Hello. My name is Ben. I live in east coast Canada. Grew up in the 80s and mainly 90s and have always been an audiophile and into new and interesting gadgets and formats. Cut my teeth on a cheapo Panasonic hand-me-down cassette player with the battery door taped on, belt clip torn off, and the cassette door wouldn't stay shut. But I still remember summer nights laying in my bunk bed listening to my brothers' mix tapes, or to the radio, waiting for my favorite tunes to come on. Spent my first paycheck on an Aiwa CD, double cassette stereo. That thing started my CD collection and lasted for years in various households. Also had a JVC portable CD player that I still have and it still works fine, even though I beat the hell out of it (I'd like to see a cell phone do the same). Moved on to MDs in college. Got an MZ-R37 for Christmas and still have my book of MD mixes. Decided I needed something more portable for mowing lawns so i made my very first eBay purchase on a refurbed MZ-E33. Also went through the wringer and still going strong. I'm certainly into hi-res, lossless digital and bought an LG V30 for such purposes. But definitely prefer physical media and the nuances of fast forwarding, rewinding, and changing sides. It's 2020. I'm currently enjoying the synthwave genre for its obvious nostalgic qualities, as well as its refreshing sound when compared to the drivel being thrown out there these days. I purchased The Midnight's Kids album (hell of an album) on cassette and decided I needed a new (to me) Walkman to play it. So I bought an FX-671 on eBay and completed a lengthy return to tapes. Amidst my Walkman research I came across stereo2go and here I am!
Welcome! Until recently of 10 years ago I considered myself an ‘audiophile’ and paid absolutely No attention to such lowly things as Walkmans/Discmans... Spent all my hard-earned $$ on Hi-Fi decks/amps/speakers.. AND then discovered the s$$t-hole of Hi-End Audio and was happily floating there!!!! (unlimited funding from my main job helped A Lot!) As I must have mentioned before: bitching about the sound at LA Opera vs. my at-home Naim Audio stereo must have been noticed by "You Know Who" and my my lowly self got 'grounded' to where I am now Until my burned home will be rebuilt my Boss does not allow Any expenditures towards my one and only thing of a 'canned' music... so I amuse myself at reviving
Welcome newonsh, you've worked your way up the portable audio tree. I've always loved how much attention was put into portable players and for me I have no problem with the different levels of fidelity. The loudness wars of the 90s was a bummer and made everything sound like crap. I love old synthesizer music, I've collected a handful of Casio and Yamaha Home Keyboards, most are a riot to play around with although I can't really play keyboards. I picked up a Peavey KB 100 Amp along the way and it's so much fun to really crank up the keyboards. Of course you need the Yamaha DD Drum Pads to really rock the house. I really enjoy most music but the 80's one man bands are a sweet spot; Howard Jones, Thomas Dolby, and even Prince did most of the instruments. I also like the bands that fused distortion guitar with keyboards like The Cars and Devo, in fact I was cranking up some Devo earlier tonight. Check out one of my newer favorites but he's retired a few times over the last few years.
Welcome Newonsh. It is always nice to hear a full history like that. Regarding cellphones, the older ones probably would survive as well, if not better than a personal stereo. I'm still using my ten year old Sony Satio as it has a number of advantages like a removable battery, which I can swap with the one in the Sony K800 I keep in the car. When I needed to change the touch screen it was a pleasant surprise to find it is held on with a couple of screws. I'm old enough to have been around when the Synth bands first appeared and have seen many of them at Retro Festivals, including Howard Jones and Thomas Dolby. The headline act at Let's Rock Southampton this year was going to be OMD, but due to lockdown it has been postponed a year. The new Synthwave tracks like the Weeknd, Blinding Lights are a great tribute to the old sound as are all the Synthwave remixes of more modern music. I particularly like this one, which was made an official release by Dua Lipa's label.
