Same thing happened with casette tapes and cassette mechanisms.
Most people think cassette tapes were terrible, because they remember the bargain basement iron tapes and no noise reduction. A top quality chrome casette when recorded well and played back on the right hardware is very difficult to tell apart from the digital original.
Similar story with VHS to be honest.
There’s a “minimum acceptable quality” which people were willing to tolerate, and manufacturers inevietably converge towards it in an effort to shave off a few cents here and there.
Audiophile now is very different, because it’s not a mass market consumer format any longer - it’s a niche hobby, and people are willing to pay top money for their hobbies.
Really? I’ve heard the opposite: that modern cassette players are garbage because they all reuse the same Chinese mechanism with mono playback and no Dolby noise reduction.
If you want a good cassette player, you’re supposed to buy one from the 80s or 90s, preferably a Sony.
Yeah that’s exactly the problem with modern cassette players, they’re almost a waste of money. And the tape that is still produced today is quite terrible compared the old tape, so you also have to find old tape as well
I own two modern cassette players. I’m not old enough to have really lived through the original cassette era, but can confirm the modern stuff is kinda trash. Lots of motor whine. Would love to get my hands on a Walkman, but can’t justify the price. Tbh I kinda lost interest in cassettes more recently. I love the idea of physical media and mix tapes, but digital just feels more practical.
Indeed, some models are reselling for extremely expensive prices nowadays, it’s a bit crazy. Especially since digital is just much more convenient, but it can feel nice to have some physical media
Alternatively you could look into a cassette deck if you’re not set on a portable player (one released before the 2000s, I don’t think they make new ones at all anyways), the high or medium end decks tend to have better sound – there’s much less flutter/wow – compared to portable players in the same price range nowadays, since they’re less “cool”. Still have to be pretty lucky to find good deals though
The modern hobbyist resurgence is in vinyl, not cassette. I was only mentioning cassette to make the point that the same phenomenon occurs in other media too - of technologies getting worse over time. Especially true in cassette, in fact.
Same thing happened with casette tapes and cassette mechanisms.
Most people think cassette tapes were terrible, because they remember the bargain basement iron tapes and no noise reduction. A top quality chrome casette when recorded well and played back on the right hardware is very difficult to tell apart from the digital original.
Similar story with VHS to be honest.
There’s a “minimum acceptable quality” which people were willing to tolerate, and manufacturers inevietably converge towards it in an effort to shave off a few cents here and there.
Audiophile now is very different, because it’s not a mass market consumer format any longer - it’s a niche hobby, and people are willing to pay top money for their hobbies.
Really? I’ve heard the opposite: that modern cassette players are garbage because they all reuse the same Chinese mechanism with mono playback and no Dolby noise reduction.
If you want a good cassette player, you’re supposed to buy one from the 80s or 90s, preferably a Sony.
Yeah that’s exactly the problem with modern cassette players, they’re almost a waste of money. And the tape that is still produced today is quite terrible compared the old tape, so you also have to find old tape as well
I own two modern cassette players. I’m not old enough to have really lived through the original cassette era, but can confirm the modern stuff is kinda trash. Lots of motor whine. Would love to get my hands on a Walkman, but can’t justify the price. Tbh I kinda lost interest in cassettes more recently. I love the idea of physical media and mix tapes, but digital just feels more practical.
Indeed, some models are reselling for extremely expensive prices nowadays, it’s a bit crazy. Especially since digital is just much more convenient, but it can feel nice to have some physical media
Alternatively you could look into a cassette deck if you’re not set on a portable player (one released before the 2000s, I don’t think they make new ones at all anyways), the high or medium end decks tend to have better sound – there’s much less flutter/wow – compared to portable players in the same price range nowadays, since they’re less “cool”. Still have to be pretty lucky to find good deals though
Well yes that’s true.
The modern hobbyist resurgence is in vinyl, not cassette. I was only mentioning cassette to make the point that the same phenomenon occurs in other media too - of technologies getting worse over time. Especially true in cassette, in fact.
Good cassettes players are old ones.