Chime in.What's the Best Cassette Recorder ever ?


I just recently purchased a used Teac V-900X from a local
used Hi Fi shop and was amazed at the specs of the machine,But more amazed at the sound coming from this unit. I had my CD of Ray Sings Basie Swings and dubbed it onto my Teac cassette recorder with DBX fully engaged on the machine and levels kept at 0 DB or -4 on peaks with my Maxell New XLS Type 2 tape. All I could say was WOW, WOW.
The tape copy had lower noise then the CD and more dynamic punch. I used my old Mit 330 Cable as a dubbing cable from my Toshiba DVD SD 2705 to the Teac. I know thats not much of a front end for playback, But I do not have hardly any Cd's in my collection just tapes and reel to reel live recordings along with a huge collection of live Dat recordings as well .
I did some research on the net and came upon the specs of the Nakamichi 1000ZKL. The freq. response is better then the Teac, But the Teac is no slouch either.
The owners manual on the Teac V-900x state Freq. response 30 to 21k + or - 3 DB. Signal to noise 92 DB(dbx in at 1K,
dynamic range 110 DB DBX IN, 1KHZ PEAK LEVEL. I opened the lid to the machine and I noticed it only has one belt in it not the typical 8 or 9 belts seen in others. The machine has 3 motors 1 DC FG SERVO DD capstan motor,1 DC REEL MOTOR,1 mechanism control motor.Now all I need to do is snap up as many virgin Sealed Metal Tapes I can get my hands on and then have some real fun. I will be recording live on the Teac V 900x next week with a small symphonic community group and will report my findings to all of you on how it holds up to a live recording which I am sure will be a challenge to keep the meters at 0DB.
In the past I have heard the Nakamichi machines most all of them along with the Revox decks as well and I cannot recall the noise levels down as much as this machine can do along with the dynamic range as well.
Waiting for your comments
Don
128x12876doublebass
Thanks Ghostrider for clearing up the DBX issues with me.
Yes I do recall now the 3DBX had those neon flashing lights I think for 3 different bands and it did act like an expander,But more sopisticated then the old Pioneer Units. I just didn't care for that very much. So it appears I was not very exposed to a well made DBX Recorder at that time of my life until now, how odd indeed. Well I guess I got what I wished for in kinda a good sonic way with this particular machine.
I wonder if having a High End
Power Cord installed would make a difference.Many years ago I do recall using large MIT Speaker Cables and rolling it into a power cord on a JVC Cassette Recorder which did seem to improve the imaging and the bass response. I guess if its not broken leave things alone. That seems to be m y motto these days.
Well its off to symphony practice tonight on the bass trombone. Nothing like live music in your ear for 3 hours.
No personal comparison experience but according to a number of British Hi Fi mags the best sounding Nakamichi was the CR7, better than the Dragon according to contemporary reviews.
Nakamichi Dragon
Nakamichi ZX-9
TEAC Z-7000
TEAC V-8030S
JVC DD-9
JVC DD-V9
REVOX B-215

just to name a few.
Nakamichi Dragon. I used it with the heavy Sony Super Metal Master Tape, it was a real good combination.