I vote for the Nakamichi ZX-9. I purchased one new in 1984 and only just recently parted ways with it. The deck was completely manually adjustable, Bias/alignment and recording levels. If you took a little time you could produce a recorded cassette tape that would sound as good as that format allowed. The sound of pre-recorded tapes was also excellent. However, I agree with a previous poster, ultimately the sound did not equal that of well recorded CDs. That doesn't mean I don't miss the ZX-9, but it went to a good home.
If you want to get it fixed, send it to Skywave Tape Deck Repair - great guy - great reputation - fixed mine and had it back to me in 9 or 10 days. Tape Decks and other equipment repair – Skywave Tape Deck Repair Where to find me? – Skywave Tape Deck Repair
The Tandberg 330 was a spectacular deck. I'd probably still have mine but when Tandberg nearly went out of business, they quit supporting their older products. I'd argue that the greatest deck was not a Nakamichi. Nakamichi probably had the best sound in the ultimate sense. However, with all the adjustments that folks made with 'em, they ended up making tapes that didn't sound good on other decks. I made tapes to not only play at home but also to play in my car, take to a friends houses, or give away. This is why I never embraced Nakamichi and also because I had reel to reel decks if I wanted to make a really hot sounding recording.
Just dropped by to say I recently picked up a beautiful working Nakamichi RX-202. It was the BOTL model from the series that has the external door/mechanism that pulls the tape out, then spins it, and then reinserts it when you reverse tape directions. Oh and the best part? It was free, from a house that was about to be demolished.
Hi end roll off? The Dragon guaranteed 20 - 22 000hz +-3db with any tape. Perhaps the Dragon you heard had a problem with it. Nak decks were also known for their low THD. A very low THD at the top end can give the illusion of a rolled off top end. When people hear high end headphone amps for the first time the same impression is often made. Where is the top end? Of course the distortion is so low on a real high end headphone amp that it gives the impression of a rolled off top end. People who listen on mid-fi equipment have this problem. They are so used to hearing that "mid-fi tizzle" that happens at the top end. I spoke to long time technician (20 years) at Bay & Bloor Radio back in the late nineties. He had been services Naks for years. I quote, "Every Nakamichi deck (even the cheapest) can record and playback at full reference level a 20Khz tone. I have serviced Sony, Akai and others whose spec said they went up to 20 000, but when I would record the 10 test tones - The last one for 20Khz rarely played back if at all. But the Nak decks every time." The tech is still at Bay & Bloor radio.
I going to assume that you either have owned a Dragon or were able to borrow one. I am also going to assume you tested the Dragon yourself. Tell if I am wrong. You don't say if you tested these units or got their specs from a magazine or off the web. Isn't just possible that the Dragon you tested was damaged? Just a thought.
The Teac C1 basically is a Tascam in nature, it's one of their best machines they built. A great performer.
I have a 122 MKIII fully serviced, the Dragon is "better", but if you never heard a Dragon you wouldn't be missing "that much" as far as the difference in price is concern. Sonically, though the Dragon is smoother and more open with nicer sparkler or extend treble. But... the Teac is no slouch. FWIW M2C M~
not saying they were the best but I really liked my Aiwa ADF-810's. They were 3 head and had dolby-HXPro (which I didn't use) but if you're gonna have dolby, that's not a bad one to have. Didn't destroy the high end like the other dolbies.
My cassette deck, the Bang & Olufsen Beocord 5000 Type 4705, was one of the top performers of its era (1976). It was the only cassette deck B&O ever manufactured completely in-house and was hugely over-engineered, with dual capstans and three heads. It proved quite a temperamental machine, so was quickly simplified and then replaced by a model with a bought-in Japanese mechanism. Nonetheless, it's a stunning-looking deck capable of exceptional performance.
I played with one of those in the store and really liked it. I had two Tandberg decks at the time and couldn't justify buying one.
Here is some frequency response information for the Dragon from the manual and handout flyer. Out of the decks that I have the Tandberg 3014 sounds the best even though it is not up to spec. The rankings of my other fully up to spec decks are as follows: Dragon CR7A two B215's TCD 440A BX-150 Teac 122 MKIII M~
The thing about this machine is tapes made on it generally played well on other machines. That wasn't always true with tapes made on Naks.
Naks are great but never wanted to get that exotic. Had a mid-80's Technics with dbx, that and now a late 90's Denon (3-head, horizontal load). Probably the best deck I have heard. With XLII or SA tape, you can't tell from the original (vinyl or cd rips) In some cases it sounds better, I can't explain that one. Probably compression and phase make the music have more "body".
A gold Nakamichi 1000ZXL was just for sale on hughesestatesales for $4999.99, including the external NR-100 Dolby C module, and instruction books. It sold. The listing is gone. Here is the Bing cache of the page, which may disappear too in a few days. There are several pictures of the front and back. Nakamichi 1000ZXL Gold Limited Cassette Deck - Hughes Estate Sales