Gracioso cassette player review: Simple, easy, affordable

When you think about portable technology these days, you probably ponder on how technology has become progressively smaller and more capable of holding digital files in a way that makes it easier to carry around large amounts of data, like in our smartphones that fit easily in our pockets. But when you think back to the way you used to listen to music, in standardized formats that were still fairly small but more often enjoyed at home, things like portable cassette players were the way to enjoy that music on the go. The old Sony Walkman cassette player was the gold standard for portable cassette players, and with the resurgence of retro tech, some of us want to return to those good old days.

So, enter the Gracioso cassette player. This cassette player, tape recorder, and radio is marketed as being like the Sony Walkman cassette player, being a portable way to enjoy your cassettes, embracing that return to retro tech, and for a fairly affordable price. But does this cassette player actually satisfy the criteria needed to make a portable cassette player good? I tested it out to see if it was worth getting my favorite tapes out of storage.

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Price, specs, and availability

A classic cassette player design for cheap

The Gracioso cassette player retails for $36, and you can purchase the tape player on Amazon. It’s a similar size to a classic Sony Walkman cassette player, being 3.6 x 1.4 x 5 inches, and weighing in at 7.2 ounces. It’s portable in the cassette player sense, and is definitely a lot bulkier than the tech we carry around with us nowadays.

However, this cassette player doesn’t only play tapes — it can also record tapes using a microphone line-in port, which you can use with the microphone it comes with, and you can also listen to AM and FM radio. It also comes with a pair of earbuds, but they don’t sound great, so you will definitely want to supply your own earbuds or headphones. The cassette player only takes wired headphones through a 3.5mm jack, and doesn’t support Bluetooth. It also has a built-in speaker, which isn’t great quality.

The Gracioso cassette player can be powered either with the included power adapter, or with two AA batteries, which are not included.

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What I liked about the Gracioso cassette player

There’s nothing frivolous about it

The best thing about any retro tech to me is its simplicity. The Gracioso cassette player does exactly what a cassette player should do: It plays tapes, can record tapes, and can play AM and FM radio. There are no bells and whistles with this thing, and I love that. Another thing that sometimes happens with modern iterations of retro tech is adding modern-day technology like Bluetooth, but this cassette player thankfully doesn’t. It’s true to its nature, and only supports wired headphones.

This simplicity also makes it really easy to use. It has a classic cassette player layout, so all the buttons are where they should be, and volume, and radio tuning are both controlled with easy-to-use wheels.

I also really enjoyed that the Gracioso cassette player comes with a microphone. This makes it a lot easier to record, since I don’t need to supply my own 3.5mm microphone. It also has a foam windscreen, which is a wonderful addition.

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What I didn’t like about the Gracioso cassette player

Its few drawbacks aren’t major

There are few shortcomings about the Gracioso cassette player, thankfully. They’re luckily not complete dealbreakers, but rather small qualms.

The biggest problem with the cassette player is that the built-in speaker sounds pretty bad. It’s overwhelmingly tinny, and has a very hard time with any bass frequencies. It isn’t surprising given the fact that this is a cheap cassette player, and with a portable cassette player, I would expect most people would want to listen to it using headphones, or potentially plugged into a speaker at home. But if you wanted to listen to a tape or the radio through the speaker, you’d likely be a bit disappointed.

Next, since this is a portable cassette player, I was really surprised that there isn’t a built-in clip or any other way of attaching the cassette player to myself. If I wanted to take this outside and listen to a tape on a walk, I would have to hold it, or have it floating around in my tote bag, both of which are pretty impractical.

Lastly — and this is a petty complaint — it doesn’t look very nice. The Gracioso cassette player looks rather boring, only coming in a silver colorway with a periwinkle blue accent in the middle, and with a very plain look overall. Looking nice isn’t a requirement for me to enjoy a piece of technology, but it certainly would’ve been nice.

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Should you buy the Gracioso cassette player?

If you’re in the market for a cheap cassette player that also includes a radio, the Gracioso cassette player is a solid choice. Its shortcomings are small and fairly inconsequential, and it does exactly what it should do — play tapes, record, and play the radio.

If you’re looking for a more updated cassette player that has more features like Bluetooth support, this won’t be the best option for you. This is a simple, bare bones, no bells and whistles kind of cassette player, so you won’t find any special features here, and you’ll need to use batteries and wired headphones to use it.

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