Experiment is now a lifestyle! I travel with my Walkman everyday and have come to look forward to my 1 hour train ride rather than dread it. I carry 4 tapes a day with me, 3 in the slim soft plastic cases that snap open (like the kind cheap freeby cassettes came in) and one in the player. The cheap snap-open cases are actually fantastic for carrying in my bag as they are soft plastic, don't scratch nor crack, and are 3/4 the thickness of a clear hard plastic cassette case. Plus using these soft plastic things allow me to keep my pristine MX-S and XLII-S cases clean.
I have had a couple funny looks on the train, especially when I sit next to someone and they hear me rewind the tape (no i-pod I know makes that whirrr), but since it's about the size of the full sized i-pod or a Palm Pilot, I guess people assume it is an Mp3 player.
I have come to realize that these late production European/Japanese market Walkmen are true works of engineering art. No expense was spared and they are truly an exercise in form following function, as everything has a purpose or it wouldn't be on there.
They are fun to use and are a tactile pleasure from the smooth cool metallic finish, to the snap of the closure, the heft of the unit in your hand (especially with a heavy early 90's MX-100), and the action of the buttons and switches.
They run silently, forward and rewind are very quick with full logic control as it will slow to a stop when you hit the stop button or as it cues to the next track (no harsh stops at all), it also slows before the end of the tape when fast winding, so it is very easy on tapes.
Sonically, they are outstanding, all I can say is HOLY CRAP, way to go Sony!. They are full range from a solid 30hz to 18khz..and they mean it. Wow and flutter are non-existent, speed stability is rock solid and battery life is disgustingly long (and since they take Ni-Cd batt's they are rock solid until the battery dies, which the machine lets you know with a blinking batt light about 1 minute before it shuts itself off).
They are biased for Type II and Metal tape (even though the specs say nothing about bias) and quality tape and recordings are truly rewarded. There are 4 EQ settings, nothing, VR (vocal revive) MB (Megabass) and Groove. The VR tends to brighten the sound and bring up the mids, the MB is broader through the mid-section, tight on heavy bass and lays back the highs a touch (very similar to the sound of my reference system) and the Groove was clearly designed to make crappy earbuds sound half-way decent (but sound like hell through good headphones). I go between the AV and MB settings with Dolby always engaged (I record now with Dolby C as these machines come alive with C) and can get it to sound outstanding with any type of music between those two settings.
So..sorry for the longwinded "review", but I am truly smitten with these little cassette players. I will post pics of my super sleek commuter cassette set-up now that I have refined all the accessories and gotten it down to a science.
James R.
