Cassette Decks in 2019

Al.
Agreed on the CSIS label, I have a couple although not my normal taste in music but when you find them in charity shop at 50 cents you just have to buy them!
Now on the flipside there are some equally terrible later pre recorded tapes , some so bad I have tossed them and kept the case which had more value!

I also suspect the tapes the OP is referring to may well fall into this latter category in places and yes a $1000+ Nak deck would make ZERO sense.

After all old saying.....

Garbage in, garbage out.

Have been a fan of cassette decks since childhood. I used to own a Nakamichi BX-300, which was sonically excellent. The ZX-7 is/was amazing, but always out of my price range.

I currently own a Nakamichi BX-125. It's a two head unit, but it was restored by a pro and total cost was <$300. It is a 2 head deck, but far superior to the TASCAM. 

I also own two Yamaha 3 head cassette decks, which perform amazingly well. K-1000 and a K-1020. The K-1000 is direct drive, so no belts. It has Dolby B and DBX and has a frequency response of 20-21,000Hz with Metal, 20-20,000 with Chrome. The K-1020 was, IMO, Yamaha's best deck with Dolby B, C, DBX. It has frequency response of 20-23,000Hz with metal and 20-20,000Hz with chrome. I paid $50 for the K-2000, $100 for service. I paid $300 for the K-1020 professionally serviced to like new condition. 

I'd take a look at a good quality, refurbished vintage deck before spending $500 on something made in China which costs that much only due to low production volume. It's no better than a $100 dual well cassette deck from the 80's, not nearly as good as some decent upper level ones that were produced like Sony ES, Yamaha, Technics or Pioneer.

Smkerry, can you describe your experience with the specific Tascam model that has been discussed (the 202MkVII), upon which your comments are based? For example, have you listened to it in your own system with tapes you are familiar with?

Regards,
-- Al

Al, I was pretty active with cassettes in the '70s and '80s.  Not all at one time but I owned several decks -- HK (2), Tandberg, Nak (480, not impressed), Aiwa, Pioneer, etc.  I was always disappointed by commercial pre-recorded tapes.  But I never heard any of the Advent or CSIS products.  For the others I expect it was the high speed duplication that was their undoing.

However I found making my own recordings, mainly from LPs, with careful attention to tape quality, bias, clean sources, etc. gave very listenable results.  I think some who were disenchanted with cassettes either heard poor quality pre-recorded examples or poorly done home made.