What was (is?) the best of the best casette deck?

[frommerstop]

In my little part of the world - there was a deck, that litterarely would run in circles around all the other decks - it was Alpine's AL90

incredibly good sounding, extreemely deep bass, crystal clear heights, and very very low noise (hiss)

I think that was also marketed, and probably made by, Luxman. I'm not sure exactly what Luxman model it would be, but it looks very familiar to me. I used to have a Luxman "back in the day", and it was the best I could afford, and better than I needed. Really well built, like most of the stuff they made, at least before Alpine ran their name down in the late eighties.

...yeah, a little internet skulduggery turns up the Luxman K-05 as it's sister.

 

[landsberger]

My suggestions based on personal experience would be:
Beocord 9000
Revox B710 mkII
Tandberg TCD 440a

For portables:
Marantz 430
Uher CR240
Uher CR 1600

Regards
John

 

[jan_stevns]

I think that was also marketed, and probably made by, Luxman. I'm not sure exactly what Luxman model it would be, but it looks very familiar to me. I used to have a Luxman "back in the day", and it was the best I could afford, and better than I needed. Really well built, like most of the stuff they made, at least before Alpine ran their name down in the late eighties.

...yeah, a little internet skulduggery turns up the Luxman K-05 as it's sister.

yep - Alpine made both decks , and several other decks as OEM manufacturer of mechs.

some i still have a AL80 stashed away ...

wish they still made VU's like that

 

[AnalogDigit]

The best decks out there, but out of my reach are the Nakamichi, Revox and Tandberg.

For poor guys like myself, I find the Aiwa F770 to have very good sound on a budget. The Onkyo TA 2058 is also a solid performer also.

 

[vga911s]

I must vote for my Tandberg 3014A. I have owned it for over 20 yrs and other than my baby girl stepping on the plastic cover and breaking it at the age of 2 and sticking needles from sitting long periods it has been flawless and with out peer. My 2nd deck is a total old school Nakamichi 600 along with a Nakamichi B/C noise reduction unit.

 

[KevinCorr]

If not the best, the most fun cassette player I had was the Nak 550 portable. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nakamichi

 

[KentTeffeteller]

I'd go as far to say the Nakamichi 550 was the best cassette portable ever made.

 

[Soren Hammer]

I must vote for my Tandberg 3014A. I have owned it for over 20 yrs and other than my baby girl stepping on the plastic cover and breaking it at the age of 2 and sticking needles from sitting long periods it has been flawless and with out peer. My 2nd deck is a total old school Nakamichi 600 along with a Nakamichi B/C noise reduction unit.

The Nakamichi 600 must be one of the finest two-head models around, I'm enjoying my 600 occasionally - great at doing 120 uS recordings on type II tapes :thmbsp:

 

[captaingamez]

im saying EUMIG AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!

i dont know much about them but they sure are awesome looking decks

 

[jdurbin1]

Yes they are. Not an easy deck to keep running though, and I've never seen anyone promoting it as being a worthy competitor to the top Nak, Tandberg, or Revox decks. There may be a cult following for those, but if so they keep pretty quiet.

John

 

[peterfranks]

My Akai GXC-730D is pretty nice and was higher end for Akai. Ain't too shabby.

 

[DevlinC]

When I got massively into cassette tapes about 2 years ago, following a little research and an impulse purchase of a Tandberg TCD-340 from eBay (and subsequently falling in love with the format), my research suggested that the Tandberg 3014, the Revox B215 and Nakamichi's CR-7 and Dragon were basically the be-all-and-end-all of cassette players.

However, the Studer A721 and A710 were functionally and physically identical to the Revox B215, and Nakamichi's CR-5 was also meant to be basically indistinguishable from the CR-7 and even the Dragon by some accounts.

I can certainly vouch for the 3014 sounding utterly jaw-dropping but I've never had the chance to put it up against another of these high-tier decks so cannot say definitively but I'm sure someone on here made a thread about doing a shoot-out with these heavyweights, can't find it now though.

 

[charles 1973]

I've always liked Akia Cassette Decks. Their TOTL I believe were as good as most brands at the time, at least in their price range.

B has always been my preferred Dolby as well, never cared for the DBX ither.....

When I first got my Toshiba Cassette Deck I didn't use Dolby B because "They" told me it didn't sound as good as with it off. Well they were wrong. I recorded Fleetwood Mac's Mirage LP w/Dolby B using a Sony Crome Tape. To this day that recording Kills 1/2 my CD's with it's outstanding SQ. It sounds so real, almost Riviling the LP Source if thats possible.

I had very good results with other LP's w/Dolby B and reg tapes. My only issue was my car cassette player didn't Dolby B so the sound wouldn't be natural. I just backed off the treble some.

 

[ken.nelson]

I'm quite found of my Marantz 5030B.

 

[stout1]

I have been running tape for a very long time. I recently got a Nakakmichi ZX 7 and a ZX 9. While the ZX7 is very nice. The ZX 9 is simply jaw dropingly good. The best I have ever heard to date.

 

[jdurbin1]

I may have made a comment about lining up some of these decks, but have yet to get to that point. At the time it would have been 3014A vs. CR-7A vs. Dragon, but these days I can expand that to include a Beocord 9000, Tandberg TCD 910 and TCD 3004 - assuming I get them all done, as only the CR-7A and Dragon are fully functional and the 910 has to go back to its owner soon. There's a chance a B215 could be part of that as well.

However, this project is fueled by good intentions but little or no time to put into it.

John

When I got massively into cassette tapes about 2 years ago, following a little research and an impulse purchase of a Tandberg TCD-340 from eBay (and subsequently falling in love with the format), my research suggested that the Tandberg 3014, the Revox B215 and Nakamichi's CR-7 and Dragon were basically the be-all-and-end-all of cassette players.

However, the Studer A721 and A710 were functionally and physically identical to the Revox B215, and Nakamichi's CR-5 was also meant to be basically indistinguishable from the CR-7 and even the Dragon by some accounts.

I can certainly vouch for the 3014 sounding utterly jaw-dropping but I've never had the chance to put it up against another of these high-tier decks so cannot say definitively but I'm sure someone on here made a thread about doing a shoot-out with these heavyweights, can't find it now though.

 

[perryinva]

While it is fun to speculate on all these fine decks, the fact remains that "best" is subjective. Are we talking about recording, playback, reliabilty, the best for prerecorded, performance/$, etc? What good is amazing performance if the deck is impossible to get parts for, or is so rare as to be crazy unobtainable? In addition, most people will/can naturally only opine on decks they are familiar with or own. Also, individual samples of the exact same model can vary hugely based on alignment, hours, wear, tear, and plain ol'manufacturer tolerance. I naturally have a Nak & Revox bias, only have heard Tandberg a few times, but I would speculate that the best deck is the closest to TOTL that you can afford/actually get, and has been restored and aligned as close to new as possible, and will actually use regularly. In my case, the Dragon, and B710MKII are my favorites, though my 660zx gets a ton of play time, too, just something about its playback.

 

[ssmith3046]

While it is fun to speculate on all these fine decks, the fact remains that "best" is subjective. Are we talking about recording, playback, reliabilty, the best for prerecorded, performance/$, etc? What good is amazing performance if the deck is impossible to get parts for, or is so rare as to be crazy unobtainable? In addition, most people will/can naturally only opine on decks they are familiar with or own. Also, individual samples of the exact same model can vary hugely based on alignment, hours, wear, tear, and plain ol'manufacturer tolerance. I naturally have a Nak & Revox bias, only have heard Tandberg a few times, but I would speculate that the best deck is the closest to TOTL that you can afford/actually get, and has been restored and aligned as close to new as possible, and will actually use regularly. In my case, the Dragon, and B710MKII are my favorites, though my 660zx gets a ton of play time, too, just something about its playback.

I can't compare my Dragon to other top end decks and the last deck I owned was decades ago before I bought the Dragon but it sure sounds good. It was serviced by Willy Herman two years ago and gets plenty of use.

 

[Vre13]

I have had Nakamichi CR-7, Tandbeg, Teac Z7000, Tandberg TCD 3014, Pioneer CT-F1250 and Aiwa AD-F990, Maybe I'm wrong, but Aiwa AD-F990 was best for me. Amazing sound quality, full automated. I used it for 5-6 years without any fail in recording. Most ease to operate highest category deck I have met.

 

[trhee]

For me, I'd be happy with either of the three decks below.

- Nakamichi CR7

- Aiwa XK-S9000

- Akai GX-75 Mk.II