Price: $587.14 - $499.00
(as of Sep 21, 2024 06:42:39 UTC – Details)
Double Cassette Deck with USB Port
Item Package Dimension: 21.65L x 14.56W x 9.05H inches
Item Package Weight – 14.55 Pounds
Item Package Quantity – 1
Product Type – SOUND AND RECORDING EQUIPMENT
4.5
Reviewer: Ben
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Best of what is available new for cassette decks
Review: If your hoping for a super-performance, direct drive quartz locked 3-head deck with all the bells & whistles, the TASCAM 202 Mk VII and it’s sister deck the TEAC W-1200 are not it. But, if your looking for a good quality cassette deck, either if your just getting into the format and don’t want to deal with the possible issues of age on older models, or like me, a new deck that saves some wear & tear on your other, older decks, then this is a good choice.Overall performance is good, about what one would expect to find on any one of the dual-well cassette decks produced during the late 90’s through the 00’s. The TASCAM/TEAC decks do use most of the components from the previous generation models made about a decade ago, save the Dolby encoder/decoder circuit. Despite using two Tanashin mechanisms, it does have metal flywheels, helping to cut down on the wow & flutter. This combined with good quality belts, proper drive motors and full logic controls (the only mechanical controls are the door releases and power) shows that with just a little effort, the Tanashin cassette mechanism can be a good performer. Both are single direction, single capstan mechs and should be quite reliable.The chassis and housing are metal, with good quality plastic for the front paneling and controls, better build than other current production decks and even some older dual well models.These decks have dual recording, which is not found on most dual-well cassette decks. I cannot comment on it’s recording capabilities but I would assume they should come out fine since there is an electromagnet erase head and not a permanent one. However, since there is no equalization switch, Type 1 Ferric is all you would be able to record to. The decks should be able to play back Type 1, 2 and 4 tapes though as there are sensors for the slots at the top. In addition there is no Bias adjustment, only level adjustment. More than likely these decks were set up to record to the more common Type 1 tapes still available (TDK D, Maxell UR, Fuji DR-1) so YMMV with a slightly more “unusual” Type 1 like a BASF Ferro Extra etc.Noise Reduction is provided by a National Semiconductor system that has been in existence for quite a while now. Since Dolby Labs have discontinued their own N.R. system product line, this is all you get. It’s designed to be compatible with Dolby B N.R., and from a playback perspective it seems to do a very good job at it. The N.R. system is decode only, meaning there is no way to record with N.R. applied to recording. If one really wanted to record cassettes with N.R. and only wanted this deck, there are separate component N.R. systems that can be found used.While both deck A and B can record/ playback, deck A has a pitch adjustment while B does not. Thankfully there is a individually controlled headphone output using a standard 1/4in – 6.35mm audio out jack. One could also record directly as well with a similar input provided on the other side with it’s own balance adjustment. There is a timer function which I have never used and probably won’t. The deck also includes a one-touch full rewind/counter reset “Return to Zero” for both decks.I found deck A to be a touch louder through the audio out than B, I suspect due to being in closer proximity to the transformer. Mechanically however they are pretty quiet and not at all distracting when operating. Both mechs also have very good tension detection and stop on a dime if the tape is having running problems.What differentiates the TASCAM 202 Mk VII from the TEAC W-1200 is a couple things: the TASCAM comes with rack mounts, has a “Special Play Mode” switch and the VU display is orange/red rather than blue/red. The TEAC can be had in black or silver, the TASCAM is only available black.The “Special Play Mode” function is interesting, as it passes the audio through deck A to the RCA outputs in the back, and deck B through the headphone jack, allowing two tapes to be played at once through different outputs. Not sure how useful this is, but it’s an interesting addition nonetheless.One complaint about the display is it only displays play time in pure seconds, I would have hoped for minutes + seconds. Only “consumed” is available, there is no “remaining” mode for playback time. The VU meters could perhaps be a tad more sensitive, but the display does look excellent otherwise. It can also be dimmed if preferred. Both doors for each deck can be removed for cleaning the transport, though they can be quite stiff to take off. I am not a huge fan of the smoked plastic windows, each of which have a convex shape and as a result distort what little of the cassette you can see. There are no well lamps, just silver backing stickers.The remote is basic but works. All there is to say there.In addition to the standard RCA input/output jacks around the back there is also a USB 2.0 Type B output that allows for quick and easy tape digitization through a program like Audacity. I am using my own DAC for this process, but it’s not necessary to have one.Depending on when one is looking at the TASCAM or the TEAC, generally the TASCAM is slightly more expensive. really it mostly comes down to if you want the rack mounts and do you prefer blue/red or orange/red for your VU display, and are you keeping your system black or silver. I went with the TASCAM unit as at the time it was actually less and I prefer orange for the display. These are a tad pricey considering what you get, a somewhat basic dual well cassette deck with a couple unusual features, but they are the best in performance currently available new and at least for a while you don’t need to worry about repairs or lack of parts.
Reviewer: Jose J. Gonzalez
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Great quality deck with decent features.
Review: There are a lot of new decks and similar equipment for cassette conversion, but this one is just one of a little few with quality components, performance and decent features. This unit will be used basically as a conversion unit to welcome all my analog mixes and mix-tapes to my digital world. So, there’s need of auto-reverse. It handle my Chrome and Metal tapes as well as the Normals. And sound quality is great too. Tape speed on Deck 1 and the USB output port are very welcomed features.
Reviewer: Rev. LeRoy Cressy
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Great Tape Deck
Review: When I backup my old tapes to my computer via the USB connection the backups are great.I remember the days of dual capstan real to real decks in the 1970’s. What great sound you got at 7 1/2 IPS in those days. Now everything is digitized and we must go with the flow.Good sound quality
Reviewer: GraceHeart Services LLC
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: “Professionally” transfer Cassette Tapes to MP3 format on a PC or Mac
Review: This is the perfect choice unit for converting cassette tapes to high quality MP3 files. There are inexpensive cassette tape to MP3 converter devices available at a cheap cost, but in my opinion they result in cheap quality audio files. In my studio I purchase professional equipment for every task. When considering an equipment purchase for converting cassette tape audio to MP3 I researched several units offered by Tascam. There are other Tascam units with cassette tape play/record ability that have a USB connection on the front designed to insert a flash drive, but these decks can not be connected to a PC. The Tascam marketing information states you can convert the cassette tape audio directly to MP3 on a standard flash drive. This is correct, however, for some reason Tascam made a bad decision in this design, in my opinion. With those systems you have no choice of the MP3 quality level as it is saved to the flash drive and the MP3 files are default saved in a “very low quality 128 kbs”. I always insist on saving an original MP3 conversion to 320 kbs as this is the highest quality MP3 file available. At the very least, nothing less than 256 kbs if a smaller file for e-mailing is desired. But, never will I save an MP3 at a mere 128 kbs as the audio quality is extremely unacceptable, in my opinion.The Tascam 202 MK VII Double Cassette Deck has the type USB Port you need to connect the deck to a PC. The port is on the back of the deck. It is a USB “B” connector like found on the back of a printer and other similar devices. This allows you to connect the deck to your PC with a cable so that the cassette tape audio from the deck is transferred into your favorite audio editing software (DAW or other audio capture software). A lot of people use the Free audio editing software, Audacity. I use Studio One. Once you have captured the audio you can save it to any audio file format you choose, including all levels of MP3 or any lossless file format such as WAV or FLAC. And for those who may not know, once a file is saved to a low quality format, such as MP3 128 kbs, there will be no opportunity to improve the quality by re-saving it to a 256 or 320 kbs MP3 after the fact as the quality has already been deteriorated, lost.
Reviewer: ISRL
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: La calidad OK (es un Tascam), la precisión Ok (sigue siendo un Tascam), el sonido fiel a los Decks de antaño, no hay Dolby pero hay reducción de siseo Ok, no hay cabezales reversibles pero en contraparte hay menos piezas que puedan fallar y por lo tanto más durabilidad. Precio si algo elevado para un equipo de estas caracterÃsticas pero creo que lo puede desquitar por la calidad que la marca representa.
Reviewer: Ade
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: This is a fantastic deck, especially when the rack mounts are removed ^_^The USB output is really only needed if you don’t have a proper sound card with analog input (it’s line-level, so you can run the output directly into your sound card).I had *no* issues using 90 minute cassettes in this deck. I recorded from vinyl and dubbed between decks 1 and 2 without any issue(s). The “return to zero” feature is also great.That being said, I returned this deck and bought a fully serviced Yamaha KX-W 262 (belts replaced, demagnetized, speed adjusted & cleaned) because $978 is ridiculous. You can get a 3 head Nikko or Sony (re-certified) for about 500 CAD.If I could justify the cost, I’d have kept this deck (the TEAC version would have been just fine, but Amazon doesn’t sell that deck directly).
Reviewer: Pepperscum
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: All I wanted was a working cassette deck. After countless lemons on eBay I found that they still made this one in 2022. Now I can listen to Master of Puppets or Running Up that Hill and keep Vecna away. Tascam is still the best too when it comes to tape recording. Iâm making mix tapes and buying new cassettes too. MGK, Ava Max, Avril, Styles, and Yungblud yes all 2022 releases. Keep tape alive
Reviewer: Sarah Allen
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Great prompt service and fine quality – thank you for continuing to make these!
Reviewer: martin kent
Rating: 1.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Doesn’t work. I will send it back soon. I am going to try to use is some more, but the sound is wobbly.
