Cassette decks. How good can it get?

I have a simple Nak deck, and love it for the times I use it (have quite a few cassettes from ‘back in the day’). 
 

But really, I find it isn’t always so much the deck (I’m not underestimating it’s importance) but rather the quality of the tape. Or, if a retail production tape, when it was produced. And if the the tape is not damaged in a variety of ways. Personally I have found the ‘production’ record label offerings fro the mid/late 80’s into the 90’s most often are pretty darn good. I have very few retail tapes from the 70’s that sound anywhere near as good. In terms of blank tapes, I only used Maxwell and TDK ‘metal’ tapes, and if in good shape, still sound very good. But they cost a fortune today. 

In todays world, (unlike in the past when you had to record vinyl to play in your car, as example), I’m not sure recording to cassette tapes is preferable to either vinyl or a good digital rig and streaming service. But, as I say, I have quite a few good record label tapes I still enjoy from the ‘golden era’ of tape production, and almost always prefer them to CD’s of the same period, but almost always less so than vinyl.

Yes, it is difficult to find quality tapes today. They are basically no longer produced, so you are stuck buying old ones, or if you can find them, NOS hi quality metal tapes. And both of those can be a crap shoot, as you don’t know how they were stored, and have been damaged. And expensive, typically, as there is now somewhat a cassette resurgence among some.

As I say, I really enjoy the ones I have, but doubtful I will expand my collection much. There are times I will buy a used record  label production tape, if it was manufactured during the ‘golden years’.