There are plenty of walkman out there that just play cassettes, but what are some of the more feature packed ones out there?

Specifically looking to see obvious features such as tuner, graphic equalisers, and also not so obvious features such as world clock, super fast tape wind, graphical spectrum analyser.

I'd like to nominate the Aiwa HS-JX929 as one, if not the most feature packed.

Radio

TV Band
FM Band 76-108MHz
AM Band with stereo
10 preset stations per each band

Tape

Amorphous head
Auto reverse
Reverse recording
Dolby B & C (playback only)
Auto tape type select

Other

DSL bass boost
2 stage BBE
PLSS
Remote control
World clock - 4 timezone preset, 1 timezone customisable
Sleep
Timer record
Alarm
Voice navigation

I don't know why I have never gotten round to taking photos of my HS-JX929, so here it is in all it's glory.

Out of all the HS-JX707 variants that I have, I have to say that I prefer this one. It plays tapes a lot better than the others. The build quality is reflected in the tape playback especially the fussy Dolby C recordings that require spot on tape alignment. Both forward and reverse playback are in alignment unlike many of the HS-JX707s. This is probably due to a different head used by Aiwa in this model.

It still suffers from an over compensating bass when DSL is activated where sound levels vary from quiet to loud like all the other HS-JX707s, and hence I just don't bother to switch that on. My MEElectronics M6 IEMs are quite bass heavy enough without the crazy over compensation.

I bought this example from Japan and it was in perfect mechanical working order. No dodgy capacitors or leaked electrolyte; it still even has the original belt and that is in very good working order without any cracks or slackness.

Did you buy it from a shop recently in  Japan? I'm wondering if there are any "retro" electronics shops in Japan like they do for video games.

Hi Bub,

It was bought for me by a contact that I have in Japan, but I believe such shops do exist in Japan.

I've been to Hong Kong and there are shops and market stalls that sell any amount of second-hand electronics equipment, but alas the range of walkmans was very limited unlike your experience in Singapore.

Some questions Plop : was this model released outside Japan ? And which was its successor ? Was it the JX849 ? I ask as it was the top of the line in its time here in Europe. And what came after the 849 ? I don't remember. Do you also know wich was the PX1000 successor ? Thanks.

I have never seen such a high tech Walkan cassette radio. A lovely looking piece of kit. AM Stereo is a very unusual feature too!