Which Nakamichi to choose?

I gave a ton of cassettes away when I concluded the medium was antiquated. I'm posting to let anyone who has their deck in mothballs know that they had better drag it out and play it; those decks will quit working if not played.

It is a good buy if you can still replace all the rubber in the deck; that gets old.

I have been listening to the Sony Cassette deck all morning, and I discovered that it has a beguiling quality, that wouldn't let me turn it off; especially when I quit comparing it to my other sources.

Maybe that's the key to the cassette; just quit comparing and enjoy.

This is the deck  I have presently;


        https://kenrockwell.com/audio/sony/tc-ka3es.htm

But since I have a Technics 2 track reel, I only play the deck to make sure it's working properly.

"Gilding a turd"; I never thought about it like that, but it seems most appropriate.