I don’t participate in the current resurgence of vinyl enthusiasm, but I understand it. Whether you believe it sounds better than digital, there’s no denying the visceral joy of record shopping, carefully placing that black 12-inch disc onto a turntable, and then dropping the needle. Not to mention the impact that album art and liner notes can have on the listening experience.

No one claims that cassette tapes sound better than, well, anything other than AM radio. Most of the plastic cartridges have about as much physical charm as a disposable lighter—they’re kitschy collectibles more than archival artifacts. I didn’t anticipate that the classic boombox, with its central tape deck, would make a comeback, but here we are.

At the forefront of this nostalgic new wave is We Are Rewind (or Rewind), a French startup that first came to our attention in 2023 with its stylish reboot of the Walkman: The $160 WE-001. The company’s second cassette-based product is the $579 GB-001. You’ll also see it referred to as a “Blaster.” (The French company decided to let the audience guess what the G in the GB-001 model name means). It is confusingly also listed as its specific black color, which Rewind calls “Curtis.”

Is a $579 fake boombox worth the money to you? Depends on how much of an aesthete you are, and how big your tape collection.

A John Hughes Remake

Photograph: Simon Cohen

Like the WE-001’s contemporary take on portable cassette players, the GB-001 captures the essence of iconic 1970s/1980s boomboxes, while applying a modern aesthetic (and a few modern capabilities).

One look at the GB-001 and you can see the broad brushstrokes have been preserved: the oversize, round metal grilles protecting the drivers, the brawny, full-width folding handle, and the tape deck itself, which, according to We Are Rewind’s founder and CEO, Romain Boudruche, uses a high-performance motor, comparable to those used in 1990s hi-fi decks. It’s beautifully built, with clean lines and a nearly seamless construction. Simple black rotary knobs adorn the top surface.

Then there’s the size and weight. At 19 inches wide, 10 inches tall, and 15 pounds, it’s a beast. It’s so substantial, even the force required to press the front-mounted tape playback buttons won’t budge it if it’s on a flat surface. Yes, it’s portable, but I doubt you’ll want to carry it very far.

But the clincher, especially for those who want to revel in the glory of all things analog, is the pair of backlit VU meters. They’re so gloriously emblematic of the golden era of analog that they were the first thing my Gen X friends commented on when I showed them the GB-001—Gen X being the clear target audience.

Same Old Flaws

Photograph: Simon Cohen

Also preserved from that moment in history? A lack of water or dust protection. Gone is a massive battery bay and its insatiable appetite for D-cells. Instead, a replaceable rechargeable battery runs the show. We Are Rewind says you’ll get about 10 hours per charge if you’re mostly playing cassettes, up to 15 hours if you’re using the other audio sources like Bluetooth and line-in. Those numbers seemed fairly accurate during my evaluation period. Two things to keep in mind: It can be recharged only via the included A/C wall charger, so don’t leave home without it, and the only battery level indicator is a small red light next to the volume dial that comes on when you hit 20 percent remaining.

Sadly, the one thing every 20th-century boombox had—an AM/FM tuner—is absent from the GB-001. I knew this before receiving my evaluation unit, and yet the moment it was unboxed and charged up, I was hit with the disappointing realization that I couldn’t just flip a switch and start listening to music. Apparently, my own inner 15-year-old associates boomboxes with radio even more than cassettes.

I’m told that We Are Rewind considered it but ultimately passed on adding a radio because of the regulatory and technical differences from one market to another. Still, as one of my friends astutely observed, if the GB-001 proves successful, there’s nothing stopping the company from creating a GB-002, complete with a tuner, as a follow-up.

Making Mixtapes

Photograph: Simon Cohen

Both Bluetooth and aux-in can be used to record to tape (though not simultaneously), and there’s even a separate microphone jack with its own dedicated level dial. You can mix in the mic while recording, or amplify the signal for ad hoc karaoke sessions. Bizarrely, We Are Rewind opted not to include a built-in condenser mic—something that most OG boomboxes had.

Beyond the sheer nostalgia value of owning a boombox, these recording options are arguably the GB-001’s biggest selling point. The mixtape (or “mixed tape” as my specific cohort called them) might be on the verge of a comeback. And this is where those VU meters go from being a cool add-on to a vital instrument. For the uninitiated: if your input level is too low, your recordings won’t have sufficient volume for playback. Set them too high, and you’ll end up with distortion. The meters let you see and adjust these levels, making the GB-001 better suited for recordings than the WE-001.

The one missing ingredient is a tape counter. If you plan on doing multiple takes, starting each time from the same spot, a tape counter makes it way easier. Without one, you’re left to guess at how long to rewind, which wastes time and puts more wear on the tape and transport mechanism.

Did I test the record function? You bet I did; the release of the pause button (after pressing record and play simultaneously) brought back a flood of happy memories. I even tracked down an original, sealed Maxell XLII-90 blank tape ($10 on Marketplace) because they were my go-to back in the day. The GB-001 performed flawlessly, or at least as flawlessly as you can expect from a boombox. I queued up some favorite Dire Straits tracks from Qobuz and piped them into the GB-001 from my phone via Bluetooth and line-in, and both sounded nearly indistinguishable when I played them back. Wish I could say the same of one of my thrift-store cassette finds: a heavily used copy of Meatloaf’s Bat Out of Hell, which sounded more like the bat got tired and wanted to go back to hell for a nap.

Big Sound

Photograph: Simon Cohen

True to the name Blaster, the GB-001 packs plenty of power with a total of 104 watts on tap, and it can get very loud if you let it. The sound signature is unapologetically bass-forward, something that can be moderated using the top-mounted tone controls. Where things get a bit dicey is in the level of detail. The mid and high frequencies enjoy solid separation, and yet the actual content of a track can feel a bit smeared. Individual elements like guitars and vocals tend to blend in a way that I’ve come to associate with compression. Given that the GB-001 supports only the basic SBC codec for Bluetooth audio, I thought this might be the reason, and yet the aux-in and tape sources didn’t perform significantly better.

I found tape playback offered higher volume levels than Bluetooth or line-in (even with both of these set to maximum output), but that might be a reflection of the gear I was using. To test for distortion, I recorded Billie Eilish’s “Bad Guy” to tape, then played it from all three sources. With Bluetooth and line-in, the track’s thumping bass line caused no problems at all, even at 100 percent volume. But when I switched to tape, the GB-001 hit the limit of what it could handle around the 75 percent mark, at which point distortion became very noticeable.

We Are Rewind says it uses a spatialization function for “a wider, more immersive stereo experience,” and yet the GB-001 remains highly directional. Put yourself dead-center, about five to six feet away, and it sounds great. Stereo separation isn’t spectacular, but it’s enough for a soundstage that at times can feel like it’s twice as wide as the boombox. However, if you walk away from that center line, stereo vanishes immediately, and so does much of the mid-to-high frequency definition. The sound becomes muddier the farther you go. This may also explain that sense of smearing I mentioned earlier.

Photograph: Simon Cohen

To a certain extent, this is true of any portable-size speaker, but it’s more noticeable on the GB-001 than on more modern speakers, like the JBL Authentics 300 or Marshall Kilburn III, which can fill a room more evenly.

The bass and treble tone controls provide a wide range of adjustments in both frequency bands, but they don’t affect the headphone output. Speaking of headphones, low-impedance, high-sensitivity models will be a better choice for the GB-001. It wasn’t quite powerful enough to drive my 80-ohm Beyerdynamic DT 990 Pro Limited Edition cans as loud as I would have liked.

For a portable speaker of its power, the GB-001 is on the pricey side, especially when you consider it has a significantly lower battery life than similarly powerful models. It also lacks water/dust resistance, and you definitely don’t want to drop it from any height. The lack of an AM/FM radio, Bluetooth playback controls, and a tape counter are unfortunate oversights.

And yet I really like We Are Rewind’s new take on the classic boombox. The simplicity of its design, its versatility as a recording device—those VU meters!—along with its substantial power and karaoke option, give it a value that goes beyond pure nostalgia. It’s an eminently practical way to explore (or reacquaint yourself with) an analog format that’s slowly clawing its way back into the spotlight. At the very least, it’s a guaranteed conversation piece. If that is worth the money for you, and you miss making mixtapes, it might be worth a buy.