Which Nakamichi to choose?

Seek out a Nak Dragon. It speaks for itself.....

terry9

Not an archival medium? Depends. Cheap stuff, 120 minutes, agreed. Metal Type 4, 60 minutes duration, absolutely disagree.

The facts speak for themselves. You can’t get flat frequency response to 20K on cassette at 0 dB - when cassette manufacturers cited FR specs, it was typically at -20dB.

I have tapes made 20 years ago that sound fine.

Me too!

Tapes don’t degrade; vinyl does, at least on most real-world systems.

Tape most certainly does degrade. For example, where do you think that gunk comes from that must be cleaned from your tape heads, capstan and tape guides? A well-cared for LP will last for generations. Of course, they have to be stored properly, and played properly - but the same is true of tape. I have some LPs that date to the early 60s, and they play like new.

In any event, if you want to be serious about analog tape, reel-to-reel is the way to go.

I'm a serious tapehead and with a good tape and a machine serviced with a good tech and you have nothing short of magic.

@cleeds 

"Tape most certainly does degrade."

Quite correct. What I should have said is that saving vinyl to tape, and playing tape until it degrades, gets you thousands of plays before degradation. Sorry to be inaccurate.

And I agree, half track at 15 ips is the standard - but it sure is expensive!

Great info, @cleeds . And the term archive is a misnomer. My plan was to make high quality copies of albums that can be listened to without the time and effort of playing vinyl.
  I agree that R-R is an amazing format even today, but requires money, time, and a relationship with a good tech for use in a home system. I enjoy the setup and recording process. Then comes the satisfaction of sitting back and listening to some outstanding music.   
   For me, there's no other format that sounds so pure and organic.