Hacker News Reader

Comment by jrmg | Hacker News Reader

Amazon leads me to believe this may be a rebadged version of this no-brand-name player (with a translucent case for full late-90s throwback!)

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FC5MD6WP/

View on HN

Apparently, all of the audio cassette players being produced now use the same mechanism (perhaps from multiple factories). Some upscale brands like Fiio use basically the same mechanism but use some more premium parts in places, swapping out plastic bits for metal ones. If you need low wow and flutter, it makes sense to seek out vintage players that were built like a tank.

A great youtube channel on both modern cassette players and legacy audio formats is Techmoan. I never knew I was interested in this topic before watching those videos.

Here's the OEM: https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/Wholesale-Portable-St...

Buttons, controls, and overall design (basically) match. Aliexpress/Alibaba's visual search is a funny way to discover and find everyone's drop shippers these days...

And as I really don't understand costs of doing business the margins amaze me... Well it is not so bad with these no true name like Amazon example. But with other brands it does really hit you just high the multiple can be.

Yeah, I'll wait for Tech Moan to review it on his YouTube channel. I believe he has said there is really only one cassette mechanism being used today—and it's shite.

Not even worth reviewing

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8RTPcjRbIec

His review of it is out for Patrons already (including a comparison to the noname version), so should be up on his channel soon

Reply on news.ycombinator.com