CD quality sound from old cassette tape recordings. No background noise. Well built. It doesn't appear as well built as it actually is. (It looks to be of a cheap build quality...but it is not.) I am even able to use a Pioneer remote controller from an older Pioneer double cassette deck without the digital noise reduction. So it's pretty cool. A remote controlled digital cassette deck. It has all of the bells and whistles with the exception of a motorized ejection/loading system, which can break so that's OK.

Really an incredible method to transfer over to digital media. There are no weaknesses. Pioneer, as always in my life's experiences, has done it again. My favorite audio company by far.

I have been recording music off of the radio since 1965, first on a StarLite 5" reel-to-reel with capstan drive which I learned at an early age meant you could record music. By 1990, using a used Sony 7" reel-to-reel as a master recorder, I had amassed hundreds of TDK-SA90, 100 and Maxell-UDXLII 90, 100 cassettes of some great music. But hold on, along came the big switch to digital music. All that noise in the background and even DolbyC with HX-Pro didn't wipe it out enough. The cassette was not developed for music and it is amazing how refined the product became. I purchased the baby brother to the 616 (the 606) at BrandsMart, USA in Deerfield Beach (FL). It does everything the 616 does except automatically adjust the recording/playback bias to exactly match the tape being used. I don't even use the 606 because I purchased two 616s from J & R, although there is no, noticable difference between the two models.

Now I had some great cassette decks. A Dennon three head among others, but after using the 616 (and 606), there was no going back. I gave my other cassette decks to relatives. I am in the process of going through my cassette albums and looking for those rare songs that I know I have, and transferring them on to CDs. The Pioneer 616, like all Pioneer products I have ever used, still performs as new. All three units that I own do. It is almost as clear as a CD, but mind you, the original source was an FM radio, which limits the frequency response to 15,000 cps,hz.

So, I'm just having a good ol' time going through these cassettes looking for those lost tracks. Some of the original tapes are on plain old Maxell UD-90s, and those tapes, after over 30 years, work flawlessly with no dropout. So do the older TDK AD-90 tapes.

Customer Service

I have only limited experience with Customer Service. Once I asked about a manual for an old component and they mailed it out to me for free.

Similar Products Used:

JVC three head, Denon three head, Realistic three head.