There’s been a low-key revival in all things analogue and hissy over the past few years, the inevitable consequence of how modern culture induces a rolling wave of interest in the art, sounds, shapes, colours and technology of the recent past.
There never used to be that much correlation between fashion and high fidelity. These days, brands from all sectors are happy to have an audio partner on board – Celine’s new partnership with Master & Dynamic is just one recent example. But while fashion’s relationship with cycles of style and nostalgia is a core part of the industry, technology tends to look resolutely forwards.
That’s not always how consumers see it. Crucially, this is a space where media choices have an impact on tech, not the other way around. The vinyl revival caught many volume manufacturers on the hop, and many rushed to return to turntable-making many years after they’d given up on the format. Is the same now happening with cassettes?
Vinyl’s revenge was both a reaction to the ephemeral, transient nature of streaming and a testament to the thousands of tons of second-hand records stranded in basement stores and thrift shops around the world. That led in turn to demand for freshly manufactured discs; the best-selling vinyl records of 2023 were mostly new releases (with Taylor Swift, The Rolling Stones, Lana del Rey, and Olivia Rodrigo the unsurprising victors), presumably bought for displaying, not spinning.
A 12-inch record is both format and poster, a large-scale space for artwork that can even be carried through onto the disc itself. Can compact cassettes ever hope to have the same cultural impact? The technology itself is hardly compact by modern standards and has never had any real claim to high fidelity. Portable audio kept the format alive, through countless iterations of the personal tape players epitomised by Sony’s Walkman family, but the rise and ultimate domination of first mp3 players and then streaming services put paid to any benefits.
Yet what the cassette had that no other audio format has managed to replicate was its ability to be curated. Making a mixtape is a real-time, highly personal activity that is far more engaging than the click-and-drag simplicity of burning a CD or making a Spotify playlist. Tapes also have a much richer connection to the DIY aesthetic that bubbles up at the origin of almost all musical genres. Cheap to duplicate, with a pleasing analogue mechanical aesthetic, tape has endured as an underground distribution network.
So much so, in fact, that cassette sales have risen year-on-year for the past decade. The numbers are still tiny: according to Forbes, nearly 200,000 tapes were sold in the UK in 2022, up from nearly 4,000 a decade earlier. In comparison, 5.5 million vinyl records were sold the same year and the BPI estimates there were 150 billion audio streams. Of those 200,000 tapes sold, the top ten were all albums released that year, including the Arctic Monkeys’ Car, and Harry’s House by Harry Styles. In 2023, top-selling cassettes included a ’Hot Pink’ edition of the Barbie soundtrack, Olivia Rodrigo’s Gutsand Blur’s Ballad of Darren. Special mention, of course, to anything by Taylor Swift.
Given that new cassettes are now out there in ever greater numbers (as well as the practically bottomless second-hand market), just how are they going to be played? Many of us are digging around in drawers for ancient Walkmans or old hi-fi components, but they’re getting thin on the ground. According to the internet, Lexus’s SC430 was the last production car to come with a cassette as standard, way back in 2010, so even that option is limited.
Cassettes are an inherently mechanical medium, with a system of pulleys, cogs, and motors dragging the tape across a magnetic play head, with the tape spooling from one reel to another in the process (recording players add an additional erase head). With so many moving parts, there’s a lot to go wrong.
Are there new cassette players out there? We’ve noted the occasional foray into new-style portable audio, most prominently the simple Cassette Player launched by We Are Rewind a couple of years ago. The CES 2024 show saw the release of the FiiO CP13, another Walkman-inspired device that offers 1980s-era colours and forms and basic playback functionality (albeit less basic than We Are Rewind’s machine). There’s also a plethora of dubiously branded players, both standalone and portable, on sites like Amazon, most of which look like decades-old designs. In recent years, there have even been low-quality, Walkman-adjacent players for sale at Urban Outfitters and other retailers.
Only a scant few specialist manufacturers rode out cassettes’ boom and bust story. However, blank tapes are still being made, and a five-pack of Maxell UR-90s is a reassuringly familiar discovery on Amazon. The company even launched a collaboration with streetwear brand Supreme in 2023. Another notable survivor is the National Audio Company in Missouri, US, which describes itself as ‘The Great American Cassette Company’. On its reassuringly low-fi website the NAC charts the decade-long stirring of the audio tape revival.
But it’s all a far cry from the cassette’s heyday, when thousands of different brands offered blank tapes in all different colours, chronicled by the likes of websites like Project C-90 and exhaustive collections like that of Stuart Childs. A cassette is enduringly personal; not only is the diversity of design unlimited, but the straightforward card inlay is a gateway to do-it-yourself artwork.
In order to sate this nostalgia buzz and tap into those creatives who continue to use the format, your best bet is to delve into the refurbished market. Either find a refurbishment specialist or take a chance on a high-quality machine, one that was engineered for longevity right from the start. Here’s our rough guide to the classic machines of the past, along with a few innovations from the present, and the best places to source innovation and forward-thinking about this enduring analogue technology.
Cassette players new and classic for your tape habit
Tascam 202MKVII
We should start by noting that in amongst the chaos of the online vendors, a couple of very reasonable modern machines still exist, produced by companies with an excellent track record in audio design. Tascam’s 202MKVII is a classic twin cassette deck with the added twist of USB output. A heavy-duty design intended to be rack-mounted, not stacked, Tascam is aiming this deck at the professional user, citing ‘karaoke bars, sports centres, town halls, civic and community centres, schools and libraries’ in its promotional material. Solid, dependable and a rare new purchase.
Tascam 202MKVII Cassette Deck, available from Amazon.co.uk, Tascam.com
TEAC AD-850-SE
Another longstanding player in the cassette market is Japanese company TEAC. It offers the AD-850-SE, a composite unit that integrates a CD player alongside the cassette deck, also with USB recording. In addition, there’s a microphone input, as well as the mixing and echo effects necessary to put on a Karaoke evening, revealing one particular market where cassettes endure.
Teac AD-850-SE, available from Amazon.co.uk, EU.Teac-audio.com
Brionvega Soundbook
Italian manufacturer Brionvega still exists, with a rich back-catalogue of design classics. The company also made tape recorders, and the 1974 Soundbook, shown here, is a cult classic. The foldable, portable Soundbook was the work of Richard Sapper and Marco Zanuso. You’ll have to scour auction sites to find one – such as these examples at the German seller Quittenbaum – and don’t expect high fidelity when you do.
Brionvega Soundbook, auction and second-hand only
Braun C3 Cassette Deck
Another design classic, Braun’s Atelier component system included the C-series cassette deck, shown here as the C3 model introduced in 1983 (there was also the C1, C2 and C4). Designed, of course, by Dieter Rams and Peter Hartwein, the C3 was an ultra-slim unit with a tray-loading mechanism that took the tape horizontally. It came with a sophisticated digital counter and two microphone inputs. Again, a specialist auction house is your best bet – this example was sold by German auction house Quittenbaum in 2016.
Braun C3, auction and second-hand only
Bang & Olufsen Beocord 8000
For unabashed theatricality and sound quality, collectors need look no further than Bang & Olufsen. Although the company no longer makes cassette decks, iconic models include the Beocord 3500, 4500, 5500, 8000 and 9000, the last being the flagship model. Bang & Olufsen cassette players typically had motorised sliding aluminium covers for the tape transport, as well as microprocessor control that gave a counter reading in minutes and seconds. The company’s ongoing quest for sustainability and circularity, as well as the quality of its engineering and components, ensure that B&O-approved repair specialists exist around the globe. In the UK, the company recommends Multicare Electronics in Leeds.
Bang & Olufsen Beocord 8000, 1980, auction and second-hand-only, Stores.Bang-Olufsen.com
Denon DRW-695 Cassette Deck
Japanese manufacturer Denon produced hundreds of thousands of cassette decks in the format’s heyday, and its products are a sound bet on the second-hand market. Shown here is the DRW-695, a solid choice for a feature-rich twin cassette deck, should you be able to find one. The company’s flagship was the DR-M44HX from 1985 and there was also the Denon DRS-610 tray-loading model.
Denon cassette decks, second-hand only, company information at Denon.com
Marantz SD9000dbx Cassette Deck
Another volume manufacturer no longer in the cassette deck game, Marantz is an American company with a long history of making solid, dependable tape players. For 1980, the flagship model was the SD9000dbx, with a list price of $830 back in the day. Now highly sought after, the model had a sophisticated computer-controlled system that could be programmed to change the playback order of up to 19 tracks. Other 1980s icons to look out for include products from NAD Electronics, Harmon Kardon, Yamaha, Technics, Kenwood, and of course Sony and its subsidiary Aiwa.
Marantz cassette decks, second-hand only, company information at Marantz.com
Nakamichi Dragon Cassette Deck
No look back at cassette culture is complete without a mention of the Nakamichi Dragon, a legendary Japanese cassette deck heralded by audiophiles of the day as the most precise and best-sounding tape player ever made. The company survives, albeit as a maker of speakers and soundbars, and the Dragon name has even been put to work on a Surround Sound speaker system, but the original deck endures in the cultural memory. Introduced in 1982 and manufactured for 12 years, the Dragon’s principal innovation was a precisely aligned playback head that minimised any loss of sound quality. Costing around $1,850 when introduced, well cared for examples now go for many times that price.
Nakamichi Dragon, second-hand only, company information at Nakamichi-USA.com
Pioneer CT F1000 and CT F1250 Cassette decks
Pioneer’s enduring aesthetic legacy is that of sturdy wooden cabinets and clean aluminium fascias. The internal components and quality were also top quality, making all vintage Pioneer equipment highly collectable. These two classic Pioneers, the CT F1000 and CT F1250, have been reconditioned by Fryderyk Danielczyk in Warsaw. Specialising in furniture and audio restoration, including Reel-to-Reel players, speakers, and CD players, this is a safe place to secure a classic in perfect working condition.
Refurbished Pioneer decks and more at the FryderykDanielczykStore.com
Revox B215 Cassette Deck
Introduced in 1985, the Revox B215 was one of the audiophile stars of the decade, a precision Swiss-made device that found favour with professional studios as well as consumers. The company will take your original B215 and give it a complete overhaul, transforming it back into a practically new player.
Refurbished classic equipment from Revox.com
