New Grundig Micro HiFi Review - this was a mistake
Almost everything that would have made this video worthwhile, evaporated as soon as I started making it.
The main raison d'être *'did one' at four minutes and thirty eight seconds in. Yet for some bizarre reason the video continues on for another twenty odd minutes.
Here’s the video https://youtu.be/GxHzkizAOVc
I’d recommend only watching this one once you’ve got absolutely nothing else left to watch. That includes all those DVD box sets you bought years ago that are still in their shrink wrap.
I’m (sort-of) joking of course - it’s not a completely unwatchable video, but ultimately it’s all just rendered a bit pointless. Hopefully the next video will be more worthy of both my time and yours.
I’ve accumulated a few topics to talk about in my notepad app, so all being well I’ll try to record a rambling patron exclusive update video very soon. Amongst other things I’ll talk about what’s happening with my medical trial and also explain what the deal is with the unusual currency conversions you might have spotted recently.
Take care.
* 'Did one' is local vernacular for 'doing a runner', 'buggered off', 'pegged it'.
UPDATED
Fixed a cock up with a re-up.
Comments (84)
Would anyone happen to know the name of the track used at 9 minutes 20 seconds? Been trying to find it for a while
It’s somewhere in the YouTube studio library. I’ll see if I can find it later.
I’ve just bought a retro ‘bush’ radio from Argos, completes with station dial. Bonus feature is the headphone jack which when used with a line in audio cable (crap at describing lol) allows me to listen to my minidiscs or tapes 😁😁 £15 bargain lol
Thanks for the review on this. The tape on this thing is garbage (even worse than that Aldi "small boombox", yes I bought one for a laugh really) but the mp3 / CD / Radio part is good actually. In fact I would actually purchase one to listen to "lossless", more as a convenience to have all my CD's "mixtaped" into USB folders than anything in the shed or one for work. (Where the Sonos don't go really) I've just never had much luck with Bluetooth stuff! Speakers are boxy but at least they are "rich" sound rather than wholly lacking in bass but easily attached to existing ones I'll keep a look out for a local flavour of one, likely a rebranded generic "HK" product.
I noticed that instead of Kenwood RA-80 you have Technics SH-8040 now. Will there be a video about it?
Yes at some point as I need to open it up to fix something.
I’ve reviewed all the comments and it appears I’m the only one who had a really strong urge to wipe the dust off the screen in the close-ups.
They possibly haven't commented because Mat has previously mentioned that his neighborhood is a dust magnet - he's said the moment he's cleaned an item he's videoing, the dust accumulates again - no matter how often the home is dusted/vacuumed etc.
That is truly awful and just makes me sad, I remember owning a Grundig years ago and it was a fantastic piece of kit
I had a lovely Grundig 68cm CRT TV back in the day. Late '90s era, made in Austria, SCART input (it was really hard to find TVs with SCART down here). Unfortunately I had a cleanout about 5 years ago and sent it to e-waste. This was a couple of years before I started getting back into vintage computing and retrogaming in a big way. I've been kicking myself on a regular basis for getting rid of it ever since.
Good grief, that has to be the worst of the bunch! The product, not the video, I mean. 🙄 Even Amazon Basic's "boomboxes" were better than this. No hope for the cassette mechanism, but for roughly the same money it is possible to scratch together a fair system consisting of active speakers (low-end Audioengine? Fostex?) and an FM-capable MP3-player. Not to mention what's possible in the realm of Bluetooth, etc... This is a disgrace! There's a long-running consumer report on Swedish public broadcaster SVT, with a cult following, which always concludes with the worst-reviewed product being shamed by the bin: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1LAPipJGDfE&t=1774 You could copy that. 😄
I think people are better off just sourcing an older item (such as a decent 90s boombox) with a CD player and a line in allowing all sorts or equipment to be attached. Several adaptors can be purchased to 'up grade' the unit to have Bluetooth and chance are the unit will sound much better than the constant stream of rubbish that is manufactured now (usually utilising brands that were once pretty good).
I just love how Tech Moan has become fairly literal finally - so much of the stuff that's reviewed lately is just *so bad*. I highly enjoyed this video :D
It's just a sign of how little we value music and music fidelity now.
Great video but this POS is all kinds of depressing.
Seems like Grundig is now like a German version of Bush.
Well, I go with Mat. This is an ordinary, cheap set, nobody expects anything from it, so there is nothing to complain about it in the end. Or to highlight. Yes, there's nothing. Many YouTube videos are successful when you argue and find flaws on expensive items and blame the manufacturer for idiotic makes or tries to play with the customer. That we don't have here, that device is rubbish, right from the start and everybody knows it. So yes, I'm interested in how it will perform. Let's see.
The track played on the Sony (then on the Grundig) sounds like the start of a Kate Bush track 👍
Wow, that's not very fluttering.
ASDA sell stuff under the "Polaroid" name, and I was browsing next to, presumably an elderly mother and her daughter, who were looking at "Polaroid" products, the daughter saying "Oh, these must be good, they're a well known brand". I had to step in and warn them. I've recently bought a Roberts DAB/CD/MP3 CD alarm clock thing, and I'm beginning to wonder whether it's the real deal. Mid-2000s, I guess, so hopefully so. It's not rubbish by any means.
The current Polaroid does at least exist, via a slightly circuitous route, because a group of Polaroid fans met at the closing party for the Dutch factory and decided to start a company selling Polaroid compatible film.
I never knew lav mics are mono! I wonder why that because the industry standard?
Lav mics are generally used for voice, so there's really no point in making them stereo.
Grundig used to be such a great brand. I had a Grundig receiver in the late '80s that was excellent. The current management should be ashamed that they would put their name to a product like this. Oh dear. Great video as always Matt.
Grundig is a German company unless the chines have put the badge of Grundig on there tat unless there is different Grundig company like Kenwood
I am quite liking these videos matt I just bought a new micro HIFI system well it looks like a HIFI although its really a DVD player as it does play DVD also it has2 mic inputs for karaoke
That sounds like an import. Is it any good?
This one gets the bird....."CHEAP""CHEAP""CHEAP". Excellent information in the video, though. I always though the name "Grundig" meant good stuff, but I guess I was born too late for that. Good job, well done.
The remote is almost identical to my cheapo hisense TV remote... Just relabelled buttons. That Grundig is grim. Gives cassettes a bad name.
Flippin' 'eck... it sounds as cheap as it looks! Thanks for taking one for the team, Mat. BTW the video is nowhere nearly as bad as you made it out to be. You did the best with what you had to work with.
How far we have fallen with cassette quality. I remember my first boombox, an Aiwa CS-W300 with basic double cassette deck. It's hi-speed copies were much better than this. Also this Grundig must have the worst implementation of an auto level control. Never seen one that peaks at the start before. Whilst not including casette, a friend asked me for a similar size bedroom music system recommendation last year and I suggested the Panasonic SC-PM602 . The main unit was so light I thought they had forgotten the electronics but turns out it's a nice little unit. The only downside is a display that doens't have enough characters for most DAB station names.
I didn't dislike the video. I do like more the retro stuff but it is quite good your way at reviews. I mean, exactly as you said, what is the scope for such a thing and not from the perspective of an audiophile. I also. Liked a lot you getting creative with the meter.. I recently bought a black punt dab radio because I thought how bad can they botch it and it was retro inspired. It has hiss. But not in all modes, the menu is terrible. So perhaps I am unlucky too uh?
Yes seems like we have the same 'luck'
Despite the disappointing subject, I had a very well and loud laugh at when at the end you said "and then YOU can try pressing the buttons on your cassette deck without moving the thing" :D :D :D :D
Crikey, I'm not sure I remember you reviewing a cassette deck previously that was so bad you were afraid to stick your test tape in it, and it's not like this is the first piece of cheap junk you've tried out.
As far as I'm concerned, this is an excellent PSA for 'buyer beware.' The founders of Grundig are probably rolling in their graves - and I'm nauseated by this pile of 💩 machine. To the haters of the film peel-off: "Don't get your capstans in a kink, or I'm gonna have to pinch rollers."
I think it's the kink that worries them.
Why do they even bother with tapes if they are going to do a completely garbage job of it. It's not usable and they could make it a fair bit cheaper if they left it out.
The massive negativity excites me. Can’t wait!
Now I understand where the rumors about "cassette sounding awful" come from. It's very sad that big names like Grundig, Crosley, RCA nowadays appear on such garbage.
"First impression is really quite positive" :)
Eeeehhh, I remember when 'Grundig' MEANT 'Grundig'. £2000 industrial power supplies, middle-spec cassette players in Vauxhall Astras, obscure communications equipment, them were the days. Also as a qualified healthcare professional I'll be nosey/interested in your trial. Thanks for the vid.
I remember when Bell & Howell (good well engineered institutional products) meant 50lb 16mm filmosound projectors you could use as a car jackstand, cobranded Canon photo gear or stereo cassette recorder/players that had 5 XLR jacks, tape counter, clockwork drive and 15ft extension cord with storage compartment built in. Now they make the crap you find on late night infomercials: “tactical flashlights” pest repellers and pube shavers. I guess that’s progress?
And here I thought that bookshelf stereos had gotten chintzy in the late 1990s when they were covered with needless fascia panels and gaudy blinking lights -- this thing's just cheap for cheapness' sake.
The lack of chintz is the only thing going for this thing. I see where the designers were going with the minimalist look (which can be very classy on quality hi-fi equipment), but the whole thing comes across like the audio equivalent of one of those Chinese SUVs with too much plastic chrome and quilted pleather upholstery.
Probably not worth trying to adjust the azimuth even if you could.
Unless it’s with a sledgehammer.
The only video of yours that I've disliked was the bacon cooking thing and that's only because I really hate bacon. Generally, when you review something that's ropey, you're providing a service by showing people why. That said, I think a review of a nice current mini system that people may actually want (Denon or similar) would be worthwhile. Some of the library music you've used is probably as closely associated with Minimal List (a nice couple who make boating videos) as Over Time is with you. I wonder what overlap there is between their audience and yours.
I’m sure we’ll find out in the comments. Apparently I’ve been ‘copying dank pods test music’ too - a channel I’m not familiar with, but it seems I’m unique in that. I looked at the music and I’ve been using it for a couple of years or more. There are only so many decent tracks in the YouTube audio library - hidden amongst a sea of horrors. Also - I agree with testing a Denon, I’ve been thinking about this myself. I do know a chap at Richer Sounds who might lend me one. It seems a waste to buy it and never use it.
btw. i realised just a few videos ago that the "peel-off" music features your voice. Was it always like that? :D
Yes it’s always been me. In my head I wanted to use something from Barry White - but that’s out of the question.
I expect at least one You tube comment complaining that you pushed on the cd tray to close it. I enjoyed this video , thanks
When it's open I couldn't see the eject button any more. You're right though.
I had the same thought as Jason and Kilrah which you have answered. How about making a homemade test tape that would be better than nothing but disposable should it get chewed up. If you knew the response of that on a known good system you could extrapolate the wow figure . . . naa . . . on second thoughts that's all far too complicated to explain! :-) I always love your honesty Mat. A review of something awful has the same value and is just as interesting as a review of an excellent item.
I've got a cheaper test tape somewhere I could have used, however I only included the test because I knew that if I didn't so many people would ask that I'd have to edit it in anyway. In my opinion it didn't need the test to prove it sounded terrible. It's like tasting food that's gone off, you just put it in the recycling, you don't need to send it to a lab to verify what percent it's deviated from being palatable.
You’re the best in the business! This new Cathode Ray Dude is good too.
I feel that most people I watch on YouTube are better at this than I am - CRD’s sub figures will be shooting past mine before I know it.
10GB huh, I rarely think about sizes when streaming. I must be using terabytes per month on just YouTube
I think YouTube will squash that a bit at their end - but yes the mp4 I upload is 10+ GB
That remote reminds me of my Samsung TV remote.
I don't consider this video a failure at all. You're still reviewing an item to find out whether it's worth buying or not. So what if this device didn't turn out to be what you hoped it could be, you still rendered a service to the public and did it in an entertaining fashion. When I think about getting a modern cassette player that would make a good gift for older relatives, I quickly realize that most of the older people I know don't listen to prerecorded music now and never had. Buying and listening to prerecorded music was just something that "the youth" did while older generations never had such costly, frivolous luxuries (and depending on the era, the technology might not have been developed yet). Anyhow, most of the people of my parents' generation and older are now dead, so... yeah.
In the next update I’ll have to share a comment about CDs I received - it can’t fail to make everyone here feel ancient.
"It really doesn't sound all that bad!" LOL I watched a video by Shango066 yesterday where he repaired an AM tube-based car radio from the 1940s that he barely got to work in the end, and I think it sounded better than this. I wonder what it sounds like if you connect it to some decent speakers. I would have really loved a stereo with features like USB playback and Bluetooth in the early 2000s, but not with that kind of sound quality. Especially if only cost 549 Złoty ;-).
On the bright side: I now know that your intro is actually in 4k! (As I got a new laptop.) Hadn't realised that you went to the effort to do 4k (and the person who created it) even for a disappointment-video like this. Thank you!
That's the work of Graphics Monkey - the chap above you. Apparently we're all going to live in that intro one day when this metaverse things kicks in.
Got to get a Covid test done at some army run place... Then strait home to watch on the BIG TV! ALSO... You used my VR intro! Still have to make it a 3D 360 video so people can be in there.
I thought I'd try going with your new one on the new stuff and the old one for the old stuff, but I'll probably forget at some point and mix it up again.
Thanks for that. It was, well you tried.
Mindboggling
Kinda oopsed I think on the tape test: by recording and playing back on the same machine, you'll not show any speed difference.
I've re-worded that section now. A new edit is in the process of being rendered and then uploaded - but it's over 10GB so takes a while.
The set is rubbish, the video perfect, as always! Makes me wonder: if there is only one type of cassette mechanic being produced (a type that has been around for at least 35 years, as I remember those from my early childhood already!), what makes the difference in W&F so huge between "modern" cassette decks? Is it the finishing? My attempt would probably be to take the mech apart, polish and clean everything and see if there's any improvement... But yeah, that would "cost" much more than the set at all, if I would charge my normal hourly rate :-P
I think the consensus is that there is one manufacturer of cassette mechs. Firms can ask the manufacturer for a run of units and choose the features they want, such as mono or stereo heads, including rewind or just FF, etc. They then put those info the cassette players that they are making. Another option is gears and flywheels, which are most often plastic nowadays. The lightweight flywheels aren't able to smooth out the fluctuations in motor speed and gearing and that accounts for the W&F. If you look at higher quality, vintage cassette mechs, many flywheels included metal, I think.
If you recorded the test tape on the same deck you play it back on you can't look at the speed indication, regardless of how wrong the speed is it will always (well hopefully!) read it at the same speed it recorded it and cancel it out :)
I've re-worded that section now. A new edit is in the process of being rendered and then uploaded
Your videos are never pointless. Getting out the popcorn.
Grundig went bust in 2003 when the banks refused to offer them any more credit and they had to file for bankruptcy. Grundig is now a subsidiary of Turkish multinational Arçelik. They bought out the brand in 2015 and know badges and an extensive range of products under the brand. The same fate of Bankruptcy was also the fate of another well known german brand, Blaupunkt.
It's the same story all over unfortunately. There's still a few moderately intact companies around from the 1980s... Sony, Technics, Yamaha, possibly B&O and a couple of others but everyone else is just a sticker on some rebadged tat.
Id happily watch your videos over those shrink wrapped movies sitting on my shelf. You don't give yourself enough credit. I love when I see one of your vids popup on my feed. Whether it's a toaster or table top dishwasher you make the most mundane things way more interesting.
This might be the exception.
This seems like a marketing gimmick to make us watch ASAP to see what's bad about the video... Only to just end up watching a really pleasant Techmoan video. 😘
Just being honest - I cannot tell a lie...it's a bit weak.
*putting everything aside and watching new promising techmoan video*
Cue disappointment in 3...2...1...