cassettes CAN sound better than vinyl.

Ive got a Nak Dragon and love popping in a tape now and then. Its worry free unlike like vinyl, zero prep, it still sounds wonderful. I enjoy it and that is really all that matters. I have both analog and digital in my system, and love music in all its formats for the most part.

I buy tapes from small artists in very limited runs of tapes, some better than others and just like vinyl record pressings. Some winners some losers.

That Mattel deck is fine indeed. Excellent isolation. 

I have about 10 cassettes decks and 2 RtR tape recorder's. 2 Nakamichi lower numbers but they sound fantastic. I Had a big Technics 10in.RtR but traded it.I love recorder music on tape.But it depends on the quantity of the tape .Cheap cassettes sound Cheap.