Nakamichi Dragon Performance with Type II tapes

If you want to really test your deck you should use reference type IV metal tape: Maxell Vertex or TDK MA-XG. Two best type II tapes that I tried were Nakamichi SX and Maxell XLII-S.
On my Nak 682ZX Vertex is clearly superior to everything else.

Nakamichi tape was re-branded TDK, supposedly "center cut". It is true that metal tape will perform slightly better at the frequency extremes, but I usually preferred the chrome tapes, which sounded more uniform and "musical" to me, and less expensive. The slight loss you heard is a limitation of cassette tape. It could never quite match a high-end vinyl rig. I wouldn't worry about it. The only way to come really close to vinyl is with a very fine, well adjusted, reel-to-reel; but the fact is, no copy can be as good as the origianl medium. BTW, even a "mint" Dragon almost certainly needs some attention at this point; it is pretty old, and they are very complex. I sent mine to Willy Herman, who did fine work at a very reasonable price.

Thank You Inna and Lloydc, Lloydc, me and my deck did pay a visit to Willy two weeks ago, he did a very fine job on it, he said the deck performed to spec, just was curious if the slight loss of fidelity was normal with tape media.As always you were very helpful.

Thanks Again!

I sent mine to Willy Hermann too.
Reference metal tape is better in every respect. Some do think that best type I tape can go a little lower in bass. Not in my experience.

Inna, thanks for the info, it's getting real hard to find TDK and Maxell Type IV tapes at reasonable prices. The Maxell Metal Vertex's asking price is about $120 a piece, MA-XG's are a bit reasonable. I have quite a few TDK SA-X Type II tapes and a couple of TDK MA and Sony Metal SRs. But will keep looking for the vertex's and MA-XGs.