It is not the best cassette deck ever made. But it might be the most fascinating . It answers the question: "What if a boombox had an identity crisis and tried to become an Atari ST?"
For 1988, this was magic. It was the closest analog tape ever came to the skip function of a CD player. Here is where the CT-8R graduates from "weird stereo" to "historical oddity." pioneer ct-8r
Just don't ask it to play a CD. The keypad doesn't have a button for that. It is not the best cassette deck ever made
Pioneer called the design "Functional Dynamic" —a polite way of saying "we put the buttons where the computer screen should be." The deck features a massive, 10-key numeric keypad right on the front panel. Next to it sits a fluorescent display that looks less like VU meters and more like the readout on a cash register from Blade Runner . It was the closest analog tape ever came