FiiO CP13 Cassette Player (transparent)

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.

I can’t fault the sound and design - it’s truly beautiful. I really thought with no Dolby NR the tape hiss would be overbearing but no, the amp that has been used is pure quality and produces beautiful highs, mids and tight bass with very little feedback. The one thing lacking which would have been perfect is if a Bluetooth transmitter was built in but I knew this wasn’t present before purchasing - maybe a newer model will address this missing function. This can be rectified by purchasing a Bluetooth 3.5mm jack (slots into the headphone jack) and you can then transmit the players music to Bluetooth headphones/speakers etc - a simple fix for £10 or so. If you’ve been searching for a quality modern day portable cassette player you may have just found it

Being it's the cheapest option I bought the blue FiiO CP13 as a portable backup for my old Sony Walkman Professional WM-D6C which is going in for service. Most points encountered already covered in other reviews e.g. motor does not shut off when tape reaches its end, no tone control, no auto-reverse optional setting, no line out, battery is not user-replaceable. (Some of these are good for simpler mechanics so maybe more reliability). Bottom line and most important: I experienced no wow/flutter with tapes, some nearly 60 years old, and the tempo/speed seemed right at least from recollection of items I'd previously played on other audio units. Sound reproduction not better for me than the old Sony WM-D6C and not as good (no surprises) as the (only mid-range) Sony Double Cassette Deck TC-WE475. Main issue otherwise: it drives my Shure SRH840A Over-Ear Wired Headphones BUT the sound was MONO! And that after checking jack fully inserted. The Shure 3.5mm jack is a 4-pole of the modern type which afaik is now standard for headphones whereas it seems that the FiiO CP13's jack socket is the old style 3-pole jack - see jpeg for jack comparisons. Having established I was hearing mono only (and it also sounded materially flat/flanged not just single channel), I plugged in an old pair of Sony over the ear phones with their 3-pole jack and trying eg Pink Floyd: Dark Side of the Moon (lots of oscillating between channels including on track 1) I found it rendered stereo. So to use the Shure or other 4-pole jack I need to get an adaptor which I'm not ecstatic about since theoretically it might put extra leverage strain on the socket. As some adverts claim an adaptor is only for mic 4-pole to 3-pole and won't work for phones, I'm also in the position of having to guess the right type and tentatively think maybe https://www.amazon.co.uk/Creative-Stereo-Connector-Female-Adapter-As-Shown/dp/B0FHJLTHWL It's a solid, chunky unit but has no fasteners for a lanyard. The optional unshielded magnet-fastener (sic) case doesn't look a good idea. Personally I would not travel with this item and given the unit's mass and potential for dropping it eg dragging from a work surface absent-mindedly while phones connected, I'd establish a routine for using it only at home unless someone can point out a good case with a lanyard or (en bandoulière) cross strap to secure its weight. Good enough to keep, only item in prospect now is how long the battery lasts before it no longer takes a charge.

Good solid cassette player, I can now listen to my old tapes including old radio programmes. Purchased from seller Amazon US c£87 with no additional tax etc. There is hiss when playing but I soon got used to it. It's a solid machine. Website Audioreviews hints that battery could be replaced amongst other user adjustments. A good buy.

منتج جميل وسلسل

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。

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.