Which Nakamichi to choose?


I have the opportunity to get a very good Nak Cassettedeck 1 or a DR-2. Which one would you choose? And why?
Thanks for giving a newbie some valuable advice.
mickeyblu79

Showing 3 responses by livin_262002

@blueranger Which Tandberg did you have back then? I’m listening to a recording of Harry James Still Harry... (sheffield labs Direct to Disk vinyl) on a Sony Metal ES tape, sounds fabulous.

Nevermind on the Tandberg model, it's 3014A.
@mickeyblu79 if CD-1 and DR-2 are the only choices you have then I recommend the CD-1 because CD-1 has manual PB head azimuth adjustment (ala CR-7). Personally I'm not a fan of  Nakamichi decks except for the 1000zxl. I've owned Dragon, ZX-7 and CR-7 and still own the 1000zxl but have not heard the CD-1 so not sure how it sounds. Of the lot  I previously owned ZX-7 is my favorite of the 3 I listed, followed by the Dragon and then the CR-7. The other very underrated Nak deck is the BX-300. It's nicknamed "baby" Dragon. It is that good, again in PB only. I don't have first hand experience on it's recording capabilities.

680ZX comes very close to 1000zxl sound in play back only, in recording 1000zxl is in a league of it's own. I still enjoy recording my vinyl to tape, both cassette and Reel to Reel. You'd be surprised how good a lowly compact cassette can sound if you have the right (read serviced and up to spec) deck. The downside is the cost of maintenance and tapes. 


@blueranger I could never warm up to Dragon's sound. It just didn't project the soundstage right.  I sold the Dragon but kept the ZX-7 for a long time until I came upon the 1000zxl.