Nakamichi Cassette Decks

The best cassette deck you can get is one where you hear none or very very little difference between source and tape. I dont want to start a war here. But theres other decks out there other than Naks.

Wow I have read a lot about the mystic of the 700 ZXL! A beautiful machine also. I have the 700 II and its a great machine. It's nick name I hear is the "toaster". Its a good  playback machine. Non metal record capable however. I just found out tonight that my Dragon has gone through its last checks at the bench and will be shipped out this week. The tech scolded me for letting the punch rollers get so dirty so he is helping me out by disconnecting a switch that allows engagement of the transport with the tape cover off. Now I can place the cotton swap on a moving roller like I do on my Tandberg. Awesome. There is a lot of history and nostalgia with cassettes. I have many fond memories recording through the years. I remember dreaming and looking at the salesman showing the TOTL decks to me in the 80s and could only hope to have such a wonderful piece of equipment one day. Now I can actually own these 2nd hand beauties. Have them restored and they live!. My Dragon has been down a couple of years so it will be nice to have it up and running. I'm an audiophile and do listen critcally more than I should. Stereophile used to put cassette decks down. I know with the right tape and calibrated machine it can be magical. Musical. A snob could bash it and put it down. Its something about the machine actually moving the tape thats so cool. Yes I'm a tape head and I stand proud.

Restore the 700ZXL. It looks way cooler man. Its silver! My only critique of the Dragon is it is dark and you need a light source to see all the buttons. I have never actually compared those two side by side but from my readings there wouldn't be much difference. Hey the LX3 and LX5 are also winners in the looks department.

Take a close look at the heads and see which one is in better shape. There are donor decks that pop up on eBay all the time that potentialy have decent heads but it's a chance like buying an engine to replace the one in your car. My garage says mileage isn't given in their experience. 

I had the Sony Ka3ES and wished I hadn't sold it.

Nakamichi cassette decks are magical. A techology that had matured gracefully. Engineers poured their inspiration and sweat into a medium that originally was for onky dictation into a hi-fidelity medium. However finicky with detail to maintaince involved and tape selection. When everything is in tune then you have a sonic fooler that can give u absolute realism. 

From what I have read when the ZX9 came out it became Nakamichi's reference deck. A sleeper deck to research is the HK CD491. Half the price with very close performance or even better than the Dragon but I don't seriously believe the later. I have one and a Dragon but never got to compare the 2 because one or the other was down.

True. There were not as many HKs made for sure. If I knew what I know now back then I would have got the CD 491 because the TOTL Naks were to expensive.

A dragon in todays dollars based from 1983 at $2499 would be $6336.00!!!! Today.Woah. Then the metal tapes!!!