Which Nakamichi to choose?

There is definitely a strong element of nostalgia in playing tapes, though I myself have never stopped playing them.
I used to have LX-3 for about a year. It broke, and instead of having it fixed I decided to get 682ZX and keep it forever. It's been 18 years since.

Long live tapes!!! A funny YouTube video is one where they give some 7-8 year old kids a Sony cassette walkman to operate. They are so lost.

11-1/2 years ago I abandoned digital and returned to LPs. I have a 2002 Cartier Town Car, which--because of its year of manufacture--has an audio system that plays both CDs and cassettes. I always felt that pre-recorded cassettes were junk, too. But to my surprise, I really enjoy the prerecorded cassettes I still have around from the '80s. They have a surprising amount of "soul". I get a satisfying emotional connection to the music that's often lacking on same-era digital sources, which despite their "higher highs and lower lows" don't give me the emotional impact I get from all-analog signal chains from LPs and cassettes.