"We’ve learned that many of you are waiting for a FIIO mini cassette deck, so our designers worked overtime over the weekend and came up with two preliminary concepts. Which one do you prefer? ❤️Option A: The cassette is placed vertically. The size is roughly 1/4 that of a conventional cassette deck. It features a square VU meter, has a built-in battery, and is portable. The width matches our other products such as the K15, K17, and the upcoming CD transport DP11, making it easy to stack or place side-by-side. ❤️Option B: The cassette is placed horizontally. It has greater depth but lower height, resulting in a slightly smaller overall volume than Option A. It features a circular VU meter, also includes a battery, and is portable. It is ideal for desktop placement; if stacked with other devices, it would need to go on top. This survey is only about the form factor—please ignore detailed functions for now. Which design would you like us to pursue? Feel free to share your opinions and choose a preferred option. Please go to FIIO official FB account to like the corresponding comment https://www.facebook.com/share/p/18hCpvSfbk/ Thanks for your support"
Hi Retro, and thanks for sharing that. I find both much better than anything that is being made today. These guys really got it. When I look at TEAC/TASCAM new decks they look cheap and ugly, but this is another thing, specially the 2nd one. Clearly inspired in SONY TC-D5M it's so cool. I'd like to see a counter and a cassette door that can be opened manually without having to stop the play (like the original D5M), RCA connector, an interchangeable battery and specially a bias knob. But the big question is what the mechanism will be. If it's the same as the other cheap chinese walkmans and decks, then we're stuck with the same problem as before. Let's hope they develop a high quality mechanism, there should not be so difficult these days! Curious that they call it PND432 in a clear tribute to the Marantz PMD-430. Sorry guys that I've been so disconnected with the world of cassettes for so long. I've seen this news today and I felt it wake up a bit my sleeping passion for all these. I hope I recover it. Good to see that you're still there.
Unfortunately I have 100's of decks, not really in the market for a "new" deck but they look great. I think the demand is there and I'm still finding $1 USD tapes so the hobby still has legs.
They are both very appealing. I do wonder where they would find a soft touch cassette mechanism to go in the vertical deck unit. The horizontal one looks more feasible. From a technical point of view I hope they put "Type D-B" noise reduction on whichever deck they make. 1970s decks implemented that with just off the shelf transistors so don't make excuses about "can't get the ICs". The only thing you can't do is use the D*L*Y name which is still trademarked.
Trust me, the #1 question is why no soft-touch, I have to believe it's on the way and Bumpboxx mentioned they have one in mind for the next release. Some of these companies need to "one-up" their models for repeat sales, soft-touch and Dolby would be high on the punch-list.
" IIO Mini Cassette Deck—Progress Update 2: Design refinements, preparing for project kickoff—by FIIO Willson We’ve been busy getting ready for the Beijing new-product launch, so we haven’t posted an update on the mini cassette deck for a while. Taking a moment today to catch everyone up: 1. The design has been further refined from the previous version, based on your feedback. Main changes: ★The opening section on the right is now tempered glass, to give the whole unit a more high-tech look. ★As most people suggested, the left and right handles have been removed for a cleaner appearance. ★Due to structural space limits, the knob lighting has been dropped. After the mockup came back, we also found the knob a bit small; we’ll try to enlarge it slightly in the next pass. ★On the mockup, the RCA jacks and antenna stuck out and looked awkward; we’ll recess both. ★Button chamfers have been reduced a little to improve long-term reliability. 2. Features have been defined in more detail: ★Added bias adjustment to improve recording quality. ★Added USB-input recording (so you can record from Bluetooth or from a phone’s USB output). ★Removed the MIC recording function. ★Various other functions have been optimized. On the schedule: 1. Structural feasibility review is basically complete. 2. The electronics block diagram is also basically complete. 3. The tape-transport modification plan has a clear direction. 4. The business division has approved moving toward kickoff. After the project team’s final review, it can be formally initiated—likely around mid-September. Total project time is expected to be about a year. We hope to launch by the end of November 2027. Please bear with us. If you have any questions in the meantime, feel free to ask. Thanks again for your support!"
They should make it modular meaning you could 3d print your own handles and have a place to attach them. I can also envision a 3d printed kangaroo box for it with speakers. Of course, as a designer, they're probably hearing "you should" several times a day but it looks like a fun project for them and hopefully does well. It sounds like they're taking suggestions seriously which is great, I mentioned before that I thought the GPO Brooklyn was nice looking but they never issued a 2.0 version addressing it's shortcomings.
Which one will it be? A battery-powered field recorder or a stationary recorder? I think it looks pretty cool, like a retro D5M.
