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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
76doublebass
tabl10s's avatar
tabl10s
1,129 posts
 

My best was the Teac R9000(purchased via military channels in Japan and back in '92).

patrickalston
163 posts
 

In no particular Order:

Tandberg TCD-910

Tandberg 3014A

Revox B215 

Nakamichi Dragon

The Tandbergs are on my dream  list, but I can't justify $7K for the 910 or $4k for the 3014A.  Between streaming and vinyl, there's very little reason for my to have a cassette deck.  For me, it would be eye candy (and sometimes that's enough)

vvvvvv6's avatar
vvvvvv6
95 posts
 

Great old discussion!


I have a mid-level Technics RS-BX606 in a pretty good shape cosmetically and the heads are not abused. At this point I think it might sound better than a lot of those high end decks that have not been properly restored in the last 10-15 years.

I also would like to get a TC-K series direct drive Sony, but the sellers seem to think they are worth $1000 or more. Haha. I’ll keep streaming instead.

billstevenson
1,182 posts
 

I know this is all just for fun.  Back when they were current models, the store I worked at sold both Nakamichi and Tandberg and a friend of mine worked at a competitor store carring Revox.  At a previous store we carried Teac.  Tandberg used to come to town to hold clinics too.  So we had ample opportunities to compare then all.  Frankly the top models were all pretty similar.  I left the business owning a Nak cassette deck, Tandberg, Revox and Teac R to R macines, and several microphones, a lot of tape etc.  All of it is long gone.  The tapes started shedding, broke my heart to take thousands of dollars and countless hours of effort to the dump.  Yes some of the R to R  sounded a bit better than my records, but not by much.  And I think about the complexity of the tape decks and the cost of maintenance compared to the elegance and simplicity of any turntable and there is just no justification for tape for home play back.  Even just for fun.  It is just not worth it.  The only negative experience in my decades of being an audiophile. 

livin_262002
202 posts
 

For me, Tandberg 3014A beat the Dragon by fair margin. The only Nak that came close was my ZX-7 (never owned ZX-9). Not heard the Revox either. For me it came down to decks that I can maintain and keep them running. Cassette format is inherently flawed but what top tier decks could do with the medium is amazing. If for nothing else, I’d keep ’em running for their engineering 😊

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