Sony TCWE475 Dual Cassette Player / Recorder

I needed a player for the task of converting 200 audio cassette tapes to digital, using the Audacity application. We stick to Sony for our electronics--when we stray we're usually sorry. So I went with this deck. Not that there's much of a selection left for this archaic recording method. Since we won't use a tape deck for anything after the converting project is done, I didn't want to spend a lot. This unit was a good deal and so far is doing the job well. There aren't any bells or whistles but they aren't needed. The loud thud of the motor when fast-forwarding ends is a bit alarming. Hopefully it's normal for a "DC Servo Controlled Motor"--whatever that is! The manual is simple and well-written. I recommend this machine.

We're really happy with this Sony after buying & returning TEAC W-600R Dual Full-Logic Cassette. What a difference in sound! Better features, too. Definitely worth the difference in price.

Like many of you I'm digitizing some cassettes; commercial ones that are out of print and demos from various musical projects I mixed down to cassette in the 80s and 90s. Finding a used Nak or Studer-Revox from days of yore and insuring it is up to spec is a bit much and, being a freelancer, my finances for such indulgences are strictly budgeted. The Sony is in my price range and it will see vary little use after I digitize about 30 commercial and 30 demo cassettes. "Sigh".., then it will be time to look for a reasonably priced (properly speced this time) turntable to start digitizing my discontinued vinyl.

Even as useless as the spec sheet is I still chose the Sony because of the price. Honestly, the spec sheet means nothing. The frequency response numbers don't specify which tape well is being referenced, there's no specified weighting. If "IEC" is meant to indicate that the results are weighted then there is no indication as to what type. Although an argument could be made that A is the most common it is after all a spec sheet I'm referring to. By definition a spec sheet should be specific. I'm spoiled.

What about that incredible frequency response that is +/-6db? Using the above assumption about what the inclusion of "IEC" may or may not indicate about weighting it could indicate "unweighted". At +/-6db unweighted who cares, its technical jabberwocky, its B.S. marketing. Still, I went into this knowing the specs were the product of "creative accounting".

So, my suggestion for choosing a cassette deck, this one included, is to first purchase it from someplace with a good return policy, then once it arrives and is set up find a XDR cassette in your collection, find a frequency analyzer plug-in for your chosen recording software, record the test tones played back from both heads (tape wells) and look at the results in the freq analyzer yourself. The results I got were acceptable for what I want to accomplish. Cassettes were never audiophile quality even when the source was recorded onto a hi-speed single well professional deck (good luck finding said deck), no matter how much anyone wants to convince you otherwise its not true. It is true, however, that if you want to go crazy and squeeze that last bit of fidelity out of your cassette collection then a restored hi-end Nakamichi or Studer-Revox is the way to go. Better yet, use the original deck the material was recorded on after you've cleaned and degaused it.

If your cassette collection is mostly commercial pop, rock, and mix tapes of the same then this deck should be fine from a fidelity standpoint (if you consider yourself a classical music or jazz aficionado and have any of such in your cassette collection that was purchased after your college years hang your head in shame). As for long term reliability, I'll probably never know. Once my cassettes are digitized look for this deck on ebay. It will have been professionally maintained and have low hours.

Therer are lots of others you can check out, but this one is good quality

I bought one of these decks in november 2006, and one week later I had to exchange it for another because the relays misfunctioned, so that instead of rewinding, it ran the tape forward for two sequences. I got another, same problem. When I got the third one and it started doing it, I decided to get it repaired in Loredo tx. they repaired one side, then the other one started doing it. I got that repaired in July 2007, and, now it is starting it again. The relays are unreliable, and your tapes can get snarled because it might wind forward instead of rewinding, and when you use the music search to go backward to a previous song, it could also go forward. The machine makes great recordings and my tapes sound great, but it has a crappy noisy design.