I recently got my hifi cassette deck working, I bought it off ebay as not working about 5 years ago, can't rush into these things. Sharp Optonica RT-105. In that time I've been using two Sony Walkmans to play my tapes, that I also bought off ebay as not working and fixed both of them, one needed a belt and the other needed a belt and a capacitor on it had caught fire, replaced it (same same, found the diagrams) and good to go. While using them I noted the sound quality was a little lower than digital which I expected and left it at that.

Since fixing the optonica, I've listened to most of the same tapes and found the audio quality is WAY better than the walkmans, to the point a chromium (Type 2) tape sounds about on par with the CD I have of the same album, with the exception of the occasional wow from the age of the tapes. When they're clear, they're CLEAR. It's amazing.

Is that normal? Are walkmans really that different to full hifi? I mean obviously only so much technology can be shrunk down into such a compact form factor, but I wouldn't have thought there'd be so much of a difference in quality. Or are my walkmans in need of more servicing?

I've been enjoying going through my parents collection and bought a few tapes of my own.

Cheers