What are your thoughts on the Dragon tape deck?


Anyone out there with experience good or bad on the Nakamichi Dragon? Is it really that good? Thanks, Steve
7671
I always thought that the Tandberg 3014 was a better sounding cassette deck. Front loading, looks great, built like a tank. Nak is a good one though, and probably second on my list. I agree that cassette is not the greatest tape format, but if you want cassette, check out the 3014 as well. It can be gotten for less than the Dragon.
I have not owned the Dragon, but I have owned other top Nak's, like the ZX-7 and 9, CR-7A and 680. Contrary to Elgordo's comments, as it appears he hasn't owned one, you would quite amazed at its performance. With a good tape, you would be hard pressed to tell the source you copied from the tape you made, assuming the deck is aligned properly.
Hi, I have the Nak CR-7A and very recently sold my Dragon. If you still make cassettes, the Dragon is the best I've heard. In the car, you cannot tell the difference between a CD and a Dragon-made cassette. The CR-7A is very close in performance and perhaps easier to use because you can't manually adjust for bias and azimuth as you can on the Dragon. My Dragon was 18 yrs old but still performing flawlessly. I believe they were built to last. It is an excellent deck. FYI, in my recent experience, Dragons sell for more on eBay than they do here. In other words, you may be able to pick up one for less on this site. But if you are selling, list on eBay. It just depends on how many are being offered at the time you're looking or selling.
I agree with Sc53. I still have my CR-7A, but hardly use it as I can make any CD for the car on my computer. I also like the transportability of the CDs better, the reliability and the fact that a decent quality blank CD-R costs about 50 cents or less, which is much less than a good quality cassette tape. While the Nak's sound great (so does the Tandburg by the way), I'm not so sure it's a medium worth investing in these days.
Speaking of investing and Nak decks, let's go back a few years... I've got a 582, which was top of the line in 1980, that I've been nursing along all these years. It has 3 heads, adjustable azimuth, etc. Sent back to Nak 3x, and the third they didn't fix it right. I'd still like functionality in the casette medium.

Can anyone offer experience on how the 582 compares to these other (newer) decks?

I figure getting it fixed might cost me $100, whereas buying a used newer version would cost more. Sorry if this is an intrusion, I figure there are only a few people these days versed in the world of Nak's!