Cassette collectors are in luck with this $99 portable player from Gadhouse — I tested it to find out whether it’s worth your money

The Gadhouse MIKO is a cassette player that combines retro looks with modern tech, allowing you to enjoy analog without sacrificing the convenience of wireless connectivity. It’s taken me right back to having to stick a pencil in the reel holes to try and save a tangled tape.

The cool design and simple controls make the user experience enjoyable, and the ability to playback tapes or even record is very useful if you want to use the MIKO as a recording device. Wireless connectivity also means that you don’t need to get tangled up in wires as you dance around to your favorite tunes.

But unfortunately, the player feels quite plasticky and more like a toy. It’s also not rechargeable and relies on AA batteries, which might be a dealbreaker for some people. Sound over Bluetooth headphones also isn’t great, and you lose the effect of the tape rewinding. To find out more, keep reading my full Gadhouse MIKO review.

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Gadhouse MIKO review: Specs

Gadhouse MIKO review: Price & availability

The Gadhouse MIKO is available to purchase in the U.S. directly from the Gadhouse online store for $99. It can be purchased in the U.K. from Amazon for £69. You can pick up the player in Smoke (gray) or Mint, which adds a little pop of color.

As portable cassette players go, this one is on the cheaper side of things. The We Are Rewind WE-001 Cassette Player is priced at $159 and adds a more modern look to the retro listening option, whereas the MIKO looks more like the Walkmans of old.

This portable cassette player is a great option if you don’t want to spend more money on a boombox-style cassette player that can be bulky and take up a lot of space, like the We Are Rewind GB-001, which costs a whopping $579.

Gadhouse MIKO review: Design

The Gadhouse MIKO just looks cute. That’s it.

Gadhouse has been hopping onto the retro bandwagon for a while now, with introductions to their lineup like the Wesley Headphones ($82), which will get a couple of mentions in this review. So it’s no surprise that the MIKO is a masterclass in bringing nostalgia to the forefront of music listening… but the plasticky feel makes it seem a little bit like a McDonald's children’s toy from the 2000s. If you're weighing up your options, the We Are Rewind WE-001 is of far better quality and feels satisfyingly heavier.

The cassette player measures 4.8 x 3.7 x 1.3 inches, so if you wanted to pop it in your pocket and strut down the street like you’re Marty McFly heading Back to the Future (literally), then the size will fit the bill perfectly. And that plastic construction does mean it’s lightweight, at just 6.8 ounces, so it’s not cumbersome to carry around with you.

The window at the front of the player where you insert the tape is transparent, so you can see the inner workings of the player as it winds your tape round and round, which I think is a neat touch. There’s also a small microphone just above this window, which captures sound for tape recording (more on that soon).

Controls

Even if you haven’t used a cassette player before, the controls are very easy to get the hang of. There are protruding buttons at the top of the player, just like the cassette players I used when I was young.

The play and record buttons are placed together with the forward, rewind, and stop buttons in the next row. The forward and rewind buttons can stick down to easily skip over tracks without fatiguing your fingers.

On the right side of the player is a switch that toggles the device on and off and activates Bluetooth connectivity. There’s a dial on the side for volume, which I found to be very responsive when I was altering the levels.

Gadhouse MIKO review: Features

The Gadhouse MIKO has a microphone which allows you to record onto a tape. This is great for making old-school mixtapes, or even as a retro way to keep a voice diary. When I played this back, it sounded a little static, but that’s to be expected when listening to tapes.

Connectivity

The Gadhouse MIKO has a variety of different connectivity options, including an important one we didn't have back in the day: Bluetooth. The player uses Bluetooth 5.3 to connect to wireless earbuds. It automatically searches for compatible devices, and if your buds are in pairing mode, it will connect instantly.

You also have the option to use an aux-in port or a 3.5mm jack. But you need to have headphones of some kind — you can’t just play out loud from the cassette player. But the original Walkmans were designed to be private listening devices, so this makes it feel like more of an ode to them.

Gadhouse MIKO review: Performance

Listening to the Gadhouse MIKO took me right back to my childhood. The zip of the tape as it rewound and the firm push of the button are all too familiar. The classic cassette crackle was present throughout all of my testing, but that adds to the retro vibe, in my opinion.

Of course, your listening experience here is only going to be as good as the headphones you’re using, which is why I can’t rate the sound quality of this, only how it plays.

I first tested out the MIKO, how it was intended to be used: with the Gadhouse Welsey headphones. These two go together like peanut butter and jelly because they were quite literally made for each other.

I listened to three cassettes from different genres, which were So Far So Good by Bryan Adams, These Days by Bon Jovi and Hysteria by Def Leppard. Thankfully, I still had these lying around the house from when my parents used them in their cassette players. Overall, I was impressed with the balance of the tracks and enjoyed the lo-fi effect of the cassette player.

After having tested with a wired connection using the Wesley headphones as well as a Bluetooth connection using my trusty Apple AirPods 3, I would advise using the MIKO with wired headphones if you can. With wired headphones, you can hear the tape rewinding, and everything sounds clearer, while I felt over a wireless connection, everything sounded processed. You also lose the sound of the tape rewinding over the wireless connection, which I think is part of the fun when using a device like this.

Gadhouse MIKO review: Battery life

The Gadhouse MIKO cassette player isn’t rechargeable but uses two AA batteries — now that’s what I call vintage. The environmentally conscious among you can grab some rechargeable batteries to use with the player. Even retro design products usually account for being rechargeable, so whether this is cool or inconvenient is up to you.

How much mileage you get from the MIKO will naturally depend on whether you’re using it wired or wireless. But if you want a constant stream of power to the device, you can also use it with a USB-C connection at home, but this, of course, limits the portability of the product.

In the weeks that I’ve spent testing the player, I’ve been using the battery option and haven’t run into any issues. That said, if you want an option that can be recharged, the We Are Rewind WE-001 uses a built-in rechargeable battery.

Gadhouse MIKO review: Verdict

The Gadhouse MIKO cassette player is a quirky gadget that will have you digging out your old tapes to listen to your favorite tracks from when you were younger. The cool retro design is what won me over, and it’s made even better by the simple controls and wireless connectivity, which lets you listen over Bluetooth 5.3. As well as the playback function, you can also record onto tapes with the player.

But unlike the version from We Are Rewind, the MIKO isn’t rechargeable and uses AA batteries, which can be wasteful if you're not using rechargeables. The design also feels very plasticky, and not like the well-built Walkman we all knew and loved. Even though there is the option for wireless connectivity, I wouldn’t recommend this if you want the best experience.

Overall, I think this is a perfect gadget for anyone with a small cassette tape collection who doesn’t have the space to buy a full-size player but still wants to listen in a retro way now and again.