The Mixxtape is an intriguing little device that is part future-facing tech-ready nerdiness, part delightfully retro fun and part cosy rose-tinted nostalgic revisionism.
Essentially a digital audio player capable of handling everything from MP3 to 24-bit/192 kHz hi-res lossless audio formats like FLAC, and boasting full Apple iTunes compatibility, the Mixxtape presents – as its name suggests – in the shape of a cassette tape.
If you remember those, then you are old like me, but the Mixxtape is not quite how you will remember cassettes being. While the Mixxtape may initially appear to be a cute retro throwback design and nothing more, there are a few twists that it throws at you...
The Mixxtape features 8GB of onboard storage but will accept microSD cards of up to 512GB in size, uses a USB-C port to charge its 330mAh battery and transfer files at up to 10Gbps, has a tiny 1-inch touchscreen and physical controls for power and volume, and has both a stereo 3.5mm audio jack and Bluetooth wireless connectivity.
But there is one feature in particular that makes it potentially useful for owners of classic cars who want to maintain their originality. Niche, I know, but interesting nonetheless...
That is because the Mixxtape is actually a fully-functioning cassette in its own right and features a 4-channel stereo magnetic tape head that works in the same way those old CD-player cassette adaptors do, essentially fooling the tape deck’s magnetic head into thinking there is analog magnetic tape rolling across it.
The Mixxtape's tiny touchscreen nestled between its sprockets is surprisingly usable, despite its minuscule size. Menus are clear and logical, and while it is a tad on the slow side when it comes to responses, that fact you actually need to be quite deliberate when using it because of its size negates this nicely, making it a simple and intuitive thing to use.
It uses a folder structure to organise songs across its internal and external storage and also features EQ and shuffle options.
The few physical controls and surprisingly comprehensive touchscreen are all you need when you just plug some headphones straight into it, this is actually where the Mixxtape starts to falter when it comes to that aforementioned niche of someone wanting to load it up with 80s classics and jam it directly into their car’s cassette deck.
This is because there is no way to actually control the Mixxtape once it is inserted into a cassette player.
Sure, you can see the screen if you play it in a home tape deck that has a window, but you can’t touch it to select or skip tracks. A small remote, wired or wireless, would easily fix this, but the Mixxtape sadly doesn’t feature one.
This leaves your only option being to start the Mixxtape playing, put it on shuffle and then just stick it in the in-dash tape player and cruise. Which isn’t exactly a bad option, but there is another potential problem with that...
And that is the fact that the Mixxtape doesn’t exactly play nice with auto-reverse tape decks due to the fact that only one sprocket spins when the tape is playing, constantly fooling the player into thinking that the tape has actually finished, so it engages the other sprocket to play the other side. Repeatedly.
This is why those CD-player cassette adaptors have an elaborate structure of gears that connect the two sprockets, something that seems to be a pretty big oversight here.
So, you can’t control it and, if you have an auto-reverse cassette deck in your 80s classic car (which you probably do), then you can’t actually even play it either. Which is a shame, because as a digital audio player, the Mixxtape is actually pretty damn good.
The sound quality is impressive (Mixxtape uses a RKNanoD Digital-to-Audio converter) and the novelty form factor is a huge conversation point, while the screen is vivid and bright, and the controls all feel nicely solid.
One surprising downside that might disappoint those pining for tape hiss and flutter is that the sound quality when playing it on a cassette deck is actually still way higher than actual cassette as well. You could always use super low bitrate MP3s I guess, but that is a different kind of nostalgia...
While the Mixxtape is an excellent quality, wonderfully quirky digital audio player, its usefulness to someone wanting to enjoy digital music while keeping their car’s dashboard original is sadly limited.
It looks like the CD-player cassette adaptor’s reign is not at an end yet – you can even get Bluetooth versions that connect directly to your phone now too, something that an earlier version of the Mixxtape supported, but it was dropped on later versions...
Still, it looks very cool, offers up excellent audio quality and is a slick, highly portable way to enjoy music on the go.
