We Are Rewind, a Paris-based firm that has relaunched the cassette participant with modern features like assist for wi-fi headphones and rechargeable batteries, has introduced a bigger boombox model. Streamlining the design of the moveable stereos that have been fashionable within the ‘80s, the €449 (round $500 USD) GB-001 can operate as a Bluetooth speaker and stream audio from a cell gadget. However its most interesting characteristic is its potential to play and document to cassettes, probably reviving the mixtape for one more era.
The GB-001’s cassette deck mechanism includes a user-adjustable motor with inside velocity regulation for correct playback. It additionally has a “noise discount circuit” that emulates Dolby B so it could actually correctly play tapes recorded utilizing that older noise discount system with none loss in sound high quality. It may possibly document on tapes, too, from exterior sources that embrace a wired microphone or a pair of mics related wirelessly over Bluetooth.
The GB-001 has 4 audio system — two “highly effective woofers for prolonged bass response” paired with two “gentle dome tweeters for refined voices and treble.” We Are Rewind describes the GB-001 as having a “pure sound signature” so, not like the boomboxes of the ‘80s, it’s not going to drown out lyrics with overpowering bass. And consistent with present tendencies in audio gear, the GB-001 features a “spatialisation operate for a wider, extra immersive stereo picture.”
A chargeable, user-replaceable 3,000mAh battery offers as much as 10 hours of playback by means of the audio system when taking part in a tape, or as much as 15 utilizing an exterior audio supply. That jumps as much as 15 and 28 hours, respectively, when utilizing headphones, however We Are Rewind didn’t specify if that’s by means of the three.5-millimeter audio jack or Bluetooth.
Even if you happen to’re not in want of its cassette capabilities, the design of the GB–001 nonetheless makes it an interesting various to Bluetooth audio system that always appear like seashore toys. It not solely has a retro-looking folding carrying deal with, it additionally sports activities a pair of useful analog VU meters which are backlit with a gentle heat glow. For these of us who grew up enamored with the design of stereos from the ‘70s and ‘80s, the VU meters alone may assist justify the splurge.