Diehard Technology: The Audio Cassette

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The Rise and Fall of Mr. Digital During the late 1980s, I became Mr. Digital: I cast aside my turntable and LPs for the CD, installed a ProTools hard disk recording system in my Mac, and bolted a gray market Sony DAT recorder in my rack.1 Unfortunately, the recording industry wasn't ready for perfect digital copies of its precious CDs and blocked the introduction of DAT into North America with a restraining order. Sony reasoned that a compressed recording format that throws away data would be acceptable to the record industry. Hence, the Mini Disc or MD was born in the early 90s. I gave that one a try too. Unfortunately, MD compression compromised audio quality too much (650 MB into 128 MB!!). The MD's slightly harsh but cumulatively irritating timbre and lack of universality resulted in a cheap sale of my rig to a neighborhood teenager. The analog copies I made on my Tascam 122MKII cassette deck sounded much better than the MD copies. However, I wanted to be cutting edge so I chained a Yamaha CD burner to my Mac, tossed a CD deck in my car and strapped a Discman to my body. Now I could enjoy the harsh sound of digital all day long! Or, so I thought... Thieves like CDs and CD players. My car's CD deck was ripped off twice in two years. It was a hard choice, but I decided to stop supplying CD decks to the neighborhood thief. A man needs tunes in his wheels, and now the humble cassette was my only choice. It was hard to admit, but cassettes sound good anywhere if you do it right: use a quality 3-head deck for recording, apply proper technique and maintenance, and record on quality metal or CrO2 tape. Never use normal tape or prerecorded tape (they sound like crap and/or fall apart). Thus, I installed a cassette head in my car and transferred my fav CD, DAT and LP recordings to tape. I now have a back seat filled with cassettes. Cassettes are also useful because you can leave them on the dashboard and seats to scare away crooks--better than an alarm system. With so many tapes laying around, I began using a cassette Walkman again. With analog in the ear, I started collecting LPs. How retro! Now I have come full circle. The analog formats I abandoned over 10 years ago are back and sounding better than ever. Mr. Digital Meets His Future Walkman I admired the Sony WM-EX7 Walkman many times during 2001 at Shirokiya, a Japanese department store in Honolulu. The $200 price ($259 list) kept me window shopping. This Fall Sony debuted new models for 2002 and the WM-EX7 went on closeout for $78. I snatched one up and was floored at how much the cassette player improved during the last decade. The leaps in power efficiency, component miniaturization, features and fidelity are astounding. Sony WM-EX7 Walkman Cassette Player • Just slightly bigger than a cassette and only 180 grams Features & Controls The WM-EX7 Walkman was one of Sony's best portable cassette players during 1999-2001. It features music scan (AMS); 4 programmed EQ modes, Normal, Mega Bass, Revive & Groove; jog lever equipped remote with backlit LCD; in-ear headphones; auto tape selection (type I, II or IV); A/B side detector; 3 playback modes; blank slip and track repeat functions; Dolby B; auto reverse; and volume limiter (AVLS). The fast forward and rewind are supposed to be 36x (36 times faster than playback speed). It does feel very peppy for a Walkman. A NiCad battery, battery charger, external battery pack and carrying pouch are included accessories. The watch sized remote control is a gas with its jog lever (joystick) and iridescent-blue backlit LCD. Tape functions and modes may be accessed with the jog lever and mode switch. A push of the lever and you're in play, side change, fast forward, rewind, track repeat, or AMS. It even sports a clip for attaching the remote to your shirt. Volume is adjusted with a tiny dial on the side. The LCD provides a pretty light show with character display and dancing balls. The modes--blank skip, track repeat, continuous play, Mega Bass, side A, side B, etc.--are inscribed in tiny sliver characters around the frame of the circular LCD. The presence or lack of a ball near each inscription indicates an active or inactive mode. Character display is limited to PLAY, STOP, FF, REW, AMS, HOLD and MENU. It would be easier to read the active modes, especially in the dark, by representing them with an icon on the LCD (the remote in the WM-EX20 does this). Well, ar least Sony provided an icon for battery level. The AMS feature recalls my Club Scout days and Morse Code: tap the joystick 2 times and it zips to track 2, tap 7 times and it double times it to track 7, etc. You can search up to 9 tracks forward or backwards. The remote displays the number of AMS tracks you input and counts down as you whiz towards them. If you lose the remote, basic functions--volume, playback, stop, repeat track, fast forward, rewind, reverse, Dolby B on/off and AMS--may be controlled from the body with the Morse Code system. Luckily, Sony imprinted the basic command codes on the back of the Walkman for those with short memories (or don't read the manual). Construction This Japanese made deck looks and feels top drawer with its brushed aluminum exterior and metal control buttons and switches. In Japan it's available in gold, blue and champagne. North America gets sliver only. The surface is finished with a clear coat, probably a polyurethane-type finish. The fit and finish are excellent, and it is an uncommonly handsome unit. Although it sports a metal body and chassis, it is extremely lightweight (180 g). Moreover, it is tiny (80.2 x 112.2 x 21.45 mm), slightly larger than a cassette and smaller than any portable CD player. If you're used to plastic players the cold feel of metal may surprise you. The case door locks during operation and, thus, can't be opened accidentally. The door also opens wide enough for easy access, making routine demagnetizing and cleaning a breeze. There's no problem using my big honkin' Tascam head demagnetizer. The power efficiency of the WM-EX7 is incredible. There are two power sources: a small external power pack and a tiny internal NiCad battery. You may use either one or both together. The power pack is black plastic and bolts securely to the bottom of the unit. A single AA alkaline battery powers over 50 hours of playback! Combined with the internal NH-14WM rechargeable battery, an additional 35 hours or 85 hours total playback is possible. The amazing NH-14WM NiCad is the size of a stick of chewing gum. Of course, a lot of AMS or fast forwarding will diminish battery life. My Sony Outback Walkman (circa 1990) averaged 5 or 6 hours of playback with two AA alkalines and 4 hours with NiCads. My late '90s Sony Discman barely makes it to 16 hours. RFI Resistant I live in a concrete jungle a block from a TV transmitting tower on top of a neighboring condo. RFI is in my phones and any cheap, unshielded audio component or musical instrument. I've returned expensive CD and cassette decks due to RFI problems. Amazingly, Sony included excellent shielding because there is no audible RFI, not even between tracks. I'm sure the metal case provides helpful shielding. Sound Quality I recorded source material from CD, DAT and LP on to Maxell XLII-S (type II), Maxell MX (type IV, metal) and Sony UX-ES (type II) using 3-head cassette decks, e.g., the Sony TC-KA1ESA and Tascam 122MKIII. I don't even consider type I (normal) or prerecorded tapes. They gave the cassette a bad reputation with abundant noise and truncated frequency response. After breaking the WM-EX7 in for a couple weeks (it initially sounded too bright), it offered fine sonic qualities--sonic qualities which include clarity, balance, neutrality, full dynamics, pitch stability and a nice soundstage. I was especially pleased with the full range dynamics of the WM-EX7 (most cassette players sound compressed). With Maxell MX tape (type IV, metal), percussive tones really jumped out at you. Moreover, during pianissimo passages a CD level of background quiet was evident. I never felt like I was listening to a cassette. The sound is amazingly transparent: CD copies sound like a CD and LP copies sound like a LP. I mainly listen to pitch and noise revealing recordings--solo classical guitar, lute and harpsichord--so it's not unusual for cassette decks and turntables to flunk Aural Training 101. While trekking on mountain and jungle trails with the WM-EX7 in a fanny pack, the pitch stability proved to be excellent. The motor has enough torque to play slightly "tight" tapes that other Walkman players had trouble with. The "anti-rolling" mechanism is highly effective in maintaining pitch stability during normal treks and bumpy bus rides. Of course, if you jump up and down, wow and flutter will result. Nevertheless, the WM-EX7's pitch stability is the best of any portable cassette unit I've owned, including the WM-EX20 (20th Anniversary Walkman). Heck, it's better than my Rega Planar 2 turntable. I tried several headphones and found most of them worked well with the WM-EX7. The included Earbuds are an open air design with a short cord. They sound decent but are bass deficient and slightly bright in the upper midrange. The Mega Bass EQ setting improves the bass considerably. My Sony MDR EX7-LP 20th Anniversary Mini-Fontopia Earbuds ($49.95) sound very smooth and balanced, i.e., no bass boost needed. This is a soft silicon earplug-style design with a long cord, and is my trekking 'phones of choice. The WM-EX7 also had no problems driving my Grado SR-60 headphones. They sound wonderful but are too uncomfortable and bulky for serious trekking. My Sennheiser 580 headphones worked but sounded like crap. The WM-EX7 doesn't have enough juice to power them properly (you could use a battery powered headphone amp). Sony MDR EX7-LP 20th Anniversary Mini-Fontopia Earbuds After playing with several headphones and many tapes, I found the programmed EQs more useful than I had anticipated. With my Sony MDR EX7-LP Earbuds I used Normal EQ most of the time. The Mega Bass EQ sounded good with some bass starved jazz and rock mixes of the 60s and 70s. The Groove (hip hop bass) sounded bloated and boomy. Revive EQ (extra treble) proved useful for dull old tapes. The effect is subtle so don't expect to raise 20 year old sun baked tapes from the dead. However, I'd prefer a four or five band EQ over programmed settings. Does the WM-EX7 sound as good as my Sennheiser 580 headphones and Musical Fidelity headphone amp? Of course not. However, the WM-EX7 sounded better than most portable systems I have listened to, CD, cassette or MD. Warranty This deck doesn't inspire consumer confidence with its farty 90-day warranty. A $259 deck merits a one year warranty. Well, at least Sony maintains its own repair facilities here in Honolulu. Final Comments At UHL, I asked my students in five music classes what they used for audio recording. Most of them prefer CDRs. Surprisingly, many still use cassettes for live recording, portable and auto use. Only one student had a MD player. Nobody owned a MP3 player. With serious CD copy protection on the horizon, I wonder if analog recording will have a major comeback? I checked out the Sony USA website and noticed they reduced their Walkman cassette models to a meager 20 models (they had more last year!). Cassettes won't be going away anytime soon. In contrast, there are only 9 MD Walkman models. I loved the sound of my Tascam DAT deck but couldn't find an affordable portable or car deck (I'd love a DAT Walkman but it's $800). Two CD decks came and went in my car. I tried and hated MD a few years ago. Thus, the humble audio cassette has become my media of choice for trekking and driving. My WM-EX7 Walkman is smooth sounding, good looking, quiet, universal and can kick MD and MP3 butt any day of the week. Highly recommended for diehard analog music lovers with a need to trek. Score (A-F) Sound Quality: A • Construction: A • Ease of Use: A • Features: A • Bang for Buck: A Where to buy • WM-EX7 Walkman Cassette Player Shirokiya • Ala Moana Shopping Center • Honolulu, Hawaii • (808) 973-9111 • $199.99 ($78 closeout) AAA Price Electronics • $179 (the cheapest price I could find on the web) Where to buy • MDR EX7-LP 20th Anniversary Mini-Fontopia Earbuds Shirokiya • Ala Moana Shopping Center • Honolulu, Hawaii • (808) 973-9111 • $49.95 Global Mart • $37.95 1DAT (Digital Audio Tape) is the tape equivalent of the CD and was posed to replace the lowly cassette in the late 80s. Instead, DAT became the standard for stereo mixdown and was relegated to the recording studio. Most of the CDs produced in the 90s were mastered on DAT. Consumer DAT recorders eventually made it to the USA but were crippled with copy protection and couldn't record at 44.1KHz, the CD rate sampling (they used 48KHz). The momentum was lost and consumers continued their love affair with cassettes. 10/26/2001  ©Copyright 2001 by Peter Kun Frary • All Rights Reserved

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