FiiO CP13 Cassette Player (Transparent)

This cassette player is a superb machine. The unit is solid and sturdy, no evidence of flimsy parts or material. Even the packaging and owners manual are of superior quality. It's function is simple: it playes cassette tapes and does it extremely well. There is nothing about this unit that will distract from playing tapes. The operating buttons are clearly marked and have a solid feel to them. The speed is smooth and consistent with no audible wow and flutter. The volume control is smooth and steady and easy to use with precision. I made a copy of a pristine mix that I made over 45 years ago using this machine for playback and connecting my recording deck to the headphone jack. Unorthodox yes, but the copy is so identical to the original that I couldn't tell the difference listining, I had to look at the tape. There was no audible hum from the player's amplifier. This is a quality hi fi machine. I was ready to buy a cassette deck costing many hundreds of dollars but decided to try this. I'm glad I did and should have done so much sooner. Kudos to the people at FIIO who brought this to market. Oh, and it's not plastic, it's metal! It has the look and feel of a machine that will last along time. I hope that is true for I plan to use it for a long time. If you're serious about your cassette tapes take the plunge and buy this machine.

I waited for 6 month since they announced there will be a transparent version of CP13, and HERE IT IS! I have this player for a couple hours, and here is my experience:1. Design and Control: The product it self is very well made, feels sturdy and solid. All buttons are smooth (compare to other cheap plastic crap for 30$ on amazon). The volume knob has decent resistances to it. The cassette door makes pleasant open and close sound and feedback.2. Sound quality: With a Type IV metal tape (Sony Metal Master), and use simulated 70us compensation via EQ curves, this little player could be on par with all my other vintage AIWA/SONY/Toshiba portable Walkman (sub 100$ range). There is not a ton of bass but enough for pop/classical/R&B, etc. Bass extension could be flat around 40Hz and roll down till 20Hz. The treble response amazed me actually, which has response all the way till 20kHz from my line-in result with Sony Metal Master. It could produce a flat out response till around 15-16kHz and start slow roll over. The frequency response is very good. The output power is much better than expected, and with a VERY LOW noise floor with my Balanced-Armature IM02 earphone, I could not detect noticeable motor hum and distracting noise from the electronics and amps. I am very pleased.3. Technical specs wise: The Wow & Flutter, well, check my picture. I have done a 10-min test with my reference tapes, and the result is 0.10~0.15% WRMS, with peak DIN around 0.24-0.3%. This is good for current mechanisms it uses, and I expect it will just be better over time as it break in. The default tape speed is about 1% faster than standard, and I have tuned using screwdriver through the internal pot, and now it is steady at 3145-3155Hz (I am using 3150Hz ref. tape). The stability is not perfect but acceptable if you compare to some vintage Walkman, but it is the flaw for current mechanism. I do encountered azimuth error by little amount, and it is an easy fix if you have the reference tape. The issue is the cassette door holder, which I found that it is a bit loose for some slim cassettes. This could cause discrepancy in tape azimuth when you change the orientation of this player.Overall I am very pleased with this player (especially I only paid 28$ since I have gift card haha). For 99$, you could get rid of hassle in changing belts, oiling mechanism, replacing capacitors, and many more repairing in vintage players that lived over 30 years. I recommend this product as anyone who are newly to tapes or wants a backup player for daily uses.

Good battery life. Flawless operation. Very quiet motor. Absolutely no output noise. Elegant design. Precisely mfg'd. Feels solid.Would have paid more to get more features.No eject button. Thumbnail activated!Has auto shut-off during play-back, but not rewind or ff. Only output is mini audio.BT would be nice to have - don't let this get in the way of a good time - get an adapter.

Finally, they got rid of the motor noise in the modern tape mechanism!Tapes aren't amazingly clear to begin with but that's part of the allure, an audio "aesthetic" if you will. They also don't sound bad either, and this cassette player has FINALLY addressed the one major problem holding these new ones back.It now sounds as good as my old walkmans used to. Now of course there's going to be hiss, no dolby, maybe some wow and flutter. It doesn't sound broken or bad in any way, just very "tapey" which is the reason you come back to these in this day and age.People are expecting the level of quality of a top-of-the-line 90's deck in a $100 portable device created with what's basically a dead technology in a dead market. That's not realistic in the slightest! Such a device wouldn't be anywhere near $100 even in those days.Furthermore, anyone looking to cassettes for hifi quality or portability (for say, jogging) is being a little silly in my honest opinion. In 2024 you have extremely cheap options for much higher fidelity than a cassette based device can ever give you.Plus, you're not seriously considering going on a jog with a semi-fragile device that can literally only hold one album at a time, right? If not, then you don't need to worry that it doesn't have an anti-rollback mechanism. It sounds just fine when laying right-side up. Also, fast forward and rewind have always had to be stopped manually. It might be new if you've never had one but that's normal, you just gotta pay attention to it. The lithium battery + type C makes it SUPER convenient to use.However, if you need a really good digital audio player go for the Surfans F-28. I can recommend that little dude. Expensive but quality.Back to business. If you're still hooked on cassettes in 2024 it's because you're a nerd, you gawk at those Bandcamp cassette releases and you like the warm fuzzy vibe of old technology but aren't dedicated enough to really get into 90's hifi and "proper" cassette machines. If you're one of the old tape heads, that's a no go. But if you're just like me, and want a cassette experience that's not total crap and like cheap cassettes for what they are, and aren't asking them to be hifi, then this device is for us.Don't let the negative reviews scare you away!But wait, how does it compare to the We Are Rewind cassette player (which I also have)?Aside from some missing functionality (Stereo recording, Bluetooth) the Fiio wins. As much as I like that device, it still has the horrendous motor noise during playback due to lack of proper electrical interference shielding (?). The recording would be good for a lofi musician or good enough for us average joes, and the Bluetooth of the We Are Rewind is awesome but not really needed.It's also about $70 more expensive, and it's poorly laid out. None of the buttons are oriented correctly for you to see what you're doing from a casual glance. I don't regret buying it but if you're on the fence get the FIIO. It's just so much better audio wise because that motor isn't screeching in all the quiet parts.One thing both players don't do great is the lack of rubber stops to keep the aluminum from getting scratched up. I added some generic sticky ones from this site all over the We Are Rewind so it can set on a desk. I might not for the FIIO because design wise it is so much prettier. Plus these guys need a case, preferably with an arm sling like they used to come with.Other than that, that's my clunky review.Full 5 stars and I hope we continue to iterate on these cassette players and give them back the popularity they deserve, even if it's an evolution of what they are now rather than what they once were. As for me this is a modest dream come true.It isn't my first FIIO product either, check out more of their stuff.Not paid to say any of this. I just buy a lot of their stuff.