FiiO CP13 Cassette Player (Transparent)

As anybody in the cassette circle knows, all modern players are kinda junk. They use a "Tanashin mechanism"; a sort of "catch-all" phrase for shoddy Chinese knockoffs of a Japanese budget design meant for car stereos that ceased production around 2009. Every modern cassette player uses this Chinese clone mechanism, because sadly it's the only mechanism still being produced. It's known for poor tape feeding, insanely high wow/flutter (basically the tape playing at incorrect speeds or the sound "warbling"), and other issues. So how did FiiO achieve something so much better? The CP-13 has shockingly good playback quality for a new player. You can plainly see from the motor position and a few other signifiers (like button placement) it's a Tanashin mechanism. But, whatever improvements they've made have paid off, since of any modern cassette player I've used, this by far has the lowest wow/flutter I've heard, thankfully reaching the realm of "you can't notice it with your ears, only if you pull out some equipment to measure it will it show up." Can't say the same about some cheapo no-name players you'll find on this same website... As for sound quality, well, don't expect anything too insane and you'll be happy. It lacks Dolby NR, as Dolby has stopped licensing out that technology for cassette years ago. But still, with a good-condition tape I haven't noticed any serious hissing or crackling issues. Whatever amp they've put in here lets it get reasonably loud, good enough to drive some speakers probably. On my Koss Porta Pro's, around 20% on the dial is reasonably loud, anything beyond that is painfully loud, haha. The build quality is immaculate too; all-metal build, though I got the model with the transparent door, so that bit is plastic. (But, a very sturdy feeling plastic, not some cheap junk.) Buttons ka-chunk nicely just like you remember, the door opens and it loads tapes easily, everything just works, and works well. (I will say I wish it had auto-stop on FFW/RW, but can't complain too much.) Size-wise, yeah, there's been much smaller vintage players, but I wouldn't say this is obnoxiously large. There's certainly bigger ones out there. I will say this though; FiiO, where's the freakin' belt clip!? They even sell a separate case for it... which also doesn't have a belt clip! The heck?! Finally, for value, I'd say easily this is the only modern cassette player worth spending your money on. Yeah, vintage may be better, but some of us don't want 40+ year old electronics that could fail at any second, and want something that's guaranteed to work out of the box for some time.

The quality and durability is top notch! back in the day we didn’t really concern ourselves with how clear or muffled a tape sounded. just as long as it wasn’t playing the cassettes too fast or too slow. we just popped them in and started listening to the music we loved and songs we identified and would sing to! But in todays world we are wanting to go back in time and enjoy the primitive technology but with mp3 or streaming quality. the facts are is that cassettes aren’t going to sound that good back then and now. it will solely depend are you equipment for that! but this cassette player is by far the king of new age cassette playing! it’s either this one or the WE ARE REWIND cassette player. But remember less is more! this one is only a basic mechanism with an on board chip that has a high quality preamp for volume. WE ARE REWIND HAS THAT TOO BUT WITH OTHER FEATURES THAT CAN INTERFERE WITH PLAYBACK DUE TO ELECTRICAL DISTRIBUTION. Like Bluetooth and a mic in port. Those features need power constantly fed to them to be operational so you may hear a hum or a buzz while listening to cassette’s while the FiiO cp13 has non of that so there won’t be any electrical interference! The build is great! With an all metal body that feels very sleek and sturdy and gives it a good weight! And it has a built in 18650 cell battery so no need to go out and buy expensive cells any longer. I’m a repair guy on cassette players as well and I think I can disassemble these to get to the battery and belts to do my own repairs to the battery and belt situation! Cons- you will more and likely have to adjust the azimuth to get a clearer sound. Mine came a bit muffled sounding but I adjusted it and it sounds good! Overall I give the FiiO cp13 4/5!

Great cassette player with a few disadvantages. Build quality is great, and it has a pretty low wow and flutter. It doesn’t chew the tape. Has a nice volume knob. It is believed, that this player is THE best among those that are being manufactured today, despite having the same mechanism. Opening the cassette door is not that easy, you have to do it with your nail. It doesn’t stop automatically when you rewind or fast forward. It doesn’t indicate of low battery, it just suddenly stops. It doesn’t support chrome or metal tapes, so they sound not good. If you flip the player while playing - sound gets distorted for a few secs. And the last - you can hear the motor running while playing the tape (static noise), and if you charge the player and play a tape at the same time and touch the casing with your hands, you can hear even more static noise. The best sound quality it outputs when sitting in vertical position, better than when laying on its side. Nevertheless, it’s a good cassette player in overall. I’m glad that I bought it. I believe it is worth it’s price.

Lo pedí para un regalo y me lo terminé quedando xd Por el precio me hubiera gustado que trajera más funciones como grabadora y tal vez Bluetooth, sin embargo se siente de muy buena calidad y reproduce cassettes de formas perfecta, me gusta mucho que es de cargar y no de pilas

Comprato per curiosità, avendo ancora molte cassette musicali e nessun riproduttore funzionante. Non avevo grosse aspettative (abituato al mio Sony WMD6) ma devo ammettere che come riproduttore funziona bene e la ricarica da usb-c è molto comoda. Provato sia con le cuffie (riesce a suonare bene con le cuffie a bassa impedenza, con le Sennheiser HD600 ovviamente non ce la fà) che collegato all'impianto stereo. Qualità audio piu che accettabile (stiamo pur sempre parlando di musicassette, con tutti i limiti del supporto), peccato non abbia una uscita di linea per la connessione allo stereo ma si debba utilizzare l'uscita cuffia. Il bluetooth sarebbe un plus per l'uso con cuffie/auricolari, ma usandolo esclusivamente a casa non lo trovo un limite cosi importante

私の勘違いで録音もできると思っていたら再生のみでした。評判の通り再生音はカセットとは思われない音質でとても満足しています。まだデジタル録音のない時代に録り溜めたJAZZのエアーチャックのカセットを聞いて楽しみます。

The Fiio CP13 was promptly delivered and exceptionally well packed. Feel/Quality The Fiio CP13 is a delight to hold and feels like a well-made quality product. It has a simple design and solid buttons which should hopefully last a long time. Operation The operation is simple and manual with strong chunky buttons for play, rewind, fast forward & stop. It has an auto stop on play but not on rewind or fast forward so please be aware of this if you have a weak or fragile tape. I found this to my cost when it chewed one of my 1970’s tapes. Cons There is no button to open the cassette door so this may prove difficult if you have limited manual dexterity. Sound Quality (dependent upon how recorded) The sound quality has proved to be good when replaying my cassettes recorded in the 70’s, 80’s & 90’s (could do with a little more high-end response but that could be my recording) however, 2000’s onwards the quality has been excellent. Please note this can also be dependent on the headphones used. To maintain best sound quality, it is advisable to clean the cassette heads regularly. Cons Due to limited space (the cassette case does not open very far) it is difficult to clean and demagnetize the cassette heads. Earphone Socket I used the Sennheiser CX300 S ear canal headphones and found that if the supplied ear tips did not provide enough bass, you could use ‘Aiivioll’ silicon ear tips instead. I used cheap Philips over ear headphones and they gave excellent bass. When using ear canal headphones, the volume is very good requiring minimal adjustment to increase the volume. This is handy as it saves battery life giving more cassette playing time. Note: If you are using over ear headphones, you will have to drive them a lot more and turn up the volume considerably. Cons Using ear canal headphones, it is likely that you will have to pull the jack out of the Fiio CP13 headphone socket a fraction (0.5 to 1mm). This was not necessary when using over ear headphones. Charging Battery life depends upon headphones used and volume selected. Ear canal headphones give at least 9hrs 10mins. Over ear headphones give about 7hrs 45mins. The cassette player gives no warning when it runs out of power – just stops! Thankfully charging is easy and quick in about 2.5hrs.

Este es un walkman con la calidad tal vez mejor que los que se hacían en Japón en los años 80. Solo le faltaría tener Dolby-B para ser perfecto. Sonido analógico del bueno (por supuesto con auriculares buenos o unos buenos altavoces) ya se sabe que en una cadena de dispositivos sonoros, la máxima calidad es la del eslabón más débil. Es una pena que nadie encare la elaboración de buenos boombox, radiocassettes y pletinas con la calidad de antaño, y como demuestra FiiO ya se puede hacer también en China, si se quiere.