What do you think of retro styled tech?

[MacroNemesis]

I'l start by saying the most of the time if you want retro tech you should just... get the retro tech. The temptation to see if I can still use my old ipod touch or buy an old one and up rockbox on it grows each day.

I'm interested in things like Tangara, and I came across this Fiio Echo Mini that's cool looking (but kind of jank tbh), and I came across people making (maybe repurposing) ctrs in 2025 https://retrobox.us/. I've also mentioned in the past I miss old aethetics like Transpartent plastic, bright colored laptops, and even when they would use woodgrain on vintage tech. but there's no getting around if the build quality is bad.

[scarfysquared]

honestly i havent interacted with any of those like that but like. As long as it's good i don't mind it

[twpclattycell]

larp

[MetalJack98]

The term you might be looking for is either Retro Restoration or Retro Formfactor. But regardless, I personally think it's only really good for just emulating things on dedicated hardware, like the Commodore 64 recreation using an FPGA. It's honestly not bad, but takes away from the original experience a bit tbh.

[solinus]

I also discovered a company called Polyconcept that used to make a lot of cheap, gimmicky retro products from the below video. It seems like the modern-day advent of cheap "retro" audio equipment started in the 90s/2000s.


Polyconcept no longer makes retro products as far as I remember, but I do like to take a look at some of the cheap, poorly designed products (or tat as the British like to say). Lots of weird design choices and gimmicks.

https://web.archive.org/web/20040722130 ... atcode=RCA&


https://web.archive.org/web/20030402210 ... ode=PHILCO