I've been wanting to transfer my vinyl and cassette music to cd for awhile and I wished to do so sans my computer. I didn't want to toy with PC software, sound cards and CD writer drives, even in the interest of improved fidelity. Most of my dubbing was going to be vinyl (as opposed to cassette) to cd so the fidelity ought to be okay even absent equalization tweaks. Also, there's only so much one can do to improve the sound on an old cassette, in my opinion.
My research led me to purchase a Tascam CC-222MKII, which is a revised edition of the first integrated device made to accomplish this task. The unit was made by Teac's Professional Division in about 2005. Back then, this particular model retailed for about $1,000, as best I can tell. Now, clean ones sell on eBay, with the wireless remote, in the $350 - $425 range (an SL model seems to sell for two or three times that amount. . .unsure precisely why). Often, the older equipment is superior to the newer stuff. That is the case with the various CC-222 models as compared to newer Teac decks.
There are several iterations of this device, some of which will also transfer to the MP3 format. If you buy rewritable compact discs, you can record over your previous recordings. I think that you can also record from cd to cassette (although I suspect few would care about that feature). These devices can even dub the same source simultaneously (e.g. vinyl to both cassette and cd). The Tascam supports all of the bias varieties of cassette tape, including metal tape. Most importantly, the units in the CC-222 series have dedicated, grounded RIAA phono inputs to connect directly to the turntable facilitating an easy burn to compact disc. The phono stage is the key for me.
This model does not support the high speed CD-RW blank discs (later units do, though, I think). Also, some of these dubbing units can be finicky about needing a particular name-brand blank CD and/or capacity (650 MB vs. 700 MB). It's my understanding that several consumers reported their units as defective because the screen kept reading "disc error," when in fact they were simply using unsupported blank discs.
Right now, I'm listening to cassettes and compact discs and they sound pretty darn good through my Setton 69 WPC receiver and Energy RC10 speakers. I will report back, after I dub a few items. Meanwhile, if anyone on this forum has had experience with Tascam dubbing units, please chime in.
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