Dolphy Posted March 16 Posted March 16 Hi All, I'm not sure where to post this. I recently have found a few cassettes from the 70s, I spent the last ninety minutes listening to my grandparents, who passed away many years ago. I was able to copy the tapes using an Medion boombox (Aldi) special. I will be travelling to Chile at the end of the month and I wanted to buy a small cassette player that can be used to copy to pc. I'm sure I'll find many more cassettes. The Medion boombox is too big to take with me. I have seen a few on Amazon, has anyone here used any of them with success and reliably? Cheers, Dolphy
Neo Posted March 17 Posted March 17 (edited) https://addictedtoaudio.com.au/collections/fiio/products/fiio-cp13-portable-stereo-cassette-player Use headphone out to record from. Neo Edited March 17 by Neo 2
surprisetech Posted March 17 Posted March 17 12 hours ago, Dolphy said: Hi All, I'm not sure where to post this. I recently have found a few cassettes from the 70s, I spent the last ninety minutes listening to my grandparents, who passed away many years ago. I was able to copy the tapes using an Medion boombox (Aldi) special. I will be travelling to Chile at the end of the month and I wanted to buy a small cassette player that can be used to copy to pc. I'm sure I'll find many more cassettes. The Medion boombox is too big to take with me. I have seen a few on Amazon, has anyone here used any of them with success and reliably? Cheers, Dolphy Will this just be for spoken-word recordings or for music? If for music, what level of quality are you looking for? A brand new FiiO CP13 can be had for less than $200. Reviews of the audio quality vary, some tape types are not supported and there is no Dolby EQ. But if the material you are copying is not for serious listening, then it might still be a suitable option and more reliable than obscure or unbranded alternatives. If the tapes are Dolby B or C encoded, you can apply appropriate EQ in the Audacity software after conversion. I've digitized a lot of cassettes with excellent results, but only ever using a hi-fi component deck (Yamaha KX-500) and an external USB sound card (ART USB Dual Pre). Using the external ADC avoids adding PC noise to the audio before conversion. 1
Dolphy Posted March 17 Author Posted March 17 The Fiio looks like the device to get. Is there an idiots guide on how to do the transfer? My googling has let me down. Thanks for the feedback all, it is greatly appreciated
surprisetech Posted March 18 Posted March 18 18 hours ago, Dolphy said: The Fiio looks like the device to get. Is there an idiots guide on how to do the transfer? My googling has let me down. Thanks for the feedback all, it is greatly appreciated If the PC has a stereo line input socket (usually light blue), you just connect the FiiO headphone output to that input and use Audacity software to do the recording. Audacity lets you select the input device and set recording levels, bit depth/sampling rate, etc. Lots of audacity tutorials and guides available online. If it's a laptop it might only have a mic input and not a stereo analog line input. I wouldn't recommend using a mic input. If that is the case, then you could get one of the little USB sound cards that supports a stereo line level audio input like this one: https://djcity.com.au/product/behringer-uca222-external-sound-card Connect the player headphone output to the RCA line in sockets, set the device up on the PC as a stereo input device and once again, use Audacity to do the recording. In either of the above cases, you will need to set the player output to an appropriate level to avoid overloading the PC or sound card line input. The level meter and waveform display in the Audacity software can be used to set all the levels and check for clipping, etc.
Dolphy Posted March 19 Author Posted March 19 On 18/03/2025 at 12:51 PM, surprisetech said: If the PC has a stereo line input socket (usually light blue), you just connect the FiiO headphone output to that input and use Audacity software to do the recording. Audacity lets you select the input device and set recording levels, bit depth/sampling rate, etc. Lots of audacity tutorials and guides available online. If it's a laptop it might only have a mic input and not a stereo analog line input. I wouldn't recommend using a mic input. If that is the case, then you could get one of the little USB sound cards that supports a stereo line level audio input like this one: https://djcity.com.au/product/behringer-uca222-external-sound-card Connect the player headphone output to the RCA line in sockets, set the device up on the PC as a stereo input device and once again, use Audacity to do the recording. In either of the above cases, you will need to set the player output to an appropriate level to avoid overloading the PC or sound card line input. The level meter and waveform display in the Audacity software can be used to set all the levels and check for clipping, etc. Thanks for sending the link to the Behringer, I've bought it and I'll buy the Fiio on the weekend. 1
surprisetech Posted March 19 Posted March 19 11 hours ago, Dolphy said: Thanks for sending the link to the Behringer, I've bought it and I'll buy the Fiio on the weekend. This video is worth a look. Only 2 minutes.
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