Which Nakamichi to choose?

inna

There is more than just losing highs with dolby - sound loses fullness. Tape hiss is inevitable but can be minimized ...

There’s always been a lot of confusion and misinformation about Dolby NR. Assuming a quality deck and tape that have been properly aligned with each other, Dolby does not cause a loss of high frequencies when compared to the original. Of course, if you have a Dolby encoded tape but choose to listen to it without Dolby decoding, you will hear more highs than if the tape were properly decoded. That’s by design; Dolby is a companding system. Dolby NR actually ensures better HF response - when properly used - than you can achieve on the same deck and tape without it.

To be fair, there were many poorly-made cassette decks during the cassette era, and many were so badly constructed that they couldn’t maintain proper alignment. Dolby was doomed on those machines.

Please consider that "proper alignment" includes correct bias, eq, azimuth, and alignment to Dolby level. Different manufacturers used one of several different standards for Dolby level, further contributing to the misunderstandings of Dolby NR’s effectiveness.

Having everything in alignment on a cassette deck can be compared to having everything set up correctly on a turntable, if something is off the sq will be off.

I think with the resurgence of vinyl and the old time vinyl addicts , setting up of a turntable is better understood and practiced than the same procedure for a tape deck.

Usually the correct set up of a tape deck is best left to those dying breed of specialists, mine was set up maybe 4 years ago and I have not had reason to question it having drifted or warranting another set up yet.

@orpheus10 
Right on, I truly never "compare" the cassette sq as such but it is obvious to my ears when it is especially good or bad compared to itself!

I have some superb tapes, and some really bad ones...lol.

I suppose one of my earlier comments stating it was as good as vinyl was not quite accurate as I truly do not compare the two, what I really meant was that when I played a really good tape, well it just sounded really good.

Once aligned and tuned my deck keeps it for quite some time. I also treat playback head with LAST tape head preservative before playing every cassette, it lasts for two sides. This is not a substitute for cleaning, of course, only a complement. When properly maintained Nakamichi head should be good for at least 10000 hours, I am not sure any head or just better heads.

This will provide a good test of the system sensitivity and your hearing. Get two Walker 1/2" resonance control discs, $50 each.
Place one very near Nottingham motor without it touching the motor holder, place another one on top of the deck where the transport is located. You should hear a slight improvement in clarity. If you don't - there will be a work to do. Nottingham Spacedeck is a very emotional, dynamic and quite quiet turntable, some people prefer it to much more expensive tables. Also, when recording from it, I can clearly hear differences in pressings when listening to the Nak. I can also compare cables and phono stage power cords this way.