Fiio CP13 portable cassette player gets compared against Sanyo M4440, Sony WM-10 and Technics RS-M24

The article on MySKU starts with the reviewer taking issue with some of Fiio's marketing claims, such as the "high-voltage 4.2 V power supply" one which is supposedly a good thing for the consumer. Considering that the universally acclaimed Sony WM-10 player is fine with just 1.5 V, how much of a difference do the extra volts actually make, the MySKU user asks. (Both players employ a single motor, for reference.)

Next up is the haptics and controls comparison. The Sanyo player has the all-important Play and Stop, Forward and Rewind buttons while also offering a way to tune the pitch, volume, treble (which is crucial for those planning on listening to different cassette types), and L/R balance. The Stop button doubles as an Eject button. All of the buttons, knobs and switches are reasonably comfortable to use. The Fiio player in the meantime has fewer controls - no channel balance adjustment, no way to tone down treble - and its volume knob protrudes too much to be comfortable in daily use. The Fiio player's red Play button is very much counter-intuitive as that color is normally assigned to the Record button. To open the cassette compartment, Fiio CP13 owners have to use their nails to pop it open. The buttons are described as stiff and noisy and the case itself as overly angular with looks seemingly the only priority for Fiio.

On to the sound. The Fiio player offers no "track search" mode where the audio would still be played with both Play and Forward pressed, whereas the old Sanyo player has one. The Chinese player's mechanical internals make plenty of rather audible noise when playing back a cassette whereas the Japanese one is much quieter despite its age.

The comparatively inexpensive Technics RS-M24 full-size player is quieter than the two and its built-in amplifier does not produce as much static as the two portable players do, either.

A listening test using the ATH-M50xBT2 headphones (curr. $189 on Amazon.com) reveals the CP13 to be lacking in the bass department while being a little too heavy on treble. Type 1 and type 2 cassettes sound mostly the same on the Fiio.

The Sanyo player delivers better bass, and treble can be dialed down a bit depending on the personal preferences as well as the cassette type. Fine details are easier to make out.

The Technics RS-M24 just sounds "nice" with no deficiency in any department.

Last but not the least, the MySKU user also attempted to test the frequency response range of each cassette player by playing segments of 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 1,000, 1,0000, 11,000, 12,000, 13,000 and 14,000 Hz audio signals. The Fiio cassette player did not exactly do great in this test.

As a bit of a consolation, the reviewer does say that he likes the way most digital Fiio players sound.

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