. Decent quality at reasonable prices 👍
My big question was whether it actually played back the cassettes in stereo or not, having being burned by that once in the early 2000s. You answered it perfectly!
I have gotten fake stereo machines too. I was glad to see this one was stereo. And the playback quality was better than I expected. Too bad the recordings turned out distorted.
Hey VWestlife, I found your channel a few months ago, and I watch every new video. I mainly loved your 78rpm Shazam recording video (my grandpa's a folk singer, and has a TON of 78s, and I even have a few, inspired by..you!). I also love your videos on tech for music, and that style. Can't wait to see the next video you make!
I've been pleasantly surprised with a lot of the Onn stuff. I've got several of their 4k Android TV boxes. My wife picked up on of their Bluetooth speakers and it's great sounding for $16. This seems like a pretty decent buy for the money.
Same with the ONN 4K streaming boxes, and I've got one of their stereo soundbars on a clearance deal for my 2nd TV, and it sounds just fine for the money. Also all their USB C/Micro cable, HDMI cable, USB C to 3.5mm adapters, SD/Micro SD cards, surge strips, & USB flash drives have worked fine for me as well. Walmart really is pumping out some decent stuff for money with the ONN brand.
I may have to hurry up and buy one before Techmoan does a review on this. As soon as he releases his review, they will be sold out.
What you mean?? It's already sold out. I got the last one buddy. The stores only have CD players now. Lol 😂 if u do find one, get me 1. Lol
ONN isn't garbage. I bought a pair of their wired Bluetooth earbuds for 10 bucks years ago and they sound great.
Quality wired headphones aren't that expensive, especially if you're talking in-ears.
I have a pair KZs that were $25 when I bought them and a Simgot EW200 set that was $50. The Simgot has a more flat sound colouring aiming for the circa-2016 Harman curve while the KZs have more of a V-curve to them.
I have the onn 1080p 165hz gaming monitor and it's been my daily driver for 3 years now. after being on nearly all the time all I've had to do is turn it down to 120hz bc the screen was turning green.
@@Code7Unltd If my phone still had a headphone jack, I'd still be using wired headphones, man.
Not that I'm going to really appreciate the mids while working in a very loud factory. Or 'flat sound colouring'.
@@endlesswanderer1753 IEMs can fit under muffs.
@@one7decimal2eight I use their headphones as well. I love that I can use them both via Bluetooth, and wired.
I already have the Sony CFD-S70 but the ONN with Bluetooth and the cassette door window appealed to me. After watching your video, I went to Wal-Mart and snatched one. I must say that for the price, it's a good performer. Not perfect but I have other decks for playing cassettes. This is for portable use. Mine had the issue with tapes playing a little fast as well. I took all the screws out but could not get the two halves to separate completely but got it far enough to reach the speed adjustment on the motor. I did not have a test tape, I just did it by ear and I'm satisfied with the results.
Thanks for posting the video.
Brian from NC.
I have an Onn monitor for my work bench. Gets the job done... Nothing more, nothing less.
I got an Onn brand flatscreen smart tv for my bedroom last year, only cost a 100 bucks and it's been great so far
Pretty good for the price of 2 big macs hahah
Great video!
And it still works as a BT speaker! Only that feature is worth 35$ hahah
It's certainly more reasonable than trying to find an old boombox and running a line-to-cassette adapter through it, and sounds better to boot. I'd probably use it almost exclusively in either AUX or BT, and maybe occasionally CDs full of MP3s if I wanted a completely standalone rig. The radio would get some use for sporting events, though.
You know if you just want bluetooth, they have $35 speakers that are more portable, sound better and use rechargable battery or batteries. Just using 6 C batteries will run another $10 and they never lasted that long either. A portable bluetooth speaker dies, and you can plug it in and be charged in a couple hours, costing way less.
Thanks for reviewing one of these. Looks like it's higher quality than I expected.
Can they please make a VCR.👍 There are many of us that have dozens of audio and video cassettes with nothing to play them on. Wise is the company that would bring these units back, I'm sure there's still a market for them. Great video Sir. Thank you.
Nobody makes new VCRs anymore (the last ones were made around 2016 and the company that made them quit due to a combination of a lack of sales and an inability to get parts). However, you *can* get a good used one off of eBay...if you shop around *very* carefully. I was able to get a 1995 JVC VCR that was one model newer than the one I had in the mid 90s that works perfectly.
But if one looks like junk, avoid it. If they don't show that it works or if they say 'don't know' or don't say...avoid.
Don't go for one that's older then the 1990s. I saw a lot of really neat looking ones from the 80s that were obvious relics and if one *did* work it's highly likely that the heads are worn out. I actually know how to fix VCRs and I know that means nothing if parts cannot be obtained.
@@fixman88 thanks for the info. I have to argue one point. Before there were VCRs, the parts had to be designed and then made. I believe that classic cars from the 20s 30s 40s need to have parts made to keep them running. So I believe that parts for VCRs can be made by an adventurous company.
I very much like the 'form follows function' boxy design !
Yay! Always love you radio/stereo reviews. In the past I purchased a radio based on one of your reviews and it's one of my favourite radios I have ever owned and I started buying radios in the 70s!
Which one?
@@PortofinoArts The Retekess TR618. For the money it's a great rig.
For $35, I’d be glad to have this on a desert island. It’s no frills and has nothing to hide.
Tapes wouldn't live long on a desert island, and don't hold very much besides, so you'd probably want all your music stuffed onto CDs full of MP3s.
@@mal2ksc you can also get AM radio better as outside interference wont be as much
I just got this for my birthday and honestly it is so cool to hear my old CD's in a system that is faithful to the original experience. These new bluetooth sound systems often mess up the quality of older recordings. This is where its at, and with all of the cool legacy features like cassette and CD along with the more modern bluetooth functionality, I cannot recommend it enough.
03:00 We bought a used car for my 18 year old today. Tried the stereo, got FM working. He saw the button marked AM. Said "What's AM Dad?". To be honest I didn't have a satisfactory answer other than to say it was already obsolete when I was his age.
AM is hardly 'obsolete'. FM has better sound quality but less transmission range. AM can sound surprisingly good with the proper equipment.
A Class 50 Kilowatt AM station (like WBAP 820 out of Dallas) can reach across the country at night.
AM can even be Digital (HD Radio can be on AM or FM).
@@fixman88 In the UK, it's been obsolete for decades.
I appreciate the Classic Game Room jingle when you peeled the plastic off.
It's actually from the BackTraxx Music Library.
im glad you opened the box and showed inside, also noticing the no auto stop at rewind and forward, AND no clutch!
They should have never stopped making boomboxes. It’s a crime against humanity
Seeing a Sony boombox brings back fond memories for me. I used to have a Sony boombox back in the 90s. The quality was great and it lasted me 15 years of heavy use. I remember it took 6 D-cell batteries so most of the the time I just plugged it in.
I'm still waiting for when brands like Sony take boomboxes seriously again. Imagine a CD Cassette with speaker technology from their Bluetooth speakers. I guess they don't have a market, but I mean I would buy it!
I bought one yesterday for $20. It does what it says it will. AND it’ll let me record cassettes off of the radio, Bluetooth, aux and CD player! Can’t complain!
@@FredJensen4745 how do you record. I hit the button but it's jammed
I bought mine a day before your video lol. I thought about suggesting it to you because I was really impressed haha.
Cassette recording? This set passes the test with ease! This is no pile of junk!
13:24 Look at those fabulous *pink* rubber CD player shock mounts.
When i got "back" into cassettes back in 2012, i bought an early 90's Sony CFD-V10 CD-radio-cassette box. It's the simplest possible with only basic features, the cassette deck has a permanent magnet erase head and full auto stop. I believe it's an in-house Sony mech and still running on the original belts. These days i use it as a kitchen radio and it does the job well, sounds and looks pretty good compared to many of the newer egg-shaped ditos. It's nice to see some still put some efforts in making these, eventhough they will never be what they used to. Never heard of the brand Onn over here in Scandinavia, but it's probably available under some other obscure name.
Tape tap bass - good name for an old school rap band
Some of the noise floor with the tape deck could be attributed to the type of permanent magnet erase head used. Blue permanent magnet erase heads, like the one in the Onn (often labeled 230AN) tend to act like sandpaper towards tapes, hence the "rubbing" noise you may hear during silent portions, while the silver (usually labelled 6PA) heads you may encounter in a better quality boombox, such as a Sony or Panasonic, are typically enclosed in metal and thus have a quieter erasing so the noise floor won't be as high.
That being said, I too was blown away when I discovered I can use chrome tapes in cheap boomboxes despite manuals often saying the boombox was not meant to record to type II tape.
You can use a fresh type II tape, but you won't be able to play it back correctly on most decks, because it will be recorded with 120us EQ, it will sound dull on a deck with auto tape selector. You have to tape over the ID hole to fix that.
And if you're re-recording a tape, expect the previous program to be still audible in the background, because the erase head was not designed to properly erase type II tapes. You have to bulk erase the tape before recording it on one of these.
Mostly cassette boombox today uses DC BIAS on recording (even a blue permanent erase head) the recording sound quality is very poor.... im using a DC BIAS boombox cassette recorder and a SONY CFD-S70....compare,,, the sony is still the winner because of AC BIAS recording....
@@mrnmrn1 The Type II tape I used did have something previously recorded on it. The magnetic erase head had no problem recording over it.
The erase head is only used when recording a cassette? I don’t like the idea of a head acting as a sandpaper if I plan on using this to play my tapes on the go.
@@vwestlife I've had issues with previous programs not erased properly with permanent magnet erase heads. Depends a lot from the tape. The ones I had problems with might have been true chrome tapes. It was decades ago when I last tried to record on type-II tapes on a boombox that is not officially capable of doing so, so my memories about it are a bit fuzzy.
I definitely remember having insufficient erasure of metal tapes on my Kenwood mini hifi which has AC erase and AC bias, but does not support metal tapes - yet. I need to repair the deck in that one, and while doing so, I'll add metal tape compatibility. It has auto tape selection between type I and type II, and it has the footprint for the metal tape ID switch and some unpopulated jumper links, resistors, etc. needed for metal tape support. The service manual even tells what voltage the bias oscillator should output during recording on metal tape. Pretty sure they just copy-pasted the guts of a standalone tape deck into this mini hifi (RXD-700). The CD player section is the same story, it has unpopulated RCA jacks on the edge of the board, so it was quite surely designed as a standalone 3 disc CD player. So it's not the usual deal of a mini hifi, with a single board containing everything, it is truly a component system in a common enclosure with a common power supply. Its tape deck is quite unique for a mini hifi for not having ALC. But it is weird because it doesn't have manual recording level control either, nor a VU meter. It records at a fixed level, 0dB on a CD will give about +2dB on tape IIRC. And because the karaoke function is achieved by the same IC that provides the equalizer, and they wanted the user to be capable of recording their karaoke performance, all the graphic EQ, bass boost and everything is wired in the recording path.
So I had means to control the recording level by adjusting all three bands on the EQ together, and if I wanted some treble boost on my type-I tapes, I could easily achieve that.
Now THAT is an actual Cassette player competitor on the market that doesn't sound like trash. A real positive surprise. My biggest gripe really is the digital volume controls. There's nothing i hate more than stepped volume levels because they never really work well. Either the steps are too small or too big where they shouldn't. Other than that the sound is pretty good for the price. Yeah the bandwidth on AM is sadly also very narrow on most cheap radios (especially the compact DSP radios) but sometimes you have the option to switch between different modes. I don't mind it getting a little hissier if i can tickle more higher frequencies out of an AM broadcast ;)
The easiest way to get in between volume levels is to move the whole thing closer or back it off a bit and use the inverse square law to your advantage.
Nice touch playing fellow vintage tech youtuber Databits.
Thank you VWestlife, for giving us acceptable choices.
The pink rubber mounts have sold me
3:03. That’s an uncommonly heard song right there, Don’t Let Go the Coat by The Who from their underrated 1981 album Face Dances. Worth a listen for sure.
For the record, I despite listening to that song for years, I still have no idea what it’s about!
. . . and you can walk into a Walmart store and buy one off the shelf! Excellent review!
An ONN product that's not garbage and is actually GOOD for the price? Holy shit.
if this boombox allows tape recording from the AUX input, i might pick it up. thanks for the review!
I had a little radio like this from walmart that I used for years, it had a stand for a sideways phone and bluetooth so I could watch videos with bluetooth over the speakers. It was a lifesaver when I was broke with nothing to watch like a tv.
Very interesting to see this review.
It's funny, I just received a JVC 7000
Series FM stereo, no MW, Cassette
CD, USB, and Bluetooth portable
receiver, which has good reviews,
9.9 and 10, for $149.95 plus shipping
from Amazon. It's 12W per channel,
30 memories on FM and remote
control. Volume level is pretty good.
I know it's a higher price bracket, but
has a lot of features for the price. 😊
Pfft, that "no, this is not 60 minutes, and no this is not a sex manual" joke was unexpectedly droll for a test disc! Not to mention the silly ray gun toy sound.
IKR? Shit cracked me up.
Thanks for the comprehensive review! 👍
Just bought one after watching the review. Decent boombox for the price. My only gripes are the cassette player plays slightly fast, and the speakers are a little quiet (definitely not meant to fill a large room or a noisey room).
12:36 Playing a Databits video on the kind of Android cellphone most of us have half forgotten at the bottom of some drawer, unused for long years. Lovely.
That’s a good cassette deck for something made recently. Also if you have to use electronic equipment to detect tape flaws then they’re not that obvious so not a problem for the average listener.
Wow! I was very nicely surprised with this portable CD/Cassette “boombox”. I think the overall quality is not bad at all, hopefully it will be durable, bit even if not, it is cheap enough that it can be replaced with a new one if something went horribly wrong and it couldn’t be fixed. I already have two portable CD/cassette boomboxes so I’m not in the market for a new one, but I’ll definitely recommend it to anybody who wants to either play some old tapes or wants to get into that as you mentioned. Great review and video, thank you for sharing it with us! 😊
This review made me check out my old AWIA CSD-ED20 from 1997. Tape deck still sounds good. The digital radio still works but being an AWIA it steps in half steps instead of full steps. The audio pot is noisy as is the switch mode switch for tape/radio/CD. Clearly they need cleaning. The CD player works fine but has very low audio. That might be related to audio pots needing to be cleaned. I don't use it much mainly just for the radio. And it only has an FM tuner no AM. I think I paid around $90 for this in 1997.
I found a Sony CFD-S05 at a garage sale a number of years ago for $15 and it works perfectly. It’s similar to the S70 and I still get a lot of use out of it.
The "look inside" does not look bad at all. Nice board. Okay lots of SMD components but this does not mean a lot as even expensive studio equipment uses lots of SMD today... Perhalps the tape would be a nice unit for modifications, adding DIY AC Bias, replacing the ugly auto record level by potentiometer and a cheap and tiny led level meter which may also gives a beautiful vintage look...
🎵Boom,boom,boom I can't stop signing this bloody tone,tone,tone🎵
lol I was the guy that asked you on Reddit if you were going to make a video on this.
Ive made 3 mixtapes with this boombox, im not a audiophile but this gets the job done.
Some of the cheaper ONN models have surprisingly good FM reception. I use the countdown timer on my round clock radio when going to bed. Sound quality isn't critical, as it's set at low volume.
I bought one of these to use in my garage. $35 for a guaranteed working casette tape player that isn't going to eat my tapes is a steal. I use this thing a lot. Within 30 minutes of first use, I ordered one at the walmart site for my 82 year old grandma. She plays the casettes and CDs i get for her at thrift shops, and she loves it too. I can't say enough good things about this unit!
I love that it also can play MP3 disc.
5:30 as i am drinking a pop and he said "this is not 60 mins." i almost spit out my pop all over the computer. random joke on a test CD.. damn them
The next joke was better, and surprisingly "mature".
I had to go back and listen to that part a couple of times because I couldn't believe that was part of a test/demo disc for surround sound 😂
I got one of these for my bedroom after watching this video. It's quite nice for the price.
Good video, I very much appreciate your calm and un-sensational manner. You must get headaches over US television. I have no media to play on such a device, so thanks for testing anyways...❤
Walmart sells blank tapes too.
@@polaris911 Yep! And they were trash compared to these crappy “Type 0” cassettes like Certron, Sentry, Gemini, Melsonic, SIM, Memex, Computron, Broadway, Big Ben, Star, Hoyin, Audio Plus, and hundreds of others were complete garbage.
MP3 CDs! That's really cool actually
The truth is that both boomboxes leave a lot to be desired in terms of final quality.
I imagine them being used in environments such as a grocery store, a mechanic's workshop, or a flower shop, where the only thing that matters is listening, regardless of whether it is Hi-Fi.
I personally see both of them as utilitarian, at the level of pocket radios.
You nicely present a vibe similar to Bob Ross...great work.
Agree your verdict.Plays tapes and cds well enough with radio and blue tooth so could be used with a smartphone for streaming. $35 for that, you really can't complain.
Obviously for recording it's best to use a seperate "hifi" deck but then didn't we borrow our folks or older siblings when we had a boom box as kids? You bet!
A surprisingly decent showing in a segment that has become sparse and disappointing overall. That sony boombox has really thin sound sadly, especially if mega bass is off, so good to see that this sounds at least as good as it did. Looking around online seems that Best Buy still also sells a cassette boombox under the Insignia brand that I hope you'll check out next and compare to the Onn and the Sony
One thing to check for on new CD players is if they can do gapless playback between tracks. I noticed some of them will insert a gap where there shouldn't be one. Even high-end new CD players can't seem to get this right.
Surprisingly, the various Chi-fi audio players have Gapless functions. A compact disc still skips.
Can't go wrong for the money - and of course long after the CD player and cassette conk out the radio might last for years.
I think the quality of these are much more better than an equivalent unit on Temu or Alibaba
Thanks , I may buy this. I suspect the memorex clown tape isn’t the highest quality to use with this comparison against a type II tape. But it is perhaps still fitting for this level of gear.