- Maxell MXCP-P100 is a portable Bluetooth cassette player with up to 9 hours battery life
- No recording or noise reduction circuitry
- Not currently (officially) available outside Japan
Maxell's new cassette player has given me a massive nostalgia rush – and if you were around in the '80s you'll know exactly why. Maxell created one of the most iconic TV ads of all time – embedded below – in which the sound from its tapes was so powerful it was like sitting in a wind tunnel.
This Bluetooth player doesn't go quite so loud, but every inch of the outside screams "eighties!" - and of course, the inside is considerably more modern.
Maxell MXCP-P100 tape player: specs, price and availability
As you can see from the images, it's a compact cassette player with the usual control buttons on top and a headphone out and volume on the side.
There are two additional bits you won't find on an '80s tape player, though: a Bluetooth button and a USB-C charging port. This player uses a rechargeable battery rather than old-school AAs, and it can stream wirelessly to your Bluetooth headphones. The Bluetooth version is 5.4.
Battery life is a claimed nine hours with wired headphones and seven without.
There's no recording here, and no Dolby noise reduction either; the battery is built-in so you'll need to take a cable if you're taking the player travelling. And sadly there's one more caveat: it's not available officially outside of Japan, although there are tons on eBay.
The prices are variable, to say the least: I'm looking at listings ranging from $202 / £147 to $398 / £300.
That makes it quite a bit more expensive than the We Are Rewind equivalent player that also has Bluetooth, but you might be more like to want to buy the Maxell because it's so much smaller – the We Are Rewind player is a chunky, heavy beast.
And the Fiio CP13 is also way cheaper and closer to being the right size, but that doesn't have Bluetooth, so again the Maxell might be the better option if you want to actually use it out and about.
