The Source is not enough of quality. Those Tape Decks have great range of quality. The tests must have much hard music with high level of high frequency. In my opinion, Nak & AKAI play little better, than Sony.
Brilliant battle! These three top-of-the-range decks that are still outside the realm of the exotic but within the realm of the ultimate that can be achieved for a reasonable cost.
For me the Nakamichi sounded the most ear pleasing. I think the Sony sounded probably as close to the source as you can get (which is desirable), and the Akai deck sounded like it almost had a little distortion, not so much overdriven, but there were certain sounds that sounded a little distorted to me. It is a great song by the way. I think that was the perfect song for the sound test. Thank you.
i have several and always found better in dynamics and frequency response and i´m talking only of Flat recorders ,the best cassette deck made till today ,it´s the Revox B215 if working at 100% ,but in numbers ,Pioneer was the brand who always released decks with perfect sound and never deceptive since 1976 till they stoped making them ,no others makes so perfect copies of any source you through at it and i don´t like using dolby, hiss never heard it ,i always done the correct maintenace to my cassette decks ,i do have 11 cassette decks from this brand with the name Nalkamichi ,except the Dragon that was well engeniered but far from being a good deck ,it´s the contauch of cassette deck, it looks good on photos but works bad or better, horrible and i had two 12 years apart, so no nakamichi is better than others but they are really good, A ferrari is for sure better than a skoda octavia but put 50€ of gasoline and see who gets where?i prefer to be on a beach feeling fresh than at the countryside dreaping sweat and look good on the side of the road while others pass by me, i´ve seen videos where some coment that a sony deck ,badly built and not even their top model and newer than one of the best decks ever made by Pioneer but people here on youtube , saying like ,"it as a wamer sound ,the pioneer as more highs that´s when i notice that the person in the video don´t have a clue how to record a cassette on both decks and the recordings sound bad but what to do today if one see´s a dog other say, "it´s a cat" i have to say miaou, or i´m to blame that others never read a instructions manual and think they were born with all knowledge and one that recorded hundreds of cassettes before this person was even born ,have to say yes, why didn´t you were born 50 years earlier ,it would help thousands in the world to learn how to teach the brands to correctelly use their 20 top decks released, because they were too high when assembling them (it were the 70´s and 80´s ,people were always taking drugs as i was breefed here on the father of the universe mr.youtube ) , so high to really know what they were doing, this young generation that lives inside a house till their 40´s would have explained all of us how things really are, Sony is maybe one of the worst brands in the world but tv comercials teach us that a black horse looks fine and bneautifull on our tv´s but it´s a sony comercial so it looks better let´s buy Sony, to have that incredible quality of image seen on our old tv sets, i´m not joking but talk serious here on youtube it´s the same of pissing against the wind, "Oh!?, they wouldn´t what?"Sorry , if like using a Iphone to see a movie and notice it´s better than the image of a giant screen in a cinema,"Is it good now?" ok, you know better i´m already old, what could i know i was never a young person how can i know better, sorry ,before the 2000´s humans were a especies without knowledge, as GOD created internet and Sony decks
I believe it's the GX (glass) heads that makes the Akais sound brighter. Still a very nice sound though. Nak, Akai, Sony. The nak almost sounds better than the source to me.
if i knew something about cassette recording would say that in a good deck no matter if it´s a type I or type II because if the source is mainstream produced ,then type I would sound very good and one couldn´t notice a type II cassette if recorded from the same source and calibrated like old people wrotte in cassette decks manuals ,at the time we weren´t instructed about all being the same a cassette deck with calibration is supposed to record good if the knobs look like defeat as in amplifiers tone controls that are putted there to mess with our heads(new information also, mmm...modern one), we even thought as written on those damn manuals that if not calibrated the cassette deck will assume being recording a TDK AD or a TDK MA-XG because most of them when guessing if it is a Type I or Type II, would automatically set the equalization and the calibration would be only to set the level of Bias and Level of recorded sound but how could i know this ,i´m old and if so i´m dumb ,i couldn´t have learned nothing after 50 years of doing it, experience in the past was overrated, people weren´t yet in the year 2000
So many different preferences, so interesting! I think the Nak wins clearly, then Akai. I'm looking at buying one of each soon so I can compare in person. If Akai makes recordings closest to the source, I may prefer that. I can see from your comments that not all GX are the same though. Anyway, great video - thanks for making it.
The voices sounded better on the Nakamichi, the sound is more muffled on the Akai and Sony Deck. All of them sound a little distorded at the bass it's not there on the source. Most likely it's some bass under 25 HZ. You can hear it at 11:37 Btw, the bass is less on the Akai. 1.Nakamichi 2. Sony
I'm very fond Nakamichi sound and quality. I own a Nakamichi 600 II wedge shaped 2-head deck purchased new in 1978? Just acquired a 700 II in mint condition. I guess no one wants Cassette Decks anymore?
Ha, so many people hunting now for a good decks. The prices over the roof. The last decks which still have good heads costs a fortune. There is so enjoyment in using them. I listen to cassette decks 10x more than to DAT or SACD or MD.
@@hifirulezzz I wonder what people do to get Tapes? I have some from years ago. I should sell my Cassette Decks since I'm older and running out of time.
Sony, Nak, Akai Sony-very worm, natural sound Nak- more high freq. sound than the source. Akai-loosing a bit of signal My 2c anyway, by my hearing....;-)
In my experience, with the GX-75, you had a too low signal when recording with it. I found that for optimum results, the recording level should be around middle, on 6. Of course you can compensate by going higher but the results are not the same.
Yes. Didn't notice in my speakers that only got down to low 50Hz range, but in my headphones that go down to 20Hz, wow. The signal meter was off the charts, though.
My Sony tc-k555esL have a huge low end i never seen a deck go so deep like mine but high freq aren't the best it needs azimuth adjustment, my Akai gx-f66rc plays amazing i like it a lot, and for last the Teac double deck w6000R have amazing high frequencies wich i never expected to have, i would like to have that Nakamichi 680zx
Great video! I have the GX95 (mk1, without the source -tape cmos.. It has a relè, I think also your A&D) In order to make it sound as good as expected for a top class deck I had to replace some capacitors and two op-amps. But may be A&D is ok without mods
Earlier Naks have different IEC standard and sound more musical than later Naks. This results in less mid range when you listen to music. Also, that series has a nice bump on 20 Hz. You have to listen if you like it. I have more videos on my channel, try it out.
You need to replace the caps on both Sony and Nakamichi decks in order to get the best sound out of them. Akai was built with best possible components and its chassis is made out of copper. All 3 decks sound great and it is hard to chose but I prefer the Akai for recording over the other two yet the Nakamichi has a better pre-amp. I own 680 vs 680zx and the highest japanese model forgot the model now yet it does the same as this sony model.
@@hifirulezzz Ok I see. I use almost daily the RX-505 but the most clearest sound I ever found was Akai GXC-735D and Nak 680 (ZX=the same) yet all decks are great and different; Akai GX F91 is also a very nice deck but so is Dragon..I tried about 400 decks and kept 40 for now but I think I will sale them and only keep 2 or 3 because when you have 40 it is not possible to listen to all and all decks need to have their parts moving in order to work properly just like a car :)
@@TheMagicStar80 GXC-735 has a very different tape equalization. I own GX-707, 709, 715, and 750. All these decks sound brighter than needed. You may see my tests on the channel. Some of them have a bump in the middle as much as 8dB. However, compared to the Akai Reel to reels I have, the sound is very similar. Maybe that whas the reason for them to make that non linear response. Who knows now...
I like the crisp recordings Akai does. The only thing I mention, it just adds a little bit more room in the 3D picture than was on the original. However, it is possible to hear only on high-end speakers. Also, recordings from Akai sound similarly clear and crisp on all other decks I have. Even Nakamichi will sound like Akai playing these tapes. I mentioned that 9100 has zero polar caps on the audio path in the recording amplifier. And it has a 210kHz bias frequency. Maybe this is a reason for that crisp recordings.
@@hifirulezzz I also own GXC-715D, 750D, 760D, 735D, several also 715 mark ii and love them. also own Naks and Sony and Aiwa but mostly love Akai and Naks
Тем не менее Nakamichi 680zx все таки более предпочтительный выбор? С точки зрения записи на новых/старых кассетах, какая дека из этих предпочтительней по вашему мнению?
Как я уж неоднократно писал, лучшая дека в наш век та, которая находится в лучшем состоянии. Я потратил десятки часов, а на некоторые аппараты сотни часов чтобы довести их до состояния близкого к новому. Да, они пишут и играют изумительно. Но это опыт и время, и инвестиции в приборы, тестовые кассеты и так далее. Я вот только вчера сидел до 2х ночи с улучшением параметров на Акай, поменял ролики и много часов юстировал головку чтобы запись и воспроихведение шло в фазе и при этом фаза совпадала с тестовой кассетой. Получилось. Сейчас он пишет еще лучше чем раньше поскольку девиация уровня сигнала на высоких частотах уменьшизась с 4-5 до 1-2 децибел. И пишет он теперь линейно в диаппазоне 20-22кГц. -3дБ это уже 24 кГц. Но, это долго, затратно и нужен опыт с приборами. Поэтому, я рекомендую вам поискать аппарат после качественного сервиса (было бы замечательно если еще дали бы распечатку параметров). Каждый из high-end деков вас удивит своим звуком. Они совсем не зря столько стоили. По деталям проще всего чинить Сони, так как их много продали и много деталей доступно, плюс выбор шире. И еще, если вы думаете что люди платили $1,500-$3-800 в 1979 году за кассетный дек, то они их просто ставили на полку? Такого не бывает. Их слушали и достаточно сильно и долго. Я встречал в интернете комментарии что головы спилены. Это будет сразу заметно по высоким частотам. Ну и по стабильности записи. Ищите и найдете ;) P.S. я бы выбрал A&D, я их слушал несколько аппаратов и все звучали здорово. У Сони стандартный звук очень прозрачный но пресный. Мне помогла замена конденсаторов. Еще понравился звук JVC, их зря недооценивают. Накамичи конечно прописывают кассеты отлично, но не настолько прозрачно как мой Сони и A&D. Еще, A&D выпускался только для Японского рынка. И разница в мелочах впечатляет. Например в GX-95 усилитель воспроизведения на микросхеме, а в точно таком же A&D на полевиках. В A&D 9100 отсутствуют проходные конденсаторы в канале записи и воспроизведения. Во первых нечему стареть, во вторых нечему влиять на звук. Как то так.
I bet my 680zx sounds like the best 1000zxl ;) And my DR-1 or Sony 555 will run circles around it. Still depends on what you do think is the best sound for you ;)
i would prefer the A&D, that is not a akai ,i forget to ask a kid and i always thought they were akai´s decks and i even thought that the 75 is equal to the 95 ,how could i know i was born before the year 2000 ,maybe it´s not good as the worst brand when decreased the quality of their average decks or when releasing the minidisc people would notice it weren´t good as any average cassette deck but other brands didn´t get the Memo. and they kept releasing decks with a higher quality , this to win more money(what really matters in our lifes) and even so they are better than a akai top model of a deck. Decks heads? they are the same doesn´t matter if the best sound engeniers said it was a increasing in recording quality ,what would they know people in the 70´s and 80´s were always high on crack cocaine and heroine they didn´t knew what they were doing ,they even walked around naked in some places, they couldn´t know that Jesus Christ himself in the year 2015 talked to a man from the U.S. of A. and told him that cloth were god sent and people would be unnatural if wearing not clothes, how could a baby survive if not wearing a suit when coming out from paris carried by big white bird it could be a stork , and we use to eat everything now we´ve learned that live fast and die young as nothing to do with the extreme comsuption of drugs and die before 50 years old because of putting in our bodies natural substancesn to make us feel better and have fun but we were all wrong, the real meaning is stop heating when 12 years old to die young and beautifull with only skin and bones at our 20´s because flesh is unnatural and horrible ,what were we thinking not paying fortunes to have clothes branded by modern genius to cover our skin and bones, if you use your brain you´ll see it´s all related , sorry your heart
This is not a good test, it is very biased and made to make cassette sounds more natural than normal. First the song has no bass and the sounds are very separated in time, that means there are few instruments playing loud at the same time and because of this the tape don't saturate and the characteristics of the tape don't come forward. Secondly what the hell is going on with the "calibration", what is the point of having two dials for recording level?! IMO it is just stupid. Last but not least, this is not how to compare. The right way of comparing recordings is to compare the complete recording and also the source. The Ipad sucks and the song sucks. Where are the drums? Lol!
