I've owned one of these W-1200 decks for the better part of 2 years and I've honestly been very happy with it. The features these decks have really make it or break it and I've found the parallel recording, the DNR noise reduction and especially the pitch control really useful features. I have better decks around from the likes of Nakamichi, NAD and Technics which are superior but don't have the feature set the modern TEAC and TASCAM decks do. If you're going to buy one of these, it's for the features, not necessarily for the discerning audiophile that's going to pick it apart. Nothing says you can't have more than one cassette deck either. One for the features, one for sonics.
Honestly, if you want audiophile you shouldn't even go for cassette at all the only real option would be digital 24 bit 96khz with a good converter and good clock. Maybe master tapes.
@@xmlthegreat Haha yeah true for the real nut jobs! Although in all seriousness practically. The noise floor in even the most treated room and well isolated room is going to be higher than the range you have with 24 bit haha. Aliasing has basically been fixed with dither. 32 bit is good for internal processing but is not needed for listening even in the most critical situations.
Hello Michael, getting backto tapes, CDs an Vinyl is not overall correct. Tapes and vinyl was an analog storage of music signals. The amplitude of the noise signal was, is in both case transfered in an analog strength of the magnetic orientation of the tape particles or the grove depth an sideward peak. On the CD the noise signal and amplitude was first/is cutted in steps of 44khz and transfered in a digital value. The only problem was with the first CDs that a „private“ digital copy method was not available and a copy on cassette tapes need the same time like copying from vinyl, apart from „big“ advantage that a pre-selection of song numbers on the CD-Player was possible an the copy of on CD in one step. No lifting the Turntable arm song by song and leap nonpreferred songs and start and stop of the cassette recorder for each song. By the way, I will not go back to these terrible times when I was copying about every 3 years my vinyls, later the Cds on new tapes for several hours and days for my car stereo, because the used ones begun to wine and jam or create tape spaghetti. Today I have all my portable music on USB-sticks or on my smartphone, about 42 GB in ACC 320, more than 4000 Songs which is music for 10 days non stop or the volume of more than 150 cassettes a 90 minutes. To add or remove songs is a work of minutes. And finally the quality and the depandabilty is superior.
I've never given up on cds or vinyl. However usually I'm listening to FLAC copies. But I threw out all my tapes 20 years ago. Maybe I just never had a good player - but I have no desire to try again
Tapes and vinyl yes, but nothing digital. Digital is the worst thing to ever happen to music, video, and still photography. I would also like to see a retun to magnetic tape for video. Digital is totally fake, and sounds and looks fake.
Gerald, sorry but than you must say any copy is a fake. The kind of storage method is different, but a copy is a copy and any copy can be manipulated. Even old photos were manipulated with the begining of photography.
Good review, as always. You nailed it with the older decks. While they used to be higher quality than this one, they require maintenance that is out of reach for most people, needing specialized equipment, skills and experience to bring back to their former glory and specs. You could get an old high end deck and have a much worse experience than with a new one like this.
I can only hope that more companies decide to ramp up their tape business. Especially for blank tapes, as well. I still buy quite a lot of music casettes every month.
@@nielsvanderwaa9539 Well there can be a need. I’ve got a demo tape mailed to me by a guitarist back the late 80s or early 90s. You can’t buy it anywhere. I made a digital copy, but the tape actually sounded better (when I had a tape player). I’m sure there’s probably 1000s of such tapes out there in the world, that the digital listener will not even be made aware of because it isn’t on Spotify. Likewise I find gaps on Spotify where I have music that it appears it’ll never have. So in a way, the analog method fills in these gaps. Note: If all you listen to is crappy mainstream, then the above doesn’t apply.
@@nielsvanderwaa9539 There's no need for mechanical watches either yet they generate billions. There's thousands of niche products, cheap and expensive (no one needs Bugatti's). If Sony doesn't lose money on their 500€ turntable surely they can also produce a new walkman.
I miss the old days of walking past a HiFi shop and seeing some of the new decks they had in stock :( plus you couldn't beat spending the day going through your records and making some tapes for the weekend
@@johnjaleco5683 All you see these days are the generic Maxell tapes which are ok'ish but not sure where i read but Richer Sounds may have blank ferric tapes which were meant to be pretty good
@@Eyerex cheers , and I'm guessing that they're not as cheap as they used to be . Normal is ok for me as I'm not as picky quality wise as I used to be .
The "open box' listing is probably that way to stop retailers who might sell this product from having to compete with the prices of the manufacturer selling direct on Bay. They can claim they don't have to match the prices because it's 'open box'.
Also I think maybe it had something to do with TEAC changing their U.S. distributor. Maybe as part of the agreement they weren't allowed to sell their stock from the old distributor as new, so they're selling it as "open box".
Nice to see them making what seem like reasonable cassette decks again. I wonder if in a few years there'll be really high end decks again like the Dragon. Imagine how good a deck could be made with another 20-30 years of technology behind it...
I used to be obbsessed with tape decks around 20+ years ago. Then I stopped bothering altogether and put the tapes into storage. Recently when moving house I wanted to go through the tapes again, I began looking for secondhand decks which I have been very lucky with so far. But I refuse to touch all the modern cheap junk. I am really happy these Tascam and Teac decks are available in this day and age. Thanks for uploading these reviews :)
Whenever I feel like messing with any tape based format I almost never bother with any noise reduction of any kind. Tape hiss is a part of what makes a cassette tape just that, if you want noiseless music you can just play it off CD or stream it anyways. Although I find playing back Dolby C encoded tapes back with the system turned off gives an interesting sound signature. It is all about how YOU want to listen to your favorite music!
I remember JVC getting around dolby licencing by using anrs. It was so close to dolby I couldn't tell the difference. I wonder if Teac could do the same. The lack of dolby could leave some people a little hissed!
I think you are right. From what I have seen, both decks with recording capabilities is pretty unusual. They did make them back in the day though, I have an early 90's Denon that does, but it's not common. It is a nice feature though because you have a fully functional back up deck.
@@jhschmidMD4 I just ran across your deck here on UA-cam. It was featured on a channel called DrCassette in a video called "Testing 9 newly acquired cassette decks" He was blown away by it having dual recording.
I ended up snagging one of these due to your review. So far I'm quite pleased with the deck. For me the dual record dub feature is one of the greatest features since I sometimes release music on cassette in short run. The digital counters do not sync, however, which makes me wonder if it's just the counting mechanism itself or if there actually is some subtle difference in speed between the two bays.
You most likely know this already, but the difference in spec between the TEAC and TASCAM versions is explained by TEAC being the "hifi" / domestic brand and TASCAM being the "professional" brand - i.e. aimed at musicians, DJs and sound recordists. Hence the TASCAM gets the 19" rack-mount ears and the special play mode (dual monitoring) while the TEAC doesn't. And professionals would have their own cables already. :-)
I feel like we're getting there. We're only now starting to see quite the uptick in quality on new turntables, so I'm sure tape decks will get their turn if interest and sales increase.
One thing holding it back is what happens to all other consumer electronics: they get copied by somebody else for less. Nobody is going to invest in the R&D and tooling it would take to rebirth a good cassette deck when it's guaranteed to get copied. And at the same time, the companies who are making mediocre cheap decks are happy making those cheap decks.
@@LatitudeSky To be fair, there wouldn't be _that_ much R&D required. The intended item already existed in many forms for several decades; in the world of inferior knockoffs, a quality knockoff of a good mech should be fairly simple. The biggest problem would most likely be in sourcing good tape heads themselves.
I clicked on this video just out of astonishment. There will be no tape decks in just 30 years. The last generation to grow up with this was born in 1990. They are 30 now, when they are 60, they're not going to be feeling nostalgia about how great those old tape cassettes were. It's a complete waste to even manufacture these. Tapes are bulky, inferior in EVERY WAY to digital, and have terribly inferior audio quality. Also, audio tapes have a limited lifespan. Digital data does not.
That’s not the point of cassettes these days. I have a Sony Walkman NW A55 with a 512gb micro sd card filled with high resolution flacs and DSD, it sounds amazing, it’s convenient, and my entire music library fits into something the size of my fingernail. However I also own a Walkman WM F31 from the 80’s and play modern cassette releases through it, it’s a pain to find a specific track, it runs on AA’s which don’t last that long, and cassettes don’t sound that great, but it’s just fun to have. Cassettes are collectibles, a fun novelty now, not the most accessible option for portable media like they once were, but they’re not supposed to be anymore.
The old "open box" tactic - I don't know about for online sales but this was very common at places like Fry's Electronics where they would simply open boxes before placing new items on a shelf and then either fold the flaps or in some cases just slice the plastic "tamper" stickers before putting the merch out. I've seen that with apple products (iPods) in the early 2000's where Apple held prices for new items at a certain level but stores could sell "returns" or open box items at a deeper discount. In your case it may have been the items that were inspected from overseas - customs may have thought it odd that new cassette decks were coming into the US and wanted to make sure that there wasn't other items in the box ;-)
I've seen many of the Border Security reality-TV episodes for the UK, Canada, Australia and the US. Customs officials at ports of entry routinely conduct random audits of incoming goods - opening the boxes and removing the contents to check for potential hidden contraband and/or inadmissibility of the goods. Customs officials compare boxes with the importer's customs declaration, and if something arouses their suspicions they will also open a box or two to check if any contraband is concealed within the box or packaging, or if there are undeclared valuables buried inside the box.
Many thanks for this amazing video! I purchased this deck just for listening and duplicate some old tapes, but I still use my dear old Nakamichi DR-3 for the recordings! By the way, I was curious to test the recording of the TEAC W-1200 as well, and I found it good… nothing special, but still a good recording! I just noticed that the alignment is slightly different between the two decks, because I hear the difference If I play a cassette in the deck A, but recorded with the deck B. Is it something that you noticed too? For example, there are some tapes playing better in deck A, and others in deck B… but of course everybody knows in this world there is no such thing as perfection. Many thanks! 🙏
@@vwestlife many thanks for your answer! The recording of the deck B sound more clear than the deck A with the same tape in my opinion. Is it probably something they did to balance the playback of cassettes recorded with other decks? Of course I know it’s possible to adjust the alignment, but I was just curious to know if you also tried to compare the azimuth between the two decks and their respective recording. 🙏😊
I bought one of these TEAC W-1200 models in the UK back in July 2019, based on your original Tascam review video. It's been a great deck and records via USB to my computer very well. The only issue I've ever encountered is old tapes such as Cassette Singles that are glued (rather than have screws in them). They sometimes grind to a halt and the mech isn't man enough to play them further. Whereas my 30 year-old Sony Hifi can play them (but even then it might be a bit slower). I've used the TEAC W-1200 a lot to record my Cassettes to my Computer via USB.
After watching your videos and also videos from Techmoan on cassette decks, I had decided to tackle repairing my Sony TC-WE625 deck from 1998 that the belts had expired on. I still have some digitizing to do of old family cassette tapes and was bummed to discover that my Sony quit working. Even though it isn't a "Nakamichi Dragon", it is still better than most, if not all other consumer level decks made in the last 20 years. Now it is working like new again :)
Great Overview....Wish more people would check out and get into cassette decks...I bought an Aiwa Ad-f450 casstte deck from a thrift Store in the UK for £20 Replaced the belts from a company in Portugal Via Ebay and Quite frankly the quality of Recordings made from both Vinyl and CD sources is amazing......Still trying to find a good Cassette Walkman ..But its great that some companies are making Cassette decks again....Thanks for posting this video.
I have the Teac AD-850 and I am very satisfied with it. The sound is rich and very clean (no motor humming for instance). It is not very cheap, but to me it was worth the money.
Omg. This video reminded me of the giddyness of finding a new piece of audio equipment back in the day to add it to my system. Things just aren't the same anymore.
I would always go for a used deck from the late 90s (Sony decks with Dolby s can be bought for around 60-80 € in Germany e.g.). If there is an issue it is nearly always with the belts, and they can be fixed easily), I still love tapes and listening to my old collection. As long as there are good 2. hand devices: better get one of those ;-) You make very nice Videos VWestlife, keep up the good work!
Well, that was a fantastic review and I can't thank you enough for being so informative. That USB out at the back of the deck is a great idea as many laptops now don't have audio (line) in - the USB solves that. You had one sentence about the quality of the cassette tape - you talked about Wal-Mart tape. Taking up your point, and going off topic - I do worry about the tape side! I have 50 year old hq reel to reel tapes made by EMI (UK company) and these are fine today, but storage at high temps, etc can spell disaster. That's why I mentioned the USB - cassette tapes, great, but also store on computer in case of temp, damp, mechanical damage. Your review was brilliant!
It's a nice sounding deck. Not bad for a modern one. They apparently also have Factory Refurbished ones on their TEAC eBay store for $200, which is a nice option for people trying to save some money.
@@StevenS757 I doubt it, I had been glancing a week before this came up and the Refurb price was $299 and Open Box was $349, MSRP was $499. If I were buying one, I'd go for the Open Box rather than the Refurb since the whole idea in buying the W-1200 is to get a brand-new spanking new deck, not a used deck. That's just me, perhaps.
Fantastic review of this cassette deck I've owned one for a year now I'm from the United Kingdom I had no problems purchasing one I'm very happy with this Deck I would recommend them to anyone
I have had the Japanese version of Teac W-1200, in Silver, for a couple of years, which coming from Japan, cost more than the US version, but I had good results with it.
Because it likely uses the Naval Research Laboratory speech synthesis algorithms. Almost all 1980s text-to-speech software used it and thus had the same sounding "voice".
@@NJRoadfan Did not know that. I remember speech synthesis being a really huge feature on video games and home computers in the early 80s, and kind of expensive. I think for Intellivision and other home computers you often needed to buy a separate hardware module.
If you take your time and search around the thrift shops and second hand stores you'll find tons of old great name brand decks, stereos etc. for insanely cheap prices.
15:00 that right there was Don LaFontaine and being on this tape saying to get the most benefit from it saying that you need your Dolby B NR turned on.
Wow! I just stumbled across this channel, and it reminded me when i was stationed in Korea while in the Army back in the late 80's. While in Korea, i bought a Nakamichi Cassette Deck player at the PX store on post. I paid $730.00 for it. I never thought I would have ever paid that much for just one piece of my Audio set up! I was just an E4, and that was most of my base pay. But, it was well worth it! it was soooo amazing, and had such good sound quality.
With how cassettes are picking up in interest nowadays it's important to spread solid information and advice, especially since many new fans may have not even been alive when the tape era was fizzing out. So thank you for a job well done. While I wish Tascam/Teac would at least include tape calibration controls, their decks are certainly good enough for people who want new.
I have a Technics double deck autoreturn cassette player and I took it to service. It's very sofisticated with beautiful features. I have many cassettes from the eighties and the nineties.
That WRMS reading is equivalent of those 90s Pioneers (at least listed in the manuals) that are often seen as the last great tape decks. This certainly seems appealing for someone like me, as I've had zero luck with buying used tape decks, and trying to find parts and belt kits are a nightmare.
Thing is while those numbers seem correct today and will be enough for most of us, I still have beside me a very unassuming Hitachi boombox that blows both this deck and many component decks from the 90s out of the water with its 0.04% WRMS (yes, you read right). It's a TRK-W235 from 1991 that I got recently at a thrift store. I don't even recall myself that boomboxes could perform that well.
@@stuartleckie I’m struggling with a Technics 2 head and a Kenwood 3 head. Belt kits for the Kenwood don’t ship to the US and the Technics has an issue with one channel not working. The RS-B series seems to have issues with that.
Those new cassette decks are actually good quality that audiophiles at record stores recommend them. TEAC and Pioneer analog components are mostly produced by Noritsu, they took over production for motors in turntables and tape decks.
Well it is the best deck that exist now, but it is more like a "low" mid range compared to more vintage decks. Low end decks were completely trash even when this format was at peak and this is clearly way above that.
@@bloxyman22 it’s still decent, I’m not expecting it to be the best tape deck ever made, since digital audio players replaced analog sound systems. But I’m glad there’s quality cassette decks in production, because audiophiles want to playback their tape recordings on fresh new equipment!
@@mjouwbuis Noritsu is the company that bought Pioneer’s analog machines for turntables, DJ equipment, and tape decks. They also produce high end machines like film processors, motors, analog components for certain stereos form Pioneer, TEAC, Panasonic.
Haven't used a cassette in over 15 years, In the old days you used them to make music for your car or walkman but those days are long gone, I have no idea outside of nostalgia why anyone would want a cassette deck.
I did. And I still don't get it. Why? This machine is decent. It shows that that ancient tech could produce listenable sound. But still - the price is reasonable only if you consider how expensive the parts and the production process of it is. So they are just basically expensive to make. To provide sound quality objectively worse than even cheap no-name digital devices. The only reason I like tape recorders is they LOOK cool and nostalgia.
I bought mine in January of 2020, also a Open Box version, for $171.20 with tax and shipping. So they've definitely gone up in price. (Different seller back then.) That being said, I really like this tape deck. If this was the last dual cassette tape deck ever to be made, it could be a lot worse. It certainly does everything I want out of a tape deck. I've even had cause to use the USB output function, which is something I never intended to use when I got it.
If anyone is interested I have been working some very new technology for cassette decks, such as adaptive noise reduction and digital bias. I am also working on a tracking system for cassettes, like what we had with video cassettes, but I have now place this project on hold due to a lack of support.
I have a TEAC clone "Scott" and I bought it during the 80's. It still works. Perfectly. I use it to transfer tapes to MP3s.The reproduction of sound is splendid. I can buy cassette tapes for a quarter and make perfectly excellent CDs with it. Or MP3s.
I don't care if it has Dolby or not. My Sansui 9090DB stereo receiver has Dolby built into it and can be calibrated to whatever tape deck you use. In fact, I never did use the Dolby in tape decks so every tape I recorded was the same in whatever I played it in, like my car stereo or R2R decks.
Never owned a TEAC tape deck but I added a solid TEAC 20 band EQ to my Sanyo rack system back in 1984 or so, it really made a huge difference in the sound quality. This was the black metal TEAC "slimline" EQ with the multicolor LED or fluoro waveform display. They always made solid equipment back then. I think I saw on the web site for B&H in NYC recently they had some new TEAC stuff, including a multitrack portable recorder or whatever. They don't have much of a market presence in America anymore, though, a great shame. I'm not sure why.
I just received my deck, but I'm noticing some sounds from the motor. I can hear it more on deck 2 compared to deck 1. The sound isn't constant; it seems to fluctuate as if the motor is speeding up and slowing down. Despite this, the overall sound quality is good, and the speed appears to be fine. Is it normal to hear these sounds while the deck is playing? I had some bad luck when I tried to insert a brand new cassette; it couldn't rewind because it was somehow stuck. The cassette was only able to play into one direcion. I hope it didn't ruin my deck. However, I did a 60-minute recording, and it turned out perfectly.
I've never heard of you and I don't particularly have any interest in antiquated audio formats (despite growing up with them; I seem to lack the "nostalgia gene" entirely) but UA-cam recommended this video to me and the editing and production on this were so good I found myself captivated. I have no idea who you are or what you look like but you SOUND like exactly the person I want to tell me about nerdy obsolete electronics stuff like this.
The "Longhorne" skin on that XP PC took me back to 2006 real hard. Nice breakdown of the newer deck. Glad to see there is still SOME quality cassette decks out there in 2021.
That was a in-depth review as i've ever seen one. Great Stuff! Curious to see if the new motors actually do a better job than the already installed ones. Looking forward to it. :)
Same here. I think that the weight of the capstan flywheel also plays a part in the wow & flutter measurements, however, like you commented, it would be really interesting to see how much the drive motor swap influences this measurement. Fred
@@electronicengineer Drag on the takeup reel slipper usually causes it also, and you need a bigger flywheel to reduce the flutter from it. I remember taking apart such old tape decks as a kid and getting the massive flywheels out, using them as spin tops with the motors from the same deck, watching them spin on the table for a good 10 minutes.
@@spikester Oh YES! I did that also, more than once ;-). I was great at taking them apart, just it was the putting back together part that I was not quite as adept at! Thanks for the great memory jog spikester!!! Fred
I work on tape decks all the time and a different motor will not make it any better and the ones you find these days are cheaply made chinese voltage controlled unlike the FG types of the past. There is nothing you can do to make these acceptable as their design from the start is lacking- plastic capstan bearings is a first reason.
Loving the Tandy 1000 in the background, I have a 1000SX with colour monitor I bought when I worked for them in the UK in the late 80's and it's still going strong.
That playback speed is pretty steady. You could definitely go in and adjust the motor to dial it in a bit. The last time I did it, I used a 315Hz cal tape IIRC.
Nothing like the amazingly fresh technical scent of a Maxell XL2S tape RIGHT out of the package..... my friends and I still talk about how unique that smell was.... we joked about making a cologne out of it. Technically floral, and not too chemically like other, crappier tapes.
In your opinion, is it better a good old deck (used mechanism, used heads...) or a mean new deck (new mechanism, new heads)? Since I own an Onkyo TA-RW311, could be useful buying this new TEAC deck?
Honestly this seems to be a perfectly good deck to send out to market and, as demand continues to rise and price lowers, this could be the way forward in modern cassettes. Just continue to improve the wow and flutter, nothing else matters if those are off
I find it amusing people think $300 is alot for a cassette deck....it isn't if you want a good quality rig. Now some of the stuff I see on ebay, THAT is the overpriced stuff. People who like cassettes are never going away just like those of us who love vinyl aren't leaving the building anytime soon. I have read some comments here about it being a "phony love affair" but thats just asinine.
@16:10 - The absolute epitome of 80's cheesoid movie music a la Beverly Hills Cops era. Love it and hate it all the same. That nostalgia for you. You youngins take heed.
Nowadays we call that “synthwave” 😌 being deliberately a.. pastiche? Homage? To the originals. The artwork usually involves 80s cars, that shiny metal in the desert style text, neon grids, etc. Popular usually for the drum machines and FM synthesis and other such period-correct things (even if some of the producers are probably using sampled drums and modern software synths).
I still have my old pioneer CTW830R cassette deck from the 90s.Not sure if its better or worse than this one.But im happy they are still making them....
I'd assume this would hold up for a couple years and give good service. A vintage deck bought from a stranger on Ebay might have big service problems. I like it.
I wish 4 track heads were still manufactured so the mechanically simple auto reverse could be implemented. Although the remote control alone might make this deck worth it. Working included remotes get a huge premium on ebay cassette decks.
Most decks of the 80s and 90s were remote controlable, at least the basic functions. It worked via the remote control of the receiver over a cable on the back.
I have one of these decks purchased last year so i could convert my tapes to digital. And i like this deck alot, And has even played tapes of mine that have seen much usage very nicely.This is a very nice video and very enjoyable to watch with your analysis of this deck. Thanks for sharing and subbed.
for wanting to use good tapes to record on--normal type--which would you suggest? I enjoy Maxell, they come out better than cheap walmart tapes i think but i'm new to tapes so i wouldn't know
Get the real Maxell UR or TDK D while you still can. I haven’t shopped them in over a year but prices were still very good in mid 2021. Sony HF are great too,when you can find them.
Thanks very much for your extremely in-depth review of this and the Tascam 202mkvii! If not for your review I would have just bought a cheap boombox type player to transfer my old cassettes, now will definitely look out for one of these units.
The optimus decks also accepted the 1/8 plug that worked with the Pioneer amplifiers of the mid 90’s so that the remote was completely compatible. God I miss all that old audio equipment.
Hi. I had a terrible experience with this Deck. A few weeks after purchase ( new) the cassette was stuck and the compartment would no longer open or eject the tape. I sent for repair. After a few weeks after , same situation with other cassette and at this time the whole sistem shows an error not allowing to use the other compartment. It was a waste of money. Now I purchase an old Japaneses SONY (1993) and works and sounds great.
I think the best way to go about this is to make a Kickstarter for the sole purpose of getting the attention of China-based copycats to start making their own mechanisms.
@@andriealinsangao613 You'd be surprised how many stupidly niche products got bootlegged the moment their Kickstarters took off, some even making it to market before the real deal. Tape mechanisms are not out of the question and would certainly be better than that one mechanism every company is using for modern tape players
Thanks for your fantastic review - as always! I'm going to use my new TEAC W-1200 to digitize my old childhood tapes. Although my point of interest is rather academic in terms of the outcomes quality, it may be revelatory to compare the best possible way once more (USB vs RCA); I'm aware you have already answered the question to marez_3936 two years ago. I have discovered the ADC codec to be a Texas Instruments (allegedly famous Burr-Brown Audio) PCM2900C with a SNR of 89 dB - adequate for cassettes, otherwise mediocre at best - featuring fancy decimation, antialiasing and high-pass filtering. Originally I had planned to use my SB AE-7 sound card which has a much better ADC (SNR wise, >=101 dB). What do you think?
Dolby B - and even more so, Dolby C or S - were great additions to tape technology. Many people don't get it, because they have dull, crappy tapes that sound "better" without Dolby. But that's not because Dolby is bad. That's because switching it off, gives them a treble boost in the part of the spectrum that their tapes are lacking - destroying dynamic range at the same time, of course. What they need is an equalizer to boost whatever they need to boost, while leaving Dolby on. The playback NR on this deck seems to work great.
the Tascam 202MKVII has been a great experience for me. I can see this TEAC model is almost the same with just a few features missing. It turned out to be a great purchase decision for me because I enjoy playing cassettes so much.
My advice to the newbies in the cassette world is get your self an Onkyo 3 head deck, like the TA-2056 or TA-2058 and it will blow out of the water this cheap deck made by Teac and Tascam. The Onkyos sound great and they are not as expensive as a Nakamichi, Tandberg or Revox.
Am I reading this right? If you are being pedantic about frequency response, the response was 30 Hz - 10 Khz +/- 8 dB (!) which is truly horrible! The actual dBs were in the -26dB to -42dB in this range, with the median being about -30dB. The specs claim : 30 to 13k Hz (+/-4dB), a lie, for normal tapes, i guess.
Like I said in the video, the test tape I used does not necessarily have a flat response, and was not a high-quality production. I only used it as a benchmark to compare to the Denon deck, not as validation of TEAC's official specs. You can see it has good response up to at least 17 kHz.
Would you say that there is a difference in quality between the TEAC 1200 and the Tascam 202 VII? Obviously the Tascam has the special playback feature but other than are they identical in terms of performance and quality? Having said that, I have noticed a (quiet but noticable) humming sound when I press my ear to the left side of the Teac. It does not exist on the right side as far as I can tell. Is this because of the power generator which is in the left corner in the back? Would you say that it has an effect when playing a cassette in the left deck? I don't have good headphones to properly test it myself...
That's unfortunately the kind of snobbery you can expect with pretty much any less common hobby. In my opinion it only discourages new people from becoming into it, but something tells me that's more or less what they want anyway.
@@Windowsfan100 I'm not sure if it was snobery or just a flat out joke, but I hear what you are saying. For the few fortunate enough to own a Dragon, they are not so fortunate when it comes to the cost of keeping it up to spec, Naks are finicky as all get out and crazy expensive to own.
@@ARandomOven Sony WM-D6C are crazy good portables, but are different animals than a full sized component. I've never owned a Dragon and I never will, but have owned decent 3 head Naks and when they are in good working order do sound and record fantastic. Problem is they are finicky and keeping them up to spec at their best is pricey & out of my budget. In my humble opinion.
Thanks for the review. I was tempted last year to buy a new one (TEAC W-1200 - Silver) from a Japanese dealer via eBay, but opted for a vintage good condition and recently serviced Yamaha KX-10 (Compact 3-Head Tape Cassette Deck) on eBay. Maybe for the next modern HiFi stack build. Again, thanks for the excellent review!
Wow! that was certainly thorough Kevin! enjoyed the vid. Back in the day I use to record using Dolby B to boost the top end & during playback I would turn it off. I thought Dolby was very over rated certainly for the B & C standards, music did sound awful when it was engaged during playback, money making racket courtesy some good advertising
After much consideration I purchased this deck early this year. The TEAC W-1200. It came from the UK with a 2 pin plug, which wasn't a problem as I had a multi-plug adapter. And I'm very happy with it's performance and sound quality. My old Sony WE-605S after replacing the drive bands worked for a few years, but became difficult to keep going. The reverse mechanism became a bit of a headache, and taking it all apart and putting it back together again, to see if it worked became a bit of a pain. So I'm currently using the TEAC W-1200 to archive my old audio cassette collection, (using Vinyl Studio), after which it'll become the tape deck in the stereo system.
Great review! There needs to be a reason to own a cassette deck, and there aren’t many 😉. When you look at the lengths designers and engineers went to, to create hi-fidelity, like DB-NR, MPX and metal tapes…. It’s crazy. Easy to see why CDs killed the cassette. As a musician, I used cassettes extensively back-in-the-day and still have about 60 cassettes kicking around. Anything valuable I converted to digital many years ago. Not sure why I still have a good tape deck as it’s rarely ever used.
I've owned one of these W-1200 decks for the better part of 2 years and I've honestly been very happy with it. The features these decks have really make it or break it and I've found the parallel recording, the DNR noise reduction and especially the pitch control really useful features. I have better decks around from the likes of Nakamichi, NAD and Technics which are superior but don't have the feature set the modern TEAC and TASCAM decks do. If you're going to buy one of these, it's for the features, not necessarily for the discerning audiophile that's going to pick it apart. Nothing says you can't have more than one cassette deck either. One for the features, one for sonics.
The only thing which I don't like about this is that both of the decks don't have auto reverse.
Good to Here I like making my own mix tapes I have one of the early Sony Walkman's my coworkers and Students where I teach get thrill out my Walkman !
Honestly, if you want audiophile you shouldn't even go for cassette at all the only real option would be digital 24 bit 96khz with a good converter and good clock. Maybe master tapes.
@@BoboButYouCanCallMeTom what about 32 bit for that much better dynamic range and miniscule possibility of aliasing?
@@xmlthegreat Haha yeah true for the real nut jobs!
Although in all seriousness practically. The noise floor in even the most treated room and well isolated room is going to be higher than the range you have with 24 bit haha. Aliasing has basically been fixed with dither. 32 bit is good for internal processing but is not needed for listening even in the most critical situations.
As a musician this is my wet dream.. folks getting back to tapes, cd’s and vinyl
Hello Michael,
getting backto tapes, CDs an Vinyl is not overall correct.
Tapes and vinyl was an analog storage of music signals. The amplitude of the noise signal was, is in both case transfered in an analog strength of the magnetic orientation of the tape particles or the grove depth an sideward peak.
On the CD the noise signal and amplitude was first/is cutted in steps of 44khz and transfered in a digital value.
The only problem was with the first CDs that a „private“ digital copy method was not available and a copy on cassette tapes need the same time like copying from vinyl, apart from „big“ advantage that a pre-selection of song numbers on the CD-Player was possible an the copy of on CD in one step. No lifting the Turntable arm song by song and leap nonpreferred songs and start and stop of the cassette recorder for each song.
By the way, I will not go back to these terrible times when I was copying about every 3 years my vinyls, later the Cds on new tapes for several hours and days for my car stereo, because the used ones begun to wine and jam or create tape spaghetti.
Today I have all my portable music on USB-sticks or on my smartphone, about 42 GB in ACC 320, more than 4000 Songs which is music for 10 days non stop or the volume of more than 150 cassettes a 90 minutes. To add or remove songs is a work of minutes. And finally the quality and the depandabilty is superior.
I've never given up on cds or vinyl. However usually I'm listening to FLAC copies. But I threw out all my tapes 20 years ago. Maybe I just never had a good player - but I have no desire to try again
Tapes and vinyl yes, but nothing digital. Digital is the worst thing to ever happen to music, video, and still photography. I would also like to see a retun to magnetic tape for video. Digital is totally fake, and sounds and looks fake.
Gerald, sorry but than you must say any copy is a fake. The kind of storage method is different, but a copy is a copy and any copy can be manipulated.
Even old photos were manipulated with the begining of photography.
I never left CDs, too perfect even to get files for my new phone or old ipod.
Good review, as always. You nailed it with the older decks. While they used to be higher quality than this one, they require maintenance that is out of reach for most people, needing specialized equipment, skills and experience to bring back to their former glory and specs. You could get an old high end deck and have a much worse experience than with a new one like this.
I really like the 90’s styled transitions.
I would say 80`s style
@@digitalvinyls3544 It's a radio weather report jingle that's probably from the 1970s.
@@vwestlife Talk about flashbacks! I remember hearing these on KCBS newsradio to announce their weather forecasts in the late 70s/early 80s.
@@vwestlife yes, I sad, it's older than '90-s, probably late '70s, yet, it's sounds like '90s Windows system sounds :D
Haha. I wanted to say that too.
Really nice to see that there's good, new cassette decks around. I hope this is just the beginning of a new trend.
Panasonic RX-D55 more like a boom box type deal but its descent
@She-Wolf Just paid $10 for (7) Maxell UR90 cassettes and $25 for (5) Maxell UR90N cassette's made TODAY but not here in the US.
@@ACommenterOnUA-cam how many CD-R would have got you far better sound?
@@cirrus1964 its NOT about far better sound, its about nostalgia.
as long as rich old man want nostalgia then yes there will be cassette decks don't worry.
I can only hope that more companies decide to ramp up their tape business. Especially for blank tapes, as well. I still buy quite a lot of music casettes every month.
im kind of older and i am very happy, that we dont have the cassettes anymore (and discettes, and SCSI-cables, and mouses with ball)
@Instant Karma If there's a need for those things, why not?
@@dr.behrends9378 there is no need, there is a very small demand because people like "vintage stuff"
@@nielsvanderwaa9539 Well there can be a need. I’ve got a demo tape mailed to me by a guitarist back the late 80s or early 90s. You can’t buy it anywhere.
I made a digital copy, but the tape actually sounded better (when I had a tape player).
I’m sure there’s probably 1000s of such tapes out there in the world, that the digital listener will not even be made aware of because it isn’t on Spotify. Likewise I find gaps on Spotify where I have music that it appears it’ll never have.
So in a way, the analog method fills in these gaps.
Note: If all you listen to is crappy mainstream, then the above doesn’t apply.
@@nielsvanderwaa9539 There's no need for mechanical watches either yet they generate billions. There's thousands of niche products, cheap and expensive (no one needs Bugatti's). If Sony doesn't lose money on their 500€ turntable surely they can also produce a new walkman.
Love the way that on the alignment tape the label isn't 'aligned' at all well.
YES!
I miss the old days of walking past a HiFi shop and seeing some of the new decks they had in stock :( plus you couldn't beat spending the day going through your records and making some tapes for the weekend
We became the masters of dropping needles onto the separation grooves between tracks to start recording a specific song halfway through an LP
Where's a good place to buy blank cassettes ? I'm in the UK ?
@@johnjaleco5683 All you see these days are the generic Maxell tapes which are ok'ish but not sure where i read but Richer Sounds may have blank ferric tapes which were meant to be pretty good
@@Eyerex cheers , and I'm guessing that they're not as cheap as they used to be . Normal is ok for me as I'm not as picky quality wise as I used to be .
@@johnjaleco5683 I miss the days of going into Boot's and seeing a whole wall lined with every make and types (next to the beer making kits)
very underrated channel. nicely done video with prior research about the product
The "open box' listing is probably that way to stop retailers who might sell this product from having to compete with the prices of the manufacturer selling direct on Bay. They can claim they don't have to match the prices because it's 'open box'.
Also I think maybe it had something to do with TEAC changing their U.S. distributor. Maybe as part of the agreement they weren't allowed to sell their stock from the old distributor as new, so they're selling it as "open box".
@@vwestlife I bought one from the teac store on ebay a year ago and it was the same best offer thing. Open box but looked new.
the third song
16:27 Sting?
Nice to see them making what seem like reasonable cassette decks again. I wonder if in a few years there'll be really high end decks again like the Dragon. Imagine how good a deck could be made with another 20-30 years of technology behind it...
I used to be obbsessed with tape decks around 20+ years ago. Then I stopped bothering altogether and put the tapes into storage. Recently when moving house I wanted to go through the tapes again, I began looking for secondhand decks which I have been very lucky with so far. But I refuse to touch all the modern cheap junk. I am really happy these Tascam and Teac decks are available in this day and age. Thanks for uploading these reviews :)
Which older decks do you recommend?
Whenever I feel like messing with any tape based format I almost never bother with any noise reduction of any kind. Tape hiss is a part of what makes a cassette tape just that, if you want noiseless music you can just play it off CD or stream it anyways. Although I find playing back Dolby C encoded tapes back with the system turned off gives an interesting sound signature. It is all about how YOU want to listen to your favorite music!
Lol I came here to say the EXACT same thing...Dolby is just a muffled mess
@@hunterdavis3003 Yup. Dolby is like wearing a covid mask. Haha.
Cheers
Add the bass and you didn't hear the tape hiss. If I wanted to hear hiss I just turned up the treble on my equalizer.
Right!?
I remember JVC getting around dolby licencing by using anrs. It was so close to dolby I couldn't tell the difference. I wonder if Teac could do the same. The lack of dolby could leave some people a little hissed!
Dolby B and C are very simple to implement in hardware.
What strikes me is that both decks can record. How extraordinary in the world of double cassette component system units.
I think you are right. From what I have seen, both decks with recording capabilities is pretty unusual. They did make them back in the day though, I have an early 90's Denon that does, but it's not common. It is a nice feature though because you have a fully functional back up deck.
Maybe cheaper to have exactly the same parts on both sides
I have a Kenwood KX-W8020 from 1990. It also has dual well recording.
@@jhschmidMD4 I just ran across your deck here on UA-cam. It was featured on a channel called DrCassette in a video called "Testing 9 newly acquired cassette decks" He was blown away by it having dual recording.
Toshiba RT-S983 got dual record decks.
Ah, I miss the '80s. Chromium dioxide, ferric, metal... What a time to be alive.
And cocaine. Lots of cocaine.
@@orangejjay you got that right, lol
@@orangejjay
#ColumbianMarchingPowder
Grandmaster flash.
And don't forget ferric-chrome....
I ended up snagging one of these due to your review. So far I'm quite pleased with the deck. For me the dual record dub feature is one of the greatest features since I sometimes release music on cassette in short run. The digital counters do not sync, however, which makes me wonder if it's just the counting mechanism itself or if there actually is some subtle difference in speed between the two bays.
You most likely know this already, but the difference in spec between the TEAC and TASCAM versions is explained by TEAC being the "hifi" / domestic brand and TASCAM being the "professional" brand - i.e. aimed at musicians, DJs and sound recordists. Hence the TASCAM gets the 19" rack-mount ears and the special play mode (dual monitoring) while the TEAC doesn't. And professionals would have their own cables already. :-)
You'd think they'd start making new tape mechs by now, but I guess it's not that profitable yet
I feel like we're getting there. We're only now starting to see quite the uptick in quality on new turntables, so I'm sure tape decks will get their turn if interest and sales increase.
One thing holding it back is what happens to all other consumer electronics: they get copied by somebody else for less. Nobody is going to invest in the R&D and tooling it would take to rebirth a good cassette deck when it's guaranteed to get copied. And at the same time, the companies who are making mediocre cheap decks are happy making those cheap decks.
So what is a good/ acceptable wrms on a cassette deck? And what is it?
Anyone know?
Thank you
@@LatitudeSky To be fair, there wouldn't be _that_ much R&D required. The intended item already existed in many forms for several decades; in the world of inferior knockoffs, a quality knockoff of a good mech should be fairly simple. The biggest problem would most likely be in sourcing good tape heads themselves.
I clicked on this video just out of astonishment.
There will be no tape decks in just 30 years. The last generation to grow up with this was born in 1990. They are 30 now, when they are 60, they're not going to be feeling nostalgia about how great those old tape cassettes were.
It's a complete waste to even manufacture these. Tapes are bulky, inferior in EVERY WAY to digital, and have terribly inferior audio quality. Also, audio tapes have a limited lifespan. Digital data does not.
Glad to see there are companies still making good quality hifi cassette decks!
I record to a USB flash drive which holds way more than a cassette and in vastly superior quality.
That’s not the point of cassettes these days. I have a Sony Walkman NW A55 with a 512gb micro sd card filled with high resolution flacs and DSD, it sounds amazing, it’s convenient, and my entire music library fits into something the size of my fingernail.
However I also own a Walkman WM F31 from the 80’s and play modern cassette releases through it, it’s a pain to find a specific track, it runs on AA’s which don’t last that long, and cassettes don’t sound that great, but it’s just fun to have.
Cassettes are collectibles, a fun novelty now, not the most accessible option for portable media like they once were, but they’re not supposed to be anymore.
The old "open box" tactic - I don't know about for online sales but this was very common at places like Fry's Electronics where they would simply open boxes before placing new items on a shelf and then either fold the flaps or in some cases just slice the plastic "tamper" stickers before putting the merch out. I've seen that with apple products (iPods) in the early 2000's where Apple held prices for new items at a certain level but stores could sell "returns" or open box items at a deeper discount. In your case it may have been the items that were inspected from overseas - customs may have thought it odd that new cassette decks were coming into the US and wanted to make sure that there wasn't other items in the box ;-)
I've seen many of the Border Security reality-TV episodes for the UK, Canada, Australia and the US. Customs officials at ports of entry routinely conduct random audits of incoming goods - opening the boxes and removing the contents to check for potential hidden contraband and/or inadmissibility of the goods. Customs officials compare boxes with the importer's customs declaration, and if something arouses their suspicions they will also open a box or two to check if any contraband is concealed within the box or packaging, or if there are undeclared valuables buried inside the box.
Many thanks for this amazing video! I purchased this deck just for listening and duplicate some old tapes, but I still use my dear old Nakamichi DR-3 for the recordings! By the way, I was curious to test the recording of the TEAC W-1200 as well, and I found it good… nothing special, but still a good recording! I just noticed that the alignment is slightly different between the two decks, because I hear the difference If I play a cassette in the deck A, but recorded with the deck B. Is it something that you noticed too? For example, there are some tapes playing better in deck A, and others in deck B… but of course everybody knows in this world there is no such thing as perfection. Many thanks! 🙏
The alignment of mine was fine, but you can easily adjust it using the azimuth adjustment screw and a test cassette.
@@vwestlife many thanks for your answer! The recording of the deck B sound more clear than the deck A with the same tape in my opinion. Is it probably something they did to balance the playback of cassettes recorded with other decks? Of course I know it’s possible to adjust the alignment, but I was just curious to know if you also tried to compare the azimuth between the two decks and their respective recording. 🙏😊
I bought one of these TEAC W-1200 models in the UK back in July 2019, based on your original Tascam review video. It's been a great deck and records via USB to my computer very well. The only issue I've ever encountered is old tapes such as Cassette Singles that are glued (rather than have screws in them). They sometimes grind to a halt and the mech isn't man enough to play them further. Whereas my 30 year-old Sony Hifi can play them (but even then it might be a bit slower). I've used the TEAC W-1200 a lot to record my Cassettes to my Computer via USB.
After watching your videos and also videos from Techmoan on cassette decks, I had decided to tackle repairing my Sony TC-WE625 deck from 1998 that the belts had expired on. I still have some digitizing to do of old family cassette tapes and was bummed to discover that my Sony quit working. Even though it isn't a "Nakamichi Dragon", it is still better than most, if not all other consumer level decks made in the last 20 years. Now it is working like new again :)
Great Overview....Wish more people would check out and get into cassette decks...I bought an Aiwa Ad-f450 casstte deck from a thrift Store in the UK for £20 Replaced the belts from a company in Portugal Via Ebay and Quite frankly the quality of Recordings made from both Vinyl and CD sources is amazing......Still trying to find a good Cassette Walkman ..But its great that some companies are making Cassette decks again....Thanks for posting this video.
I have the Teac AD-850 and I am very satisfied with it. The sound is rich and very clean (no motor humming for instance). It is not very cheap, but to me it was worth the money.
Me, too. I am most pleased with mine. I got it on VWestlife's recommendation.
Omg. This video reminded me of the giddyness of finding a new piece of audio equipment back in the day to add it to my system. Things just aren't the same anymore.
I would always go for a used deck from the late 90s (Sony decks with Dolby s can be bought for around 60-80 € in Germany e.g.). If there is an issue it is nearly always with the belts, and they can be fixed easily), I still love tapes and listening to my old collection. As long as there are good 2. hand devices: better get one of those ;-) You make very nice Videos VWestlife, keep up the good work!
Great Video , Really looking forward to when you swap the motors out and re-test the Wow & Flutter
Well, that was a fantastic review and I can't thank you enough for being so informative. That USB out at the back of the deck is a great idea as many laptops now don't have audio (line) in - the USB solves that. You had one sentence about the quality of the cassette tape - you talked about Wal-Mart tape. Taking up your point, and going off topic - I do worry about the tape side! I have 50 year old hq reel to reel tapes made by EMI (UK company) and these are fine today, but storage at high temps, etc can spell disaster. That's why I mentioned the USB - cassette tapes, great, but also store on computer in case of temp, damp, mechanical damage. Your review was brilliant!
i love the variation in demo music selection.
It's a nice sounding deck. Not bad for a modern one. They apparently also have Factory Refurbished ones on their TEAC eBay store for $200, which is a nice option for people trying to save some money.
The asking price for the "Teac W-1200 Double Cassette Deck | USB & One-Touch Dubbing (Refurbished)" is $299 today, not $200. Maybe that was a fluke.
@@peacearchwa5103 They sure did, those sneaks! I bet this video coming out had something to do with the price suddenly going up.
@@StevenS757 I doubt it, I had been glancing a week before this came up and the Refurb price was $299 and Open Box was $349, MSRP was $499. If I were buying one, I'd go for the Open Box rather than the Refurb since the whole idea in buying the W-1200 is to get a brand-new spanking new deck, not a used deck. That's just me, perhaps.
Fantastic review of this cassette deck I've owned one for a year now I'm from the United Kingdom I had no problems purchasing one I'm very happy with this Deck I would recommend them to anyone
It’s really cool to see that companies are still making tape decks, even if they aren’t super high end.
Holy CRAP! At first I was like "$300!" But now? And hearing the USB OUTPUT? Not bad!
I have had the Japanese version of Teac W-1200, in Silver, for a couple of years, which coming from Japan, cost more than the US version, but I had good results with it.
I am very happy with my new Tascam. I'm glad they're still being made today.
I love the sound of your "intermission" blue screens. Is like a Zelda game sound.
That speech synthesis on the test tape sounded like the speech on Amiga workbench 1.3!
Because it likely uses the Naval Research Laboratory speech synthesis algorithms. Almost all 1980s text-to-speech software used it and thus had the same sounding "voice".
@@NJRoadfan Did not know that. I remember speech synthesis being a really huge feature on video games and home computers in the early 80s, and kind of expensive. I think for Intellivision and other home computers you often needed to buy a separate hardware module.
Reminds me of SAM for the Commodore 64
If you take your time and search around the thrift shops and second hand stores you'll find tons of old great name brand decks, stereos etc. for insanely cheap prices.
The sound of a tape being put in a deck makes me happy. Thank you for the informative ( concise and cool ) review. Much appreciated.
**CHULUNK!**
15:00 that right there was Don LaFontaine and being on this tape saying to get the most benefit from it saying that you need your Dolby B NR turned on.
I still use my Sony Walkman Pro WM-D6C. What a splendid little machine it is.
Had to subscribe. This guy has empowered me to shop for a new deck I desperately want. With needed information. ❤
Wow! I just stumbled across this channel, and it reminded me when i was stationed in Korea while in the Army back in the late 80's. While in Korea, i bought a Nakamichi Cassette Deck player at the PX store on post. I paid $730.00 for it. I never thought I would have ever paid that much for just one piece of my Audio set up! I was just an E4, and that was most of my base pay. But, it was well worth it! it was soooo amazing, and had such good sound quality.
It's that old adage - quality prevails.
The Dolby level on the level indicator is great for adjusting the playback levels during servicing.
With how cassettes are picking up in interest nowadays it's important to spread solid information and advice, especially since many new fans may have not even been alive when the tape era was fizzing out. So thank you for a job well done. While I wish Tascam/Teac would at least include tape calibration controls, their decks are certainly good enough for people who want new.
Nice to know that there's a good current option for cassette playback and recording.
I have a Technics double deck autoreturn cassette player and I took it to service. It's very sofisticated with beautiful features. I have many cassettes from the eighties and the nineties.
That WRMS reading is equivalent of those 90s Pioneers (at least listed in the manuals) that are often seen as the last great tape decks. This certainly seems appealing for someone like me, as I've had zero luck with buying used tape decks, and trying to find parts and belt kits are a nightmare.
W&F is on par with some average 90's deck I had/have. So this isn't too bad at all.
Thing is while those numbers seem correct today and will be enough for most of us, I still have beside me a very unassuming Hitachi boombox that blows both this deck and many component decks from the 90s out of the water with its 0.04% WRMS (yes, you read right). It's a TRK-W235 from 1991 that I got recently at a thrift store. I don't even recall myself that boomboxes could perform that well.
@@Dioxaz So anything with starting with a 0.0 is a good wrms? I am new too cassettes so i am trying to understand the specifications.
Thank you
I’m struggling with that with my 3 head Technics deck.
Might just give up wasting time and money on fixing it and grab one of these 😃
@@stuartleckie I’m struggling with a Technics 2 head and a Kenwood 3 head. Belt kits for the Kenwood don’t ship to the US and the Technics has an issue with one channel not working. The RS-B series seems to have issues with that.
It's certainly feature packed. I have hundreds of cassettes, only about 3 or 4 of them are audio, the rest are for my 8 bit computers. LOL.
Those new cassette decks are actually good quality that audiophiles at record stores recommend them. TEAC and Pioneer analog components are mostly produced by Noritsu, they took over production for motors in turntables and tape decks.
Well it is the best deck that exist now, but it is more like a "low" mid range compared to more vintage decks. Low end decks were completely trash even when this format was at peak and this is clearly way above that.
@@bloxyman22 it’s still decent, I’m not expecting it to be the best tape deck ever made, since digital audio players replaced analog sound systems. But I’m glad there’s quality cassette decks in production, because audiophiles want to playback their tape recordings on fresh new equipment!
Sounds confusing. What is Noritsu actually making? Motors, deck assemblies or complete decks/turntables for TEAC and Pioneer?
@@mjouwbuis Noritsu is the company that bought Pioneer’s analog machines for turntables, DJ equipment, and tape decks. They also produce high end machines like film processors, motors, analog components for certain stereos form Pioneer, TEAC, Panasonic.
An audiophile recommending cassettes to anyone in 2021 is a red flag.
I haven't thought of cassette tapes in 20 years but here I am.
Haven't used a cassette in over 15 years, In the old days you used them to make music for your car or walkman but those days are long gone, I have no idea outside of nostalgia why anyone would want a cassette deck.
@@hifijohn I still use my Sony Walkman to listen to old drum n bass tape packs
I did. And I still don't get it. Why? This machine is decent. It shows that that ancient tech could produce listenable sound. But still - the price is reasonable only if you consider how expensive the parts and the production process of it is. So they are just basically expensive to make. To provide sound quality objectively worse than even cheap no-name digital devices. The only reason I like tape recorders is they LOOK cool and nostalgia.
I bought mine in January of 2020, also a Open Box version, for $171.20 with tax and shipping. So they've definitely gone up in price. (Different seller back then.)
That being said, I really like this tape deck. If this was the last dual cassette tape deck ever to be made, it could be a lot worse. It certainly does everything I want out of a tape deck. I've even had cause to use the USB output function, which is something I never intended to use when I got it.
I've felt a little nostalgic for mix tapes after getting back into vinyl, but not $320 nostalgic.
lol vinyl..ugh. I just knew this had to come from the “vinyl” people…
If anyone is interested I have been working some very new technology for cassette decks, such as adaptive noise reduction and digital bias. I am also working on a tracking system for cassettes, like what we had with video cassettes, but I have now place this project on hold due to a lack of support.
Cassette Comeback / If your reading this , I would really like to know your thoughts on this deck ?
yep the old is new now i hope to see 8bit or 16bit games for super nintendo sega genesis neogeo for the real console to play in my crt tv
A lack of bias adjustment may ruin its chances. Superferrics and type II's will be fine, but the basic ferrics need that helping hand.
I have a TEAC clone "Scott" and I bought it during the 80's. It still works. Perfectly. I use it to transfer tapes to MP3s.The reproduction of sound is splendid. I can buy cassette tapes for a quarter and make perfectly excellent CDs with it. Or MP3s.
I don't care if it has Dolby or not. My Sansui 9090DB stereo receiver has Dolby built into it and can be calibrated to whatever tape deck you use. In fact, I never did use the Dolby in tape decks so every tape I recorded was the same in whatever I played it in, like my car stereo or R2R decks.
Never owned a TEAC tape deck but I added a solid TEAC 20 band EQ to my Sanyo rack system back in 1984 or so, it really made a huge difference in the sound quality. This was the black metal TEAC "slimline" EQ with the multicolor LED or fluoro waveform display. They always made solid equipment back then. I think I saw on the web site for B&H in NYC recently they
had some new TEAC stuff, including a multitrack portable recorder or whatever. They don't have much of a market presence in America anymore, though, a great shame. I'm not sure why.
Well researched material better than the time these decks were the mainstream music players back then….thanks for reliving back those days!
I just received my deck, but I'm noticing some sounds from the motor. I can hear it more on deck 2 compared to deck 1. The sound isn't constant; it seems to fluctuate as if the motor is speeding up and slowing down. Despite this, the overall sound quality is good, and the speed appears to be fine. Is it normal to hear these sounds while the deck is playing?
I had some bad luck when I tried to insert a brand new cassette; it couldn't rewind because it was somehow stuck. The cassette was only able to play into one direcion. I hope it didn't ruin my deck. However, I did a 60-minute recording, and it turned out perfectly.
I've never heard of you and I don't particularly have any interest in antiquated audio formats (despite growing up with them; I seem to lack the "nostalgia gene" entirely) but UA-cam recommended this video to me and the editing and production on this were so good I found myself captivated. I have no idea who you are or what you look like but you SOUND like exactly the person I want to tell me about nerdy obsolete electronics stuff like this.
Thanks!
The "Longhorne" skin on that XP PC took me back to 2006 real hard. Nice breakdown of the newer deck. Glad to see there is still SOME quality cassette decks out there in 2021.
Not Longhorn, it's the Zune theme with a third-party clone of the Vista/7 desktop gadgets.
@@vwestlife oh yeah! I forgot about the Zune theme! Still nice.
That was a in-depth review as i've ever seen one. Great Stuff! Curious to see if the new motors actually do a better job than the already installed ones. Looking forward to it. :)
Same here. I think that the weight of the capstan flywheel also plays a part in the wow & flutter measurements, however, like you commented, it would be really interesting to see how much the drive motor swap influences this measurement. Fred
@@electronicengineer Drag on the takeup reel slipper usually causes it also, and you need a bigger flywheel to reduce the flutter from it. I remember taking apart such old tape decks as a kid and getting the massive flywheels out, using them as spin tops with the motors from the same deck, watching them spin on the table for a good 10 minutes.
Many of those flywheels were well crafted parts... tanks.
@@spikester Oh YES! I did that also, more than once ;-). I was great at taking them apart, just it was the putting back together part that I was not quite as adept at! Thanks for the great memory jog spikester!!! Fred
I work on tape decks all the time and a different motor will not make it any better and the ones you find these days are cheaply made chinese voltage controlled unlike the FG types of the past. There is nothing you can do to make these acceptable as their design from the start is lacking- plastic capstan bearings is a first reason.
Loving the Tandy 1000 in the background, I have a 1000SX with colour monitor I bought when I worked for them in the UK in the late 80's and it's still going strong.
That playback speed is pretty steady. You could definitely go in and adjust the motor to dial it in a bit. The last time I did it, I used a 315Hz cal tape IIRC.
Nothing like the amazingly fresh technical scent of a Maxell XL2S tape RIGHT out of the package..... my friends and I still talk about how unique that smell was.... we joked about making a cologne out of it. Technically floral, and not too chemically like other, crappier tapes.
Thank you. I really enjoyed this review. I think your analysis of the transport and motor was great.
I agree with you 100%. He did a great, detailed review of the entire machine. Fred
In your opinion, is it better a good old deck (used mechanism, used heads...) or a mean new deck (new mechanism, new heads)? Since I own an Onkyo TA-RW311, could be useful buying this new TEAC deck?
Honestly this seems to be a perfectly good deck to send out to market and, as demand continues to rise and price lowers, this could be the way forward in modern cassettes. Just continue to improve the wow and flutter, nothing else matters if those are off
I find it amusing people think $300 is alot for a cassette deck....it isn't if you want a good quality rig. Now some of the stuff I see on ebay, THAT is the overpriced stuff. People who like cassettes are never going away just like those of us who love vinyl aren't leaving the building anytime soon. I have read some comments here about it being a "phony love affair" but thats just asinine.
@16:10 - The absolute epitome of 80's cheesoid movie music a la Beverly Hills Cops era. Love it and hate it all the same. That nostalgia for you. You youngins take heed.
After a lot of searching : Steve McClintock - Turn on the night
@@zbutsam Thanks!
Nowadays we call that “synthwave” 😌 being deliberately a.. pastiche? Homage? To the originals. The artwork usually involves 80s cars, that shiny metal in the desert style text, neon grids, etc. Popular usually for the drum machines and FM synthesis and other such period-correct things (even if some of the producers are probably using sampled drums and modern software synths).
I can't help but wonder, though. Why is "epitome" pronounced that way?
@@jeffw1267 Because we speak English correctly.
I still have my old pioneer CTW830R cassette deck from the 90s.Not sure if its better or worse than this one.But im happy they are still making them....
I'd assume this would hold up for a couple years and give good service. A vintage deck bought from a stranger on Ebay might have big service problems. I like it.
I wish 4 track heads were still manufactured so the mechanically simple auto reverse could be implemented. Although the remote control alone might make this deck worth it. Working included remotes get a huge premium on ebay cassette decks.
Most decks of the 80s and 90s were remote controlable, at least the basic functions. It worked via the remote control of the receiver over a cable on the back.
I have one of these decks purchased last year so i could convert my tapes to digital. And i like this deck alot, And has even played tapes of mine that have seen much usage very nicely.This is a very nice video and very enjoyable to watch with your analysis of this deck. Thanks for sharing and subbed.
for wanting to use good tapes to record on--normal type--which would you suggest? I enjoy Maxell, they come out better than cheap walmart tapes i think but i'm new to tapes so i wouldn't know
Get the real Maxell UR or TDK D while you still can. I haven’t shopped them in over a year but prices were still very good in mid 2021. Sony HF are great too,when you can find them.
You always play the most interesting music, I love it.
Thanks very much for your extremely in-depth review of this and the Tascam 202mkvii! If not for your review I would have just bought a cheap boombox type player to transfer my old cassettes, now will definitely look out for one of these units.
Had a digital Pioneer dual deck rebranded as Optimus from Radio Shack around 1999.
@@mikec9112 ya, I also had their 51 disc cd changer.
The optimus decks also accepted the 1/8 plug that worked with the Pioneer amplifiers of the mid 90’s so that the remote was completely compatible. God I miss all that old audio equipment.
@@mcribs7811 lol, I remember that. Had it tied to my amp and cd changer.
Hi. I had a terrible experience with this Deck. A few weeks after purchase ( new) the cassette was stuck and the compartment would no longer open or eject the tape. I sent for repair. After a few weeks after , same situation with other cassette and at this time the whole sistem shows an error not allowing to use the other compartment. It was a waste of money. Now I purchase an old Japaneses SONY (1993) and works and sounds great.
It would be really cool to see if new tape mechanisms are created as the demand continues to grow!
I think the best way to go about this is to make a Kickstarter for the sole purpose of getting the attention of China-based copycats to start making their own mechanisms.
China? Really?
@@andriealinsangao613 that's where most of the world's manufacturing (and in turn, bootlegging) is based in, dumdum
@@603840Jrg I know, but do you really expect those companies to make their own mechanisms? HA!!!
@@andriealinsangao613 You'd be surprised how many stupidly niche products got bootlegged the moment their Kickstarters took off, some even making it to market before the real deal. Tape mechanisms are not out of the question and would certainly be better than that one mechanism every company is using for modern tape players
Thanks for your fantastic review - as always!
I'm going to use my new TEAC W-1200 to digitize my old childhood tapes.
Although my point of interest is rather academic in terms of the outcomes quality, it may be revelatory to compare the best possible way once more (USB vs RCA); I'm aware you have already answered the question to marez_3936 two years ago.
I have discovered the ADC codec to be a Texas Instruments (allegedly famous Burr-Brown Audio) PCM2900C with a SNR of 89 dB - adequate for cassettes, otherwise mediocre at best - featuring fancy decimation, antialiasing and high-pass filtering.
Originally I had planned to use my SB AE-7 sound card which has a much better ADC (SNR wise, >=101 dB).
What do you think?
Dolby B - and even more so, Dolby C or S - were great additions to tape technology. Many people don't get it, because they have dull, crappy tapes that sound "better" without Dolby. But that's not because Dolby is bad. That's because switching it off, gives them a treble boost in the part of the spectrum that their tapes are lacking - destroying dynamic range at the same time, of course. What they need is an equalizer to boost whatever they need to boost, while leaving Dolby on. The playback NR on this deck seems to work great.
Will never buy a cassette deck that is not three motor and three head with at least dolby b , c and s
the Tascam 202MKVII has been a great experience for me. I can see this TEAC model is almost the same with just a few features missing. It turned out to be a great purchase decision for me because I enjoy playing cassettes so much.
My advice to the newbies in the cassette world is get your self an Onkyo 3 head deck, like the TA-2056 or TA-2058 and it will blow out of the water this cheap deck made by Teac and Tascam.
The Onkyos sound great and they are not as expensive as a Nakamichi, Tandberg or Revox.
The 2058 is a very good machine, I have one in my collection.
@@mescko Me too, I am impressed by its sound quality and recording ability even though it’s one of cheapest decks on my collection.
Am I reading this right? If you are being pedantic about frequency response, the response was 30 Hz - 10 Khz +/- 8 dB (!) which is truly horrible! The actual dBs were in the -26dB to -42dB in this range, with the median being about -30dB. The specs claim : 30 to 13k Hz (+/-4dB), a lie, for normal tapes, i guess.
Like I said in the video, the test tape I used does not necessarily have a flat response, and was not a high-quality production. I only used it as a benchmark to compare to the Denon deck, not as validation of TEAC's official specs. You can see it has good response up to at least 17 kHz.
I had a panasonic music center with double cassette decks, wow and flutter made it unlistenable and it sounded so funny it made me laugh
Maybe it just needed new rubber belts. Panasonic's decks were usually quite well made.
You must have had a defective unit
Panasonic is one of the greatest names in audio they make very high quality equipment
@@richardwhite2344 i got it used and was used heavily
Would you say that there is a difference in quality between the TEAC 1200 and the Tascam 202 VII? Obviously the Tascam has the special playback feature but other than are they identical in terms of performance and quality?
Having said that, I have noticed a (quiet but noticable) humming sound when I press my ear to the left side of the Teac. It does not exist on the right side as far as I can tell. Is this because of the power generator which is in the left corner in the back? Would you say that it has an effect when playing a cassette in the left deck? I don't have good headphones to properly test it myself...
Funniest complaint about modern cassette decks at 0:47.
"Not as good as my Nakamichi Dragon" What is?
That's unfortunately the kind of snobbery you can expect with pretty much any less common hobby. In my opinion it only discourages new people from becoming into it, but something tells me that's more or less what they want anyway.
Sony WM-D6C is very close imo
@@Windowsfan100 I'm not sure if it was snobery or just a flat out joke, but I hear what you are saying. For the few fortunate enough to own a Dragon, they are not so fortunate when it comes to the cost of keeping it up to spec, Naks are finicky as all get out and crazy expensive to own.
@@ARandomOven Sony WM-D6C are crazy good portables, but are different animals than a full sized component. I've never owned a Dragon and I never will, but have owned decent 3 head Naks and when they are in good working order do sound and record fantastic. Problem is they are finicky and keeping them up to spec at their best is pricey & out of my budget. In my humble opinion.
Thanks for the review. I was tempted last year to buy a new one (TEAC W-1200 - Silver) from a Japanese dealer via eBay, but opted for a vintage good condition and recently serviced Yamaha KX-10 (Compact 3-Head Tape Cassette Deck) on eBay. Maybe for the next modern HiFi stack build. Again, thanks for the excellent review!
For everyone searching for the last song in the outro, it is: Organonomy - Streets
A completely forensic review as ever. Brilliant! I am not sure about your choice in music though :)
Wow! that was certainly thorough Kevin! enjoyed the vid. Back in the day I use to record using Dolby B to boost the top end & during playback I would turn it off. I thought Dolby was very over rated certainly for the B & C standards, music did sound awful when it was engaged during playback, money making racket courtesy some good advertising
After much consideration I purchased this deck early this year. The TEAC W-1200. It came from the UK with a 2 pin plug, which wasn't a problem as I had a multi-plug adapter. And I'm very happy with it's performance and sound quality. My old Sony WE-605S after replacing the drive bands worked for a few years, but became difficult to keep going. The reverse mechanism became a bit of a headache, and taking it all apart and putting it back together again, to see if it worked became a bit of a pain. So I'm currently using the TEAC W-1200 to archive my old audio cassette collection, (using Vinyl Studio), after which it'll become the tape deck in the stereo system.
Great review! There needs to be a reason to own a cassette deck, and there aren’t many 😉. When you look at the lengths designers and engineers went to, to create hi-fidelity, like DB-NR, MPX and metal tapes…. It’s crazy. Easy to see why CDs killed the cassette. As a musician, I used cassettes extensively back-in-the-day and still have about 60 cassettes kicking around. Anything valuable I converted to digital many years ago. Not sure why I still have a good tape deck as it’s rarely ever used.
I’ll take it
Still a good way to preserve a vinyl collection
Nice. I got one recently .But not this kind.Mine is Technics also sony 222 mic.Thank you for your information.
Prophetic tune... ".... You could end up in your own dome!" :)
I think that deck sounds pretty damn good indeed. Warm head circuit.
This video is awesome! Your reviews are off the hook, answered a lot of questions.